Madison — The Badgers overcame a sluggish start in the first half to top Buffalo 38-17 in the season opener.
BadgerBlitz.com has grades and takeaways from Luke Fickell's Wisconsin debut.
OFFENSE: B-
Wisconsin got off to an extremely slow start offensively, but they were able to bounce back by riding their powerful backfield duo of Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi. Those two formed a fantastic one-two punch, but after the game Luke Fickell said it's more of a "one-one" punch with how talented the two backs are.
The Badgers punted on four of their first six drives, and struggled to find much rhythm outside of a strong performance by Mellusi early on. They came out a bit tight, and there were a few avoidable mistakes in the first half which, to their credit, they mostly cleaned up in the second.
Early in the second quarter, Tanner Mordecai zipped the football nearly 50 yards over the middle of the field to Skyler Bell, who had a step on the secondary. The ball fell harmlessly incomplete, though, as the receiver turned his head upfield and let the pass bounce off his hands. That wound up coming back to haunt Wisconsin, as two plays later Mordecai threw a pick to Devin Brown, his first of two on the day.
Mordecai's second pick came in the fourth, as he tried to work over the middle and hit Vinny Anthony. Buffalo's star linebacker Shaun Dolac was lurking underneath and jumped the pass for an easy pick. Mordecai was clearly disappointed with his performance after the game.
"It wasn't what I hoped for, but it was something I can learn from with coach Longo going forward, and that's what I'm gonna do and try to be better next week," the quarterback said.
Overall, the offense leaned on the ground game and it was enough to topple Buffalo. The Badgers racked up 312 rushing yards against 189 passing yards, and averaged eight yards-per-carry as a team. They could essentially do whatever they wanted against Buffalo's front seven, and that's an encouraging sign for an offense that clearly will need some time for its passing game to reach its full potential.
