Thanks all for the welcome....It was certainly...not fun!
On that regard, I'll give a novice take on both teams in that game.
Start with the winners. Wisconsin has a pretty darn good offense. Their line does a solid job, with a couple pretty swell running backs. The receivers will hold their own against most secondaries. Russell Wilson, however, is their offense. My take is that if you insert an average quarterback in there, they become more of an average offense. Saturday, Russell Wilson was pretty much spot- on. Nebraska had 1 chance only for an Int, and our safety knocked our corner out of position and then Toon caught it...With Wilson in charge, I think that they can score points on most defenses. Wilson is a very good college quarterback that makes excellent decisions and has the physical tools to do lots of things.
Wisconsin's defense was very servicable Saturday, but at this point, they are not elite. Nebraska had receivers running open, our quarterback just couldn't hit them. The ground game was solid most of the game, just didn't use it as needed. We needed to run the ball then mix in the occassional play action pass to win; instead our new O.C. thought he'd try to make Taylor into Tom Brady...which he will never be. Our play calling certainly contributed to the success of the Badger defense.
Wisconsin's weakest part of the team at this time seemed to be special teams, kick coverage in particular. Not sure where our average starting field position was on kickoffs, but it seemed we were at the 35 to 40 yardline most of the time. That shorter field will come back to haunt even an excellent defense.
Not the way that we wanted to start the Big 10, but we got beat by a better team.
As far as how Wisconsin compares to the elite of the former Big 12...I think their offense could hold up pretty well with Wilson in charge. However, the power offenses...namely OU and OSU, would most certainly give them fits. Didn't see the ages of the Badgers defenders, but I was guessing that they may be young? I don't think that Texas is on this level...OU may blow them off the field Saturday.
Nebraska certainly has some things to fix, or this could be an ugly year. We are missing coach Marvin Sanders more and more, and it's hard to replace the 3 players from the secondary that are now seeing action on Sundays...Offensive is servicable, and with the talent that we have on defense, I hope that they eventually gel!
Glad to be in the Big 10...it will be an interesting year.