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After drubbing, football team tries to regroup
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Also by Tanner Dabel:
- After drubbing, football team tries to regroup (October 8, 2001)
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by Tanner Dabel
Monday, October 8, 2001
Two days after their 63-32 loss to Indiana, the Badgers were still questioning what happened in the lopsided contest.
“[I’m] speechless,” Wisconsin tight end Mark Anelli said. “In the five years that I’ve been here, I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s real hard to deal with [the loss], but you’ve got to understand that the season is still young, and we’ve got a long ways to go.”
Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez was also looking for answers following his team’s loss, and even acknowledged that he may have to change his system in order to fit the players’ talents on his squad.
“We’ve looked at some of [the fundamentals],” said Alvarez. “Maybe we’re asking some of the kids to do something that’s not their strength There were some plays that were really uncontested. There were some poor fundamentals shown and a lot of times a lack of being physical.”
The Badgers must become physical next Saturday when they face No. 21 OSU at Ohio Stadium.
“[Ohio State’s] defensive front is very physical,” said Alvarez. “They are fast, they don’t stay blocked, and they play with great leverage. Our receivers and quarterbacks are going to have to work hard to get throws.”
In Saturday’s clash with Indiana UW produced its highest point total in a game this season, but it is still not yet a complete unit. “I think that we still need to put it all together, which we haven’t done yet,” Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger said. “We did a lot of good things at times, and then we shot ourselves in the foot.”
What Wisconsin has to do to play consistently and rebound from last week’s tough loss is find veteran leadership. “[Leadership] is hard to put a finger on,” said Alvarez. “Six games into the season, [and] this will be our first test.”
One leader who has already emerged this week is Anelli, a fifth-year senior and one of the Badgers’ captains.
“It’s important to let the young guys know it’s over,” Anelli said. “There’s nothing we can do about it. Forget about it, let’s put it aside, and let’s concentrate harder, watch more film, and let’s practice harder than we have all season.”
Alvarez is also ready to put last Saturday’s loss behind him and move on to preparing for the next game.
“It happened, nobody likes it, nobody is use to it, but [we] have to address it and then get focused on Ohio State,” Alvarez said.
