with the choice. So what's going to spell the differ- ence between O'Brien, Phillips and Stave? "Consistency,'' said Stave, a redshirt freshman
from Greenfield. "It's about who can get out there and consistently take care of the ball, make good throws and make the right decisions.'' "Consistency,'' echoed Phillips, a redshirt senior from Kingsport, Tenn. "You always hear the term 'game manager'' with Wisconsin quarterbacks and that's important — taking care of the ball.'' To date, the three quarterbacks have been get- ting equal reps in practice. "At some point,'' Stave reasoned, "someone has got to separate themselves.'' What already separates O'Brien from the others is his 17 career starts at Maryland. "Ultimately,'' said O'Brien, a redshirt junior from Kernersville, N.C., "a quar- terback is judged on third downs and the red zone, so taking care of the football, moving the chains on third down and keeping drives alive … (are key components). "One thing I've learned the last couple of years by playing is the better that you do at that — with the turnover battle on third down — the better chance you have at winning football games. "A lot of the intangible things
that go along with being a quar- terback,'' he said also factors into the equation, such as "leading a team, and managing a game, es- pecially with this kind of an of- fense.''
It didn't take long for O'Brien
to figure out that a prominent running attack is the focal point for the Badgers. He watched film on every game from 2010 and 2011 to get a feel for that style of play.
"It's a very patient offense,'' he observed of the last two Rose Bowl teams; one of which was
25
"Being prepared every day is something I take a lot of pride in,'' O'Brien said in response to a media day re- quest to identify his strengths. "Getting the ball to the right guys on time is some- thing that you can never get too good at — along with just being a leader in the huddle and the locker room.''
