We now sit less than two weeks away from No. 12 Wisconsin hosting No. 19 Penn State. UW concluded its 14th fall camp practice on Saturday morning inside Camp Randall Stadium, one not just open to reporters but to fans as well

Practices are now closed to the media for the rest of camp, but BadgerBlitz.com compiled another list of takeaways from the four practices witnessed between Monday and Saturday.

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BadgerBlitz.com noted last weekend that the defense appeared ahead of the offense, especially after a dominant defensive performance on Aug. 14. The asserted aggressiveness of Jim Leonhard's unit stymied offensive production during that Saturday session on the field north of Camp Randall Stadium.

Three practices later on that same field, the offense scored four touchdowns during 11-on-11 team periods. Quarterback Graham Mertz hit a rhythm and found wide receiver Kendric Pryor a few times on passes that would move the chains. In one team drive, he hit Pryor twice, then finished with a touchdown to wide receiver Danny Davis. Quarterback Chase Wolf also threw two unofficial, would-be touchdowns with the second-team offense in 11-on-11 drives as well.

Mertz pointed to a couple reasons for the success on Wednesday.

"The only thing that was different was just consistency and doing the right thing, doing the little things of your position, what you're asked to do on every play and executing those little tasks," Mertz said after practice on Wednesday. "And I just think that for us, it's how can each position group kind of come together and be one offense.

"I think that in the end that that's what we need, and that's where we're going, but still got more work to do in that area."

As the Friday session progressed, the offense did not score another "touchdown" per se in 11-on-11 team periods (one touchdown in red zone skelley), but still looked smoother than the week prior. Then on Saturday during the practice open to fans, Mertz delivered some timely passes to tight end Jake Ferguson, and the third-year signal caller looked solid during the one skeleton period in connecting on all but one throw in four attempts. During a red zone 11-on-11 drive, he finished a series with a touchdown strike to wide receiver Chimere Dike.

The run game on Saturday also looked the sharpest it has been in fall camp, with decent runs by running backs Chez Mellusi and a returning Jalen Berger (right leg). The defense mixed starters and contributors interchangeably during the nearly two-hour weekend practice, as perhaps a caveat to what was seen this weekend overall. However, throwing in solid outings by Isaac Guerendo of late, there appeared to be promising signs about two weeks out from the season opener.