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What an impressive opening day performance by the Wisconsin Badgers.  It was an all around dominating effort, for the most part. 

This was Allan Evridge's first start as a Badgers quarterback. For the most part Evridge looked okay.  I'll admit Allan under threw some balls, and made some dumb mistakes.  I think the thing that should scare some opposing Big Ten defensive coordinators is just how physical we are.  We had almost 500 yards just running the ball.  PJ Hill looked really good, hopefully he can stay healthy all year long.  I don't want feel too good about this one..Akron's defense was sort of condusive to physical running.  I do think that we're going to have one of the Nation's best run games.  It was shown that we have a great offensive line.  Everyone in the Big Ten take a good long look at the 6'2" 237 pound John Clay, because he's going to be the next great Wisconsin back.  The run game with Hill, Clay and Zach Brown is about as good as it gets.  I don't think the lack of passing is anything to be too worried about, Travis Beckum missed this game because coach Bielema was trying to give him an extra week of rest.  I thought that Garret Graham, Kyle Jefferson and David Gilreath even the back up h-back Lance Kendricks contributed a catch.  I like Kendricks a lot, he's built pretty similarly to Travis Beckum.  But, as I said before I don't think there's any real reason to get too worried about Evridge's performance..I'll give him a pass it was week 1.  

On last year's team defense was a real concern..I think it will be better this year.  As a matter of fact this years defense has already improved over last years..in week 1 a year ago we gave up 21 points and this game we gave up only 17.  In actuality our defense really gave up 10 points, Akron's last touchdown was garbage and in the last minutes.  At that point our back ups just sorta stopped trying.  That obviously needs to be corrected and I think it will be.  Versus Akron our defense was pretty plain...I've read a lot about this our new defensive coordinator and he likes to blitz a lot, and he really didn't show a lot of that this game.  It seemed like he didn't want to put a whole lot on film early on.  I still thought we didn't do a very good job of handling the spread, and we're going to see a lot of spread this year, maybe it'll improve though.  I thought a real positive was the turnover we got.  I like a lot of what I saw from out of us on defense.  

On special teams we had to replace our kicker and our punter.  I thought that both true freshman that we had move into the roles did a great job.  Philip Welch the kicker and Brad Nortman the punter both were outstanding.  David Gilreath had a magnificent 60 plus yard kick off return.  

A quick closing though is I thought that all phases of our game looked pretty solid.  I think the defense could use some work, and so could Allan Evridge's passing.  But, again the rest of the Big Ten should take notice of the way we got physical and moved the ball on the ground with ease.  If you saw the game what were your thoughts and or comments? 

August 31, 2008  03:03 AM ET

Wow - sounds like a great game - wish I ccould have watched it instead of NW-Syracuse...

August 31, 2008  12:15 PM ET

akron is always scrappy...but the badgers put them in place. great game and blog badger!

August 31, 2008  06:20 PM ET

loved the 3 man rotation at running back. they all pretty much had their way and controlled the game. hopefully the badgers can chalk up those 2 red zone turnovers to first game jitters and get back quickly and blow out marshall.

September 1, 2008  09:53 PM ET

I'm pissed! I wasn't able to watch the game!!

September 2, 2008  02:05 PM ET

I loved it too Head Kick, hopefully it keeps up the same level of success the rest of the year. Thanks AE. Prove It..I'm sure the Syracuse and NW was good..maybe

September 2, 2008  05:33 PM ET

Syracuse-NW was indeed very close, back and forth.

Good?

uh... did I mention it was close?

 
September 2, 2008  10:26 PM ET

That's...fantastic

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