After Wisconsin defeated Buffalo inside Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, Luke Fickell will now look ahead to his first road game against the Washington State Cougars.

BadgerBlitz.com brings you our weekly "3-2-1" series, honing in on the Week 1 victory over Buffalo, and what it will mean against Washington State.

Tanner Mordecai perhaps didn’t live up to his lofty expectations in his first game, but it’s mostly because he didn’t have to. The Badgers’ run game did more than enough to secure a win. A quarterback hardly matters when the running backs combine for 312 rushing yards.

All Mordecai really had to do was avoid mistakes, but he almost failed at that. His first interception came in the beginning of the second quarter - a pass intended for Tucker Ashcraft that was a yard behind him - right into the hands of a lurking Bulls safety. The second was more concerning. After feeling the pressure of a blitz, Mordecai panicked and quickly threw it directly into the hands of linebacker Shaun Dolac. These were poor mistakes, and shouldn’t just be shrugged off. But they’re signs of Mordecai’s nerves and potential adjustment woes, not his quality as a quarterback.

The coaching staff mostly kept him on a leash, limiting the vast majority of his passes to short yardage, but he still showed plenty of impressive flashes. In the second quarter, he threw an accurate deep pass to an open Skyler Bell down the middle of the field. A would-be touchdown slipped through Bell’s hands, a sign that Mordecai wasn’t the only nervous one. Tweleve minutes later, Mordecai threw his only touchdown of the day, a 29-yard bullet to an open Chimere Dike.

Mordecai's great plays were few, and his end-of-game stats weren’t very impressive. But he’s still clearly far more talented than any other Badger quarterback of recent years. The mistakes will become a real concern if they continue deep into the season.