“You have to approach every game for what it is — and that’s the most important thing.’’
From a preparation standpoint, Wisconsin’s returning players should have a road map from last season’s Ohio State experience when the Badgers knocked off the No. 1 ranked Buckeyes.
“I think it can definitely help us,’’ said UW defensive tackle Patrick Butrym. “We played in a big game at home in a primetime environment and we won. So we know how to prepare and win.
“We had a poor week of practice before our loss last year at Michigan State. Now we have the mold and the blueprint and we have to understand what we need to do to be successful.’’
Chryst can relate to what Butrym was saying as a player. As a coach, though, going through the media build-up for last season’s Ohio State game will not have any bearing on how Chryst prepares.
That’s because Chryst shuts out everything; the outside world, per se.
“For me personally,’’ he said, “I can live in cocoon.
“So it really doesn’t change much we do as coaches. For the players it’s certainly real (the media circus) and you’d hope some of them would draw from experiences, positive or negative.
“There’s a fine line. I think you have to embrace it and enjoy it. That’s one of the reasons why you play college football at this level.
“If you can be a part of it you want to make sure that you enjoy that part of it. Yet you also need to have enough maturity to understand that the best way to prepare is take care of the task at hand.’’
That would best summarize his quarterback’s approach, too.
“That’s why I came here,’’ Russell Wilson said, “to play in big games at Camp Randall.’’
