UW quarterback John Stocco shined in his 2006 home debut against Western Illinois, completing 15 of 25 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown.
Stocco left the game with a bang, hitting his tight end Andy Crooks with a short pass as he was hit hard by the Leathernecks' blitz. Crooks promptly rumbled up the middle for a 24-yard touchdown, putting the Badgers up 34-3 and bringing the Camp Randall crowd to its feet.
However, the only one not standing and cheering was Stocco, who got up gingerly and left under his own power with UW trainers by his side.
Here's the good news: Stocco is fine.
"I just got my head shook up a little bit, I got hit in the jaw, I think, but I feel all right now," Stocco added.
However, since Crooks' touchdown effectively put the game out of reach for UW, Stocco — along with Joe Thomas, Kraig Urbik and other first-stringers — sat the rest of the game. Tyler Donovan took over the reins for the last 10 minutes, and — putting things lightly — didn't impress.
Donovan threw three passes, and only one of them was completed … to Leathernecks cornerback Kevin Almlie, who brought back the interception 17 yards for WIU's only touchdown of the game.
Donovan also was sacked twice and was called for two delay-of-game penalties, although Bielema blamed the coaching staff for the latter of those miscues.
"The part that we've really got to clean up [is] just the mechanics of how the clock is going to be started on the change of possession," Bielema said, referring to the NCAA's new rules in 2006 concerning the play clock. "There's a little bit of inconsistency as far as when that thing is actually starting to roll and the communication to us [as coaches].
"We've just got to get a better feel for that and understand it, because we can't have that happen in Big Ten play."
In the end, despite Donovan's alleged progress in fall camp with UW's first team, the fourth-quarter fiasco could make Badger players, coaches and fans very nervous in thinking about what could happen to Wisconsin's season should Stocco go down.
"Obviously, we didn't execute the way that we needed to out there," Bielema said. "It's been a difficult road, I think, for Tyler … maybe he wasn't as sharp in his preparation as he would be looking back on it."
It wasn't just Donovan, however, who played poorly in the final minutes of the game. The two delay-of-game calls were accompanied by a medley of other bad penalties, including two flags for an ineligible receiver downfield and another for 12 men on the field.
"[There's] a lot of things they can clean up," Stocco said afterward, speaking of the second unit. "A lot of it, we can't have those mistakes, those delay of games, and all that stuff that happened. That wasn't just Tyler, that's the coaches too and other guys out there, that's something that we all have to clean up.
"The more reps [Donovan] gets, the better he's going to get."
Moreover, without Thomas and Urbik anchoring the line, true freshman Lance Smith ran the ball three times for no gain and added a late carry for just one yard.
All told, with penalty yards included, the Badgers ran nine plays in the final 10 minutes for — get ready for this — a loss of 28 yards.
"One thing that I'm not afraid to do as a coach, I love to challenge people," Bielema said. "The one thing [we] need to do is [we] need to respond, and I really expect our team to respond this week."
How, Bielema was asked, would he challenge Donovan after Saturday's debacle?
"Not repeat today's performance," Bielema replied with a wry grin.
