The Big Ten Conference season continues for the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers after steamrolling the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday. This week, another 11 a.m. CT kickoff awaits UW as Pat Fitzgerald's Northwestern Wildcats come to Madison.
BadgerBlitz.com brings back our 3-2-1 feature to examine what takeaways we have from the week that was, two questions posed, and one more early, bold prediction for Wisconsin's Week 5 matchup against Northwestern.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Wisconsin's defense faced some adversity for the first time this season, and "short memory" helped the unit pull through
The phrase "short memory" applies here and was used after the game to describe how Wisconsin's defense worked out of some challenges against Michigan.
On the Wolverines' first offensive play of the game, Shea Patterson found Ronnie Bell for a 68-yard completion. Safety Eric Burrell missed the tackle on Bell, and it took Faion Hicks running down the speedy Michigan wide out at the UW seven-yard line to stop a score.
Yet two plays later, Reggie Pearson forces a fumble from Michigan back Ben Mason that results in a recovery by Burrell.
"It's a game-changer to get those turnovers, and when you let up that big play, you just got to be ready for the next play," defensive end Matt Henningsen said after the game. “Always head up, got to have a short memory."
After Wisconsin jumped out to a 35-0 lead, Michigan's offense started to find its footing later in the game and its wide receivers began pulling down contested catches. At one point, the Wolverines inched within two scores before an official review overturned a Patterson touchdown pass.
The next play, redshirt senior outside linebacker Zack Baun sacked Patterson, forcing a fumble that wound up in the hands of redshirt senior inside linebacker Chris Orr.
"That was the first adversity we faced all season," Baun said. "I loved the way our guys responded, just telling them don't worry about it, don't worry about it, worry about the next play."
