The Wisconsin Badgers completed their toughest test of the season in Week 1 versus No. 4 Notre Dame. It was a battle for two, maybe even three, quarters, and then the Badgers disappeared and let Notre Dame run the show. While getting punched in the mouth and losing by 28 is about as discouraging as it gets, there is some reason for optimism for the rest of the season.
The Badgers showed a few things they never showed last season. Let's start with the good news and end with the concerning.
Areas for optimism:
1. Notre Dame will be the best team they see all year (by a landslide)
The schedule completely opens up from now on. The Badgers won't be 20.5 underdogs at any point in the rest of the season (unless they do what they did last year again). The next two games are tune-up games, finding a way to get right. Then there's Penn State, and the Badgers have to begin to believe they can win that. From then on, the schedule really starts to cruise for the Badgers.
All the goals for the season are still in play. This Notre Dame game went how many thought it would, so now let's see if the rest of the season follows suit. Somewhere between six and eight wins.
2. Offensive line is drastically better than last season
The offensive line is still a work in progress, but what they did against Notre Dame's strongest unit (the defensive line) shouldn't be taken for granted. Yes, we want to see more, but the Irish truly may have the best defensive line in all of football. Yet, Colton Joseph was only sacked twice and allowed the running backs to have over three yards per carry.
We want more, and we will see more, but had last year's offensive line played in this game, Colton Joseph would already be injured.
3. Explosive plays were there
Malachi Coleman is getting a lot of love after his performance against Notre Dame, and rightfully so. He was something special, and a 28-yard touchdown absolutely embarrassed the poor Irish defender. However, he wasn't the only one with an explosive play; Eugene Hilton Jr. had a 20-yard catch, and Tyrell Henry and Chris Brooks Jr. both had 17-yard catches (yes, those technically aren't explosives).
The Badgers also just missed on some others. So, there is going to be some explosive plays this season, and Colton Joseph has the juice that the Badgers will need. It would have been nice to see an explosive run play, but the Irish are just too good in that department.
Areas to worry:
1. Pass defense struggles
This is a two-fold worry; first is the pass rush. Sebastian Cheeks had one sack, but other than that, the Badgers were not in the backfield enough. It was the only tackle for loss. Wisconsin will have to find ways to generate pressure off the edge and tackle runners behind the line.
Second, they simply could not defend the pass in the secondary. Allowing all sorts of chunk plays to keep drives alive. Some of that may have come from a lack of pass rush, but the Badgers have to defend the pass better than they did against Notre Dame.
2. Need more from the run game
On the other side, the Badgers need more from the run game. Yes, the offensive line was mentioned as an encouraging factor, but Wisconsin couldn't get the ground game going. The team accounted for only 67 yards on the ground, with 49 coming from Abu Sama III. Not good enough; don't panic about it yet, because it was against Notre Dame's top-ranked defensive line, but still.
One big question:
Where does this team find the juice or the motivation to fight after getting punched? Notre Dame came out of the locker room at halftime and scored a touchdown on a nine-play drive, and then Wisconsin shrank. Disappeared and lost the juice to keep doing what they were doing in the first half. That has to be fixed; someone has to step up and keep this team fired up.
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