While it wasn’t pretty down the stretch, the Badgers started the 2009 season with a win over a pesky Northern Illinois team. It’s hard to draw too many solid conclusions from one game, but here are three things we learned from the season opener.

1. Tolzien looks like the answer at QB

I know it was just one game against a MAC opponent, but Scott Tolzien showed fans why the coaches named him the starter with a strong performance in his first collegiate start. Tolzien delivered a perfect ball to Isaac Anderson on the Badgers first play (albeit he was wide open) and he was excellent on third downs. He kept the chains moving and made a variety of impressive throws that got a number of receivers involved.

2. Watt and Taylor are impact players

J.J. Watt is exactly what this defense needed – an aggressive, athletic, and versatile defensive lineman that has the size to disrupt plays at the line of scrimmage. Watt made a number of nice plays on Saturday and is a perfect complement to O’Brien Schofield. Mike Taylor had the play of the game with when he ripped the ball from the NIU runner and held on. The explosive linebacker is emerging as this unit’s top playmaker. ?

3. This team still has trouble closing out games

I don’t know why, but for whatever reason UW has a lot of trouble putting teams away. The Badgers outplayed NIU in every way on Saturday but only managed to win by a single possession. Mental lapses at the end of games can ruin a team — just look at what happened time and again last season. This team needs to develop a killer instinct if it wants to make this season a special one.