Offense — B-: Outside of Melvin Gordon’s strong second half, where he had 127 yards and two touchdowns, the offensive unit struggled for much of the game. Were it not for Gordon, the Badgers might have had even more trouble taking care of the Bulls than it did. For the third of four games this year, the passing attack was underwhelming, with Tanner McEvoy throwing for just 160 yards. Although he didn’t have a turnover against South Florida, McEvoy missed a big pass to Sam Arneson and continues to struggle with the deep ball. The ball did get distributed to six different receivers though, and Alex Erickson continues to impress as the number one option.

Defense — B: Although most of the players on defense weren’t happy with their performance against USF, they still held the Bulls to only 10 points and only three in the first half. While they were suspect to a few strings of big plays, the defense responded twice with two crucial turnovers, including an interception by Derek Landisch and a forced fumble by Lubern Figaro that was arguably the play of the game. As they head into Big Ten play the defense will have to limit the big plays if they hope to keep the slow-starting offense in the game, but for Saturday’s performance, the defense certainly did their job and played a big role in giving the Badgers their third straight win.

Special Teams — B: After an impressive game on special teams last Saturday, Kenzel Doe was limited this week by USF’s strong kicking game. Doe had just one opportunity for a return, but made the most of it by taking 24 yards, continuing to showcase his potential as an impact player on the special teams unit. As far as kicking went for Wisconsin, Rafael Gaglianone made both of his field goal tries, albeit both from under 25, and kickoff specialist Andrew Endicott had three touchbacks on six total kickoffs. Chris Dunkley had a punt return for 23 yards, but otherwise Wisconsin had solid kick coverage for most of the game.

Coaching — C+: It was much easier for the UW coaching staff to prepare for USF than it was for Bowling Green two weeks ago. The Bulls ran an offense that was fairly similar to that of the Badgers and the defense appeared to be ready for it. However, overall the Badgers seemed to come out of the gates slow, especially on offense. As they head into Big Ten play, Wisconsin still doesn’t have a down-field threat at wide receiver and the coaches haven’t even tried to find one. There were very few shots taken down the field Saturday, but nevertheless the running game called by offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig was proficient enough to get the win, while Dave Aranda and the defense played well enough to keep the offense in the game.