Varsity - The Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics

Varsity - December 22, 2011

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Badgers' satisfying season continues on BEHIND THE DESK BARRY ALVAREZ • UW DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS L ooking at the team that we had coming back, I thought that if we could keep our two linebackers healthy — Chris Bor- land and Mike Taylor — the only question mark was quarterback. After watching one practice in training camp — after seeing Rus- sell Wilson — I knew that we had a chance to be a very good team. When you get someone of his abil- ity, he makes everyone better. I had watched Russell on film at NC State and I thought he was pretty good. But when you watch him in prac- tice, you see how intense he is; you see his accuracy, you see how quick the ball comes out, you see his foot speed and how he can run. That's all pretty easy to recognize because he's the complete package. I thought Montee Ball looked different in training camp, too. The first time I saw him this season, he ran different. That weight loss af- fected him in a very positive way. When you watched him scrim- mage, he still had his power and finished runs, but he was able to accelerate and get through the holes quicker. It looked like he had another half- step getting in and out of traffic. As a team, we weren't really challenged in our non-conference games. Northern Illinois was dangerous because of what they do on offense. Their quarterback — Chandler Har- nish — was very good but I really liked the way we defended them. 12 » VARSITY DECEMBER 22, 2011 They put up 63 on Toledo and 51 on Western Michigan. We held them to seven points. Going into the Big Ten season, I knew the opener was going to be a big game. We made it a big game. Nebraska made it a big game. When College GameDay shows up, it's a big game. When Penn State came into our Bret's focus has never changed. It's the 1-0 mantra. And the kids buy into it. That's why we were able to refocus after those two heart- breaking losses. league, a lot of people thought they would dominate. That hasn't been the case. Some Nebraska people thought the same thing. Over the summer, I heard how they were going to teach us how to play football. Going into the Nebraska game, we hadn't been turning it over. We turn it over, they capitalize and we fall behind. But our guys stayed with it and you saw how we can be a quick- strike offense. We scored 14 quick points in less than two minutes before halftime. That spoke volumes on how good we could be. I liked Bret's approach after back-to-back losses at Michigan State and Ohio State. Those type of games are hard to get out of the system. Think back to 2004 when Kyle Orton was the quarterback at Pur- due and we flip him upside down in the closing seconds and Scott Starks picks up the ball and scores and we steal the win. Purdue was unbeaten when we got there and wound up losing four straight. Some believe Purdue still hasn't recovered. Bret's focus has never changed. It's the 1-and-0 mantra. And the kids buy into it. That's why we were able to refo- cus after those two heartbreaking losses. I was thrilled for our players and coaches after winning the first Big Ten championship game. That was a heavyweight fight. Both teams were ready to play and went toe-to-toe. Our commissioner, Jim Delany, put it in perspective afterward when he said, "Wow.'' This entire season has been very satisfying. We had a chance to run the table, but that's very dif- ficult; especially going on the road for back-to-back Saturday night games. But we won the division, we won the league title game and we're playing in the Rose Bowl. Now we've got to cap it off with a win.

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