At 5-0, Wisconsin is off to its third-best start in 80 years.
The only times Wisconsin made faster starts–in 1993 and 1998–the Badgers won the Big Ten title and went to the Rose Bowl. The Badgers also finished sixth in the Associated Press poll both times.
It’s hard to say whether the 19th-ranked Badgers are that good, or whether their opponents are that bad. None of Wisconsin’s first five victims–Fresno State, UNLV, West Virginia, Northern Illinois and Arizona–have a winning record against Division I-A schools.
When the Badgers had to rally to beat Fresno State and Northern Illinois at home, some interpreted it as a sign of weakness. But coach Barry Alvarez tried to put a positive spin on the unimpressive showings. He said it helped prepared the Badgers for tight Big Ten games.
What he didn’t say is that most Big Ten teams are mediocre, so a weak non-conference schedule also gave the Badgers a taste of what’s to come in the next two months.
“Putting your backs against the wall, having to play a four-quarter game where, if you make a mistake, you lose the game. . . . We have been through that situation,” Alvarez said. “Those are great chances to have, especially if you come out on the positive end of it. All of that contributes and helps prepare this team for the Big Ten.”
The Badgers face their stiffest test when 20th-ranked Penn State visits Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions (3-1, 0-1 in the Big Ten) battered Nebraska 40-7 on Sept. 14, and their lone blemish is a 42-35 overtime loss to Iowa.
Elsewhere, Notre Dame coach Ty Willingham leads the ninth-ranked Fighting Irish against Stanford, which he left last January to take over in South Bend, Ind. Willingham won’t say whether the injured Carlyle Holiday will start at quarterback; if he can’t play, Pat Dillingham will make his first college start.
In other Top 25 action, No. 7 Georgia puts its 4-0 record on the line against No. 22 Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; 13th-ranked Kansas State visits Colorado; and 17th-ranked Washington State plays host to No. 18 Southern California in a pivotal Pac-10 game.
In Madison, Wis., the showdown between the Badgers and Nittany Lions could become a duel between two of the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten–Wisconsin’s Brooks Bollinger and Penn State’s Zack Mills.
Bollinger, a 6-foot-2-inch senior from Grand Forks, N.D., has a career record of 27-7 as a starter. Bollinger isn’t flashy–he ranks 10th among Big Ten passers–but he has proven effective in the inconsistent Badgers attack, which ranks last in Big Ten total offense at 370.8 yards per game.
Bollinger has thrown only one interception in 111 passes this season while completing 58.8 percent of his throws.
“He’s a great competitor and he has gotten better all of the time,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. “He is a much better quarterback than he was a couple of years ago. He has a lot of poise, is aggressive and strong.
“He is a good, tough competitor that is obviously very coachable,” Paterno said. “He is very intelligent. He is a coach’s player and I would love to have him.”
Of course, Paterno has Mills, a redshirt sophomore from Ijamsville, Md. Like Bollinger, the 6-2 Mills isn’t a prototypical pocket passer. But his mobility has given the once-stodgy Penn State offense a fresh look.
“He is like Brooks–[defenders] can do everything else right and he can still make one guy miss,” Alvarez said. “As a defensive coach, I do not like that. He throws it down the field well too. He has a pretty good command of the offense.”
Mills has only been sacked five times in four games. He ranks second in Big Ten passing, with seven touchdowns and only two interceptions in 116 pass attempts. He has completed 59.5 percent of his throws.
Mills helped the Nittany Lions rally from a 35-13 deficit in the final eight minutes last week against Iowa. Though Penn State eventually came out on the short end, Mills’ efforts stood out–and it made Alvarez squirm watching the game on television during the Badgers’ bye week.
“The way he came back, you saw the explosiveness at the end of the game last week,” Alvarez said. “They scored so fast and got the ball down the field. To get back into that game and push it down[field] was pretty impressive.”
