Instant Analysis: Wisconsin-Fresno State

On a day in the college football world when mistakes were abundant and omnipresent, the Wisconsin Badgers--with little fanfare but considerable wisdom--allowed the Fresno State Bulldogs to dictate play... and implode.

The prospect of traveling across the country to play a late-night game before a rabid Fresno crowd did not enable the Badgers and head coach Bret Bielema to sleep peacefully. However, that unsettling reality did not prevent the esteemed school in Madison from testing itself against a potential BCS-busting opponent. So after Saturday night’s ugly 13-10 win over Pat Hill’s Bulldogs, don’t talk to the Cheeseheads about their lack of style points, or an absence of offensive firepower. Merely being able to pull a win out of the fire in Fresno—on a night when the locals were ready for a breakthrough of their own—says a great deal about the poise and purposefulness of the Big Ten’s main challenger to Ohio State.

Don’t tell any Wisconsin coach or player that Fresno handed the Badgers most of their 13 points (with an interception and a punt that hit the back leg of a punt return man). Don’t bother to claim that the Badgers benefited from a missed 35-yard field goal by FSU kicker Kevin Goessling with 11:16 left in the fourth quarter. Don’t even try to suggest that Fresno State would have prevailed if Bulldog receiver Seyi Ajirotutu had been able to catch a deep ball from quarterback Tom Brandstater that clanged off his hands with 6:56 left in regulation.

No, any such line of argumentation wouldn’t go over well in the Wisconsin locker room. Instead, mention how the Badgers—when backed up to their own 1-yard line in the final two minutes—pounded out a first down to seal their satisfying triumph. Mention how the Badgers’ defense—constantly under fire in a tense second half—repeatedly found the will to deny the Bulldogs whenever the home team threatened to take the lead. Mention how Wisconsin’s defensive front solidly won the battle of the trenches against Fresno’s offensive line. Mention how a collection of key sacks and run-stuffing stops prevented FSU from gaining any offensive momentum whatsoever.

Wisconsin’s win in central California was hardly a thing of art, but the end result is a beautiful thing for the Badgers, who just advanced several notches in the college football pecking order while eliminating Fresno State from the BCS-buster sweepstakes. Not bad for a cross-country flight and a night of work under difficult circumstances.