The Badgers will play their third game of the season Saturday when they host Bowling Green, entering the game with a record of 2-1 after easily defeating Western Illinois two weeks ago with a bye this past weekend.

The Badgers will not be overlooking Bowling Green, especially since the Falcons upset the Indiana Hoosiers last week in a 45-42 shootout.

At his Monday press conference, Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen made it clear that he expects this Saturday’s game to be a difficult test against a quality opponent.

“It’ll be a big challenge for us,” Andersen said. “Defensively, we’re going to have to be on our toes and take care of business. We need to get back to playing solid, consistent offense and we expect to play that way against a defense that’s going to be very aggressive.”

Andersen described Bowling Green as an opponent that plays at as fast a pace on offense and uses a lot of blitzing.

However, the Badgers’ head coach was confident that his team is ready for the style of football that the Falcons will throw at them.

“We’ve practiced against pace, we’ll continue to, and we can’t allow their pace to affect the game in a positive way,” Andersen said. “It causes some issues, but we’ve got to be prepared for it.”

In their 37-3 rout of Western Illinois in game two, the Badgers did many things well, but running the ball was not one of them.

Star running back and Heisman hopeful Melvin Gordon had an underwhelming performance against the Leathernecks, as the Badgers did not have the same success on the ground that they have become so accustomed to over the years. Despite averaging 7.8 yards per carry over his career and 8.8 yards per carry in Wisconsin’s first game against LSU, Gordon averaged only 2.2 yards on 17 carries against Western Illinois.

“Your goal is to find a way to split the defense in half and we weren’t able to do that until late in the third quarter and a few of those runs in the fourth quarter,” Andersen said.

Without a game this past weekend, the Badgers have had two weeks of practice to work on getting the running game back on track, and Andersen admitted Monday that they are focused on running the ball better, knowing that it will be important in order to get a win against a tough team Saturday.

“We want to run the ball better than we did against Western [Illinois],” Andersen said. “Do we expect to run the ball better this week than we did in week two? Yes, we do, and I’m sure Bowling Green is going to load up the box and challenge us to run the ball effectively.”

Unlike the running game, Wisconsin’s passing attack increased dramatically in their second game as quarterback Tanner McEvoy appeared to finally get into a rhythm and look comfortable throwing the ball. After a poor first game against LSU when he had just 50 yards through the air, McEvoy played much better against Western Illinois, throwing for 283 yards and three touchdowns while giving the ball away only once on an interception.

Wisconsin will need McEvoy to keep progressing in order to beat Bowling Green and lead the Badgers to a successful season. While Andersen said he still wants his mobile quarterback to use his legs when the time calls for it, the Badgers’ head coach thinks one area for improvement that would allow McEvoy to develop further would be to utilize his ability to throw downfield when it is open.

“I’m not asking him to [become a pocket passer],” said Andersen. “But we want him to hang in there, let the offensive line do their work and throw the ball down the field when the opportunity is given.”

Along with McEvoy, a big reason for the much-improved passing game in week two was the breakout performance of wide receiver Alex Erickson, a former walk-on, who caught 10 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown against Western Illinois.

Andersen said Monday that he expects Erickson to continue to emerge as a reliable target, especially since he will be heavily counted on to help McEvoy maintain a strong attack through the air.

“He’s so detailed, and he’s so smart and so competitive, a lot of times that’s a vicious combination,” Andersen said of his receiver. “I really think his expectations for him is to be a great receiver, not a good receiver and he took some good steps toward that in game two.”

Wisconsin will be looking to have both dimensions clicking in the same game for the first time this season and avoid becoming the second Big Ten team in consecutive weeks to be upset by Bowling Green.

The two teams will kick off at 11 a.m. at Camp Randall Stadium and the game will be broadcasted on ESPN2.