In front of a crowd of more than 76,000 eager fans, new head coach Gary Anderson and the Wisconsin football team kicked off their nonconference schedule Saturday exactly as planned: a 45-0 shutout against their visitors from the University of Massachusetts.

While Andersen admitted he was nervous when the game began, the butterflies quickly faded for the first-year Wisconsin head coach after newly-named starting quarterback Joel Stave opened the scoring less than four minutes into the first quarter with a 4-yard run.

However, they would return later in the first half as the Wisconsin offense stagnated and struggled to create many more chances – taking only two field goal attempts over the next 24 minutes and only converting one of them from 21 yards.

The turning point in the game came with 3:33 remaining until halftime when redshirt sophomore running back Gordon shot through the line of scrimmage virtually untouched before collecting an easy 70-yard touchdown.

Up 17, Andersen and the Badgers never looked back.

“It was going back-and-forth a bit. We had opportunities and we didn’t convert,” Andersen said. “We needed to make that play and get us going and headed in the right direction.

“Big plays are huge. If you can take them in the run game and get them in the throw, obviously, that’s a big part of the offense. Our goal is to have a certain number of big plays every single game.”

Atypical of the slow, grinding offense the Badgers usually execute, big plays played an influential role in Wisconsin’s success throughout the afternoon – scoring four of their six touchdowns on plays of over 50 yards.

In addition to Gordon’s long run in the first half, White would add a 51-yard touchdown run and redshirt senior wide receiver Jared Abbrederis would haul in both a 57-yard and 65-yard touchdown pass to get in on the act in the second half.

On the day, all three Wisconsin running backs would finish with 100 yards, Both White and Gordon each collected 146 yards, while freshmen Corey Clement added 102 yards in the third and fourth quarters.

Saturday’s game was only the third time in school history that three backs all surpassed the 100-yard mark, with the most recent occurrence dating back to the 2012 Big Ten Championship game against Nebraska.

Still in spite of a game for the record books, Gordon and White were quick to deflect the praise, crediting the offensive line’s effective blocking for the relative ease with which they were able to navigate the running lanes.

“We have a great offensive line,” White said after the game. “We have a lot of confidence in them. There’s a lot of change this year, but those guys work hard every day at practice.”

While the running game showed promise in its first public unveiling in the regular season this year, the passing game showed signs of inconsistency.

At the half, Stave had his first interception of the season and had completed only four of 11 passes for 36 yards, with none of his completions going to his favorite target, Abbrederis.

However, things improved almost immediately in the second half.

A vote of confidence in his inconsistent quarterback, offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig opened up Wisconsin’s first drive of the second half with a pass play designed to find Abbrederis downfield.

This time Stave connected.

“If it’s up in the air and it’s close, [Jared Abbrederis] is going to come down with it most of the time,” Andersen said. ” We underthrew the first one, but it was a good call. … We kind of amped that up in the second half and players make plays.”

Stave would finish the day 9-for-17 with 197 yards and two touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive coordinator Dave Aranda’s new 3-4 defense held the Minutemen scoreless – the first time Wisconsin has done so since a 35-0 victory over Oregon State in 2011.

Throughout the game, Wisconsin gave up a total of 212 yards to the Minutemen and allowed only one good scoring opportunity – a missed 47-yard field goal in the second quarter.

As far as a first test for their new defense, senior linebacker Chris Borland believes things couldn’t have gone much better.

“It was a lot of fun,” Borland said. ” I think we could kind of sense the confusion on the other team’s side, and anytime an offense is confused, they’ll be playing on their heels a little bit.”

Perhaps the most unexpected moment, in a game that was never destined to be much of a test for the Badgers, was the entrance of redshirt freshman Bart Houston ahead sixth-year senior Curt Phillips for the last six minutes of the game.

Andersen indicated after the game that Phillips is still the backup quarterback and Houston had been given the minutes at Phillips own request.

“[I was] going to put Curt in the game and Curt comes up to me and says, “Coach, let Bart take those snaps,'” Andersen said. “What else do you say as a coach than that’s a tremendous kid, unselfish, and excited about being part of this team.

Highly-touted redshirt sophomore Tanner McEvoy – who at one point in the offseason seemed poised to challenge for the starting quarterback position – would make an appearance at wide receiver for Wisconsin with the game already locked up in the waning minutes.

Notes: The win now marks the 16th-straight season-opening victory for the Badgers extending back to 1998 – good enough for the third-longest active streak in the nation. The game also marked the eighth time since 2004 that Wisconsin scored at least 34 points in its opener.