Wisconsin Football

Wisconsin Badgers news, 9/29: UW sees need for improvement as Big Ten play begins

By Mike Fiammetta@mikefiammetta Sep 29, 2014, 8:04am CDT

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Happy Monday, friends. After taking down South Florida, Wisconsin enters its first Big Ten game week of the season. The Badgers will travel to Northwestern on Saturday, where they haven't won since 1999 (they've also only played there three times since then). Northwestern's pulled to 2-2 after defeating a lethargic Penn State team on Saturday, though the Wildcats have had anything but an impressive season.

Still, all the weaknesses and issues we've found with Wisconsin will be even more significant come Big Ten play. That's the theme of our first link in this week's Badger Bits.

Players, coach Gary Andersen frustrated by lack of urgency | Madison.com

Konrad Zagzebski knows that something is amiss with the University of Wisconsin football team, but the senior defensive end had a hard time articulating it Saturday.

"I wish I had the right words to describe it for you," he said.

Questions abound as UW looks ahead to Big Ten season | Madison.com

A slightly more reasoned, rational approach from Gary Andersen:

"There's definitely a lot to wonder about," coach Gary Andersen said. "I'm sure every football team in the country has that."

As Badgers enters Big Ten play, coach sees room for improvement | JSOnline

Here's an Opponent Watch similar to Louis Bien's for B5Q, though surely not as entertaining.

Notebook: Badgers concerned about inconsistent aerial attack | FOX Sports Wisconsin

"We've got to connect on the big ball," McEvoy said. "We've got to hit some deep passes. We had some today we hit, just like third-and-5s, some 15 yarders. It was good to get those, but we've got to keep working, so a lot of room for improvement. We'll work on it."

Badgers report card: A tale of two halves yet again | FOX Sports Wisconsin

A tale of two halves indeed. Here's a generally positive report card from Jesse Temple.

Landisch leading UW defense | BadgerBlitz

"It becomes stronger and stronger; his presence is felt on the field, his presence is felt in the locker room more every single day and every single week," Andersen said. "And you can see it on Tuesday just as well as you can see it on Saturday.

"He's a huge part of that defense, and there's some of those kids that are out there playing right now that need to continually learn how to prepare consistently, and they should follow Derek Landisch."