Alabama vs. Wisconsin: Game notes

The No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers begin their 2015 season with a monumental task of facing No. 3 Alabama Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

General stats

• It's been pointed out many a times already, but the Badgers do lead the all-time series against the Crimson Tide 1-0, but the only match-up was back on Nov. 3, 1928 with a 15-0 victory for Wisconsin.
• Alabama is 76-48-4 in neutral-site games and 17-7-1 in domed stadiums
• As I type with ESPN College Gameday currently going, the Tide leads all programs in appearances since 2007 with 24
• The Badgers have won three of its last five games with teams ranked in the top five of the AP poll
• Wisconsin assistant coaches on the sideline for today's game: defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph, defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield, special teams coach Chris Haering, defensive backs coach Daronte Jones, running backs coach John Settle
• Wisconsin assistant coaches who will be in the booth: Wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore, outside linebackers coach Tim Tibesar, tight ends coach Mickey Turner
• The Badgers have won 60 games since the start of the 2009 season -- which makes them one of seven Power Five conference teams to average 10 wins per season. They trail only Alabama (72), Oregon (70), Ohio State (67), Florida State (65), Stanford (62) and LSU (61)
• Alabama's been ranked in the AP Top 10 for 67 consecutive weeks from 2010-present.
• In fact, Wisconsin has won at least 10 games in six of its last 10 seasons.
• The Badgers return 11 starters from their 2014 squad for the 2015 season.
• Wisconsin's a young team, as 46.5 percent of its roster is composed of either redshirt or true freshman
• Since 1990, the Badgers have awarded 89 walk-ons with scholarships, the most recent being redshirt freshmen Ryan Connelly and Zander Neuville on Aug. 25
• The Badgers, under Aranda, have only allowed 18.6 points per game since 2013 -- that places Wisconsin's D in the top five among Power Five programs in that time.
• Also since Aranda arrived, the Badgers defense has the fifth-best mark in allowing the fewest passing yards per game (184.6 yards per contest).
• In 2014 alone, the Badgers' defense ranked fourth in total defense (294.1 yards per game) and gave up 20.8 points per game
• Wisconsin junior running back Corey Clement has rushed for over 100 yards in a game seven times in his first two seasons as a Badger, which is more than what Melvin Gordon (2), Brent Moss (2), Terrell Fletcher (2) and Montee Ball (6) rushed for in their first two collegiate seasons.
• Alabama junior running back Derrick Henry has 1,372 yards rushing in his career -- the 54th player in school history to run for over 1,000 yards in his career.
• The Badgers offensive linemen, who will face a tough task against Alabama on Saturday, allowed just 13 sacks in 14 games -- tied for eighth-fewest sacks allowed by an FBS team in 2014.
• Alabama's defense has held its opponents to 10 points of fewer 51 times since 2007.

Stave Stats

Redshirt senior quarterback Joel Stave is 21-7 as a quarterback at Wisconsin. His .750 winning percentage ranks him third-best all-time in Wisconsin history. Let's take a look at more "Stave Stats:"

• Career passing yards: Stave needs 42 yards to  Mike Samuel for No. 6 (4,989), 56 yards to jump to No. 5 past Randy Wright (5,003) and 324 to pass Scott Tolzien (5,271) to be rank fourth all-time
• Career pass attempts: 51 pass attempts will put Stave fifth all-time past Samuel (if that happens...well, you know it's probably been a long night)
• Career pass completions: Stave needs three completions to pass Samuel (390) for No.5, 23 completions to overtake No. 4 from Tolzien (410), and 27 to become third in school history to pass Brooks Bollinger (414)
• Passing touchdowns: The former walk-on just needs one to tie Wright and Bollinger for third all-time with 38, and two to overtake No. 3. He's 11 away from John Stocco, who's No. 2 all-time with 47 touchdown passes.