New Wisconsin Quarterback

Wisconsin is a program that needs respect. They play football the right way and despite zero advantage in recruiting can still compete for Big Ten titles and January bowl games on a seemingly annual basis. And yet who says boo about the Badgers? The program is still transitioning into new coach Gary Andersen's vision--you will not recognize the defense this year--and one of the key components of that is the quarterback position. Now starting for the Badgers is Tanner McEvoy, who is athletic enough to have started three games at safety last year and best represents the dual-threat look Wisconsin now wants at the position. His reward? LSU on August 30th. I would bet that last year's starter Joel Stave will play some, especially if they need to air it out, but for now McEvoy is the man. All of us fellow graduates of Bergen Catholic High School are proud. Of course the main feature of Wisconsin's offense is star back Melvin Gordon and it will be interesting to see how he fares against the Tigers. LSU was run on last year and while they have talent in the front seven it remains to be seen if they can improve on last season's mediocre efforts at run defense. Gordon will be quite the challenge. The other challenge for an LSU program that has lost an incredible amount of the talent the past two seasons will be getting the youngsters ready to go on August 30 against a quality opponent. They too will have a new quarterback and may well go with both soph Anthony Jennings, who showed flashes last year off the bench, and frosh Brandon Harris. The main focus for fans of college football recruiting will be superstar recruit Leonard Fournette, who combination of speed and size is resonant of some of the great big backs in college football history. This is one of those games that will be fun to watch for both the quality of the effort and the unleashing of talent, new and old. I believe that the game goes down the wire and it will have major ramifications for the Big Ten come December if the Badgers can pull off the slight upset in Houston.

View From Bennett Avenue

Michigan State beat Wisconsin in basketball tonight in overtime, thus giving the Spartans wins over highly respected opponents in an extra session in both football and basketball over a 36-hour period. Wisconsin? In that same period they lost both the Rose Bowl and tonight's huge hoops game in agonizingly close fashion, with each ending when refs went to tape to determine clock ran out on Badgers (Wilson's misguided attempt to spike ball and game-tying three-pointer that was eventually waived off). Weird.

What We Learned Saturday

Yet another exciting Saturday of college football as Wisconsin stunned Ohio State, Steve Spurrier and Florida both lost and Nebraska still has some work to do to become a national title contender.

With the game at night Camp Randall was rocking even more than usual and no. 1 Ohio State was knocked down at the opening bell thanks to WR David Gilreath's 97y scoring return of opening kickoff. They then were further beaten down by allowing two TD runs by big RB John Clay, who rushed for 104y. The Badgers dominated in the trenches early in putting the Buckeyes in a deep 21-0 hole. But the Buckeyes showed some mettle by reeling off 18 straight points over the course of the middle of the game. Unfortunately for them, Wisconsin showed even more mettle by answering with the game's final 10 pts. The reward for Wisconsin? A trip to Iowa; the Hawkeyes have won six of the last eight games played in that series.

Florida has lost three straight games. As someone who really does not like Urban Meyer, I was pretty happy about the game effort turned in by Mississippi State. I also did not see the outcome as some huge upset as the Gators have had issues all year and the Bulldogs have been playing tough since hiring head coach Dan Mullen away from Meyer's staff (more about that later in the week). Meanwhile Auburn is getting a lot attention as they remain undefeated, but come on now. Arkansas brought in a little-used back-up--albeit a talented kid--and he ripped apart their defense. If QB Cam Newton was merely good, Auburn would have a couple of losses.

Meanwhile, how well did Mack Brown sleep last night? Texas went from annual national title contender to also ran after two losses. But the team gave a more complete effort than in either of their losses and should be back on track for future dominance. The Huskers, meanwhile, showed that an over-reliance on a freshman QB can sometimes haunt you. The bigger issue--as it well may be for Auburn soon--is that a fast rise from good-to-solid, at times mediocre--to suddenly great is difficult for a collection of kids. Nebraska went from a 2-TD dog to Texas last year to a 10-pt favorite this year. The team could not handle their sudden thrust into that position. Head coach Bo Pelini has to get his charges re-focused quickly as Oklahoma State and Missouri are next up for the Huskers. They are a combined 12-0.

So it was another great day for college football. Meanwhile the big game today for the NFL? A battle of over-rated "powers" Minnesota and Dallas.

Remember When

Big game tonight in the Big Ten, which inspired this look back to October 27, 1962 when Wisconsin was the higher-ranked team entering this match-up, as recapped in The USA TODAY College Football Encyclopedia.

OHIO STATE 14 Wisconsin 7

Before 85,640, Ohio State (3-2) elbowed way back into Big 10 race. Buckeyes scored 1st on QB Joe Sparma's 21y pass to HB Paul Warfield (pictured). Wisconsin (4-1) tied it in 2nd Q with surprise maneuver. After DB Jim Schenk's INT, Badgers ran plunge, then quick pass without huddle: QB Ron VanderKelen's 47y TD to HB Jim Smith. Trio of Ohio FBs combined to take advantage of personal foul on 57y 4th Q drive. FB Dave Francis appeared to be punched, and officials walked off PEN to Badgers 29YL. FBs Dave Katterhenrich and Bob Butts alternated driving to 1YL, and QB John Mummey sneaked over.

Loss chased Wisconsin out of nation's top ten, but Badgers recovered to win conference.