Wisconsin Football: Grading group performances from week one

Some position groups performed better than others for Wisconsin football against Western Kentucky.

There were a lot of question marks heading into the week one performance for Wisconsin football. All summer long we had heard and read that Wisconsin was capable of winning the Big Ten, and even a national championship, but there were still a ton of questions at key positions.

Those questions were hopefully going to be answered against Western Kentucky, a program struggling to make a bowl game from the Conference USA. The Badgers would have all the time they’d need to shake off the rust.

Some rust was expected, but not in some of the places it ended up being more prevalent. Some key players showed exactly what we had hoped to see in the first week while others struggled to get up to speed.

All in all, the Badgers ended up winning pretty comfortably. The spread of the game wasn’t covered but unlike some other Big Ten teams playing outmatched opponents, the Badgers never gave Western Kentucky much hope of winning.

Each position group had something to prove, including Jonathan Taylor and the offensive line. They’ll be under perhaps more scrutiny than some of the unproven positions throughout the year because the expectations of those groups are sky-high.

If you watched the Wisconsin football game Friday night you know what a lot of these grades will be. But some position groups flew under the radar and still need to be discussed before we wrap up the week and move on to New Mexico.