It's Wednesday of homecoming week, and here are your Badger Bits for October 6th!
Could the Wisconsin Badgers be losing their identity as a football team? Mike Fiammetta of the Badger Herald thinks this may be the case after the disappearing act put on by the Badger running game against Michigan State.
With the recent speculation that freshman James White may assume the starting running back position from junior John Clay, it appears as though at least the Wisconsin ground game is in a state of flux. Here's Fiammatta's take on the identity crisis the Badgers might be suffering through:
"It was quite clear early on that Clay, for whatever reason, was just too hesitant to be effective. Why not keep giving White the ball? ... It was so clear from the number of times that the freshman saw he had no holes and simply bounced outside that his speed made him more effective, at least for the remainder of the game."
"Maybe it has become cliché, but a team needs to know what it is. If the Badgers need to change and play to White’s strengths, then so be it. If power running behind that huge offensive line is still the gameplan, OK. Just decide, and stick with it."
More Badger Bits after the jump!
Tom Mulhern of Madison.com thinks that the struggles of the Badgers' 3-3-5 package shouldn't be blamed on the loss of Chris Borland for the season.
Wisconsin men's hockey coach Mike Eaves had a preliminary lineup going for the team's first scrimmage of the season. The men's team will travel down to open the season in St. Louis for the Ice Breaker Tournament against Boston University on Friday.
The United States College Hockey Online poll has the Badgers at #13 to start the season, which is exactly where they are ranked in the pre-season USA Today poll.
Moving on to some pre-homecoming Minnesota coverage:
Matt Lepay has a new blog up on UWBadgers.com about how the rivalry game with the Gophers should not be overlooked this year.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has the book on Minnesota's offense, defense, and special teams.
And finally, our friends at Off Tackle Empire have a new piece up entitled: "What's wrong with the Minnesota Gophers?" In case you missed it, there was also a FanPost called "Why not Minnesota?".
3 days until the Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe!