When the Wisconsin Badgers take the field Saturday against the West Virginia Mountaineers, UW will be riding a two game winning streak and opening a four game home stand that Wisconsin hopes will be kind. The Mountaineers were able to manhandle Tennessee-Chattanooga last weekend but may find tougher sledding at Camp Randall against the Badgers. With no further ado here are the Badger Herald’s five keys to victory.
Contain Avon Cobourne
Cobourne may be short on size, listed at only 5 foot 9, 195 pounds, but he has certainly been long on numbers during his career at West Virginia. Cobourne went over the 100-yard mark last week after achieving that feat seven times during the 2001 campaign, including games against Miami, Notre Dame and Syracuse. This season Cobourne is attempting to become just the fifth back in NCAA history to carry the ball for over 1000 yards in four consecutive seasons. The last to do it was Ron Dayne. Cobourne is the heart and soul of the Mountaineer attack as he provides a double threat — running and catching the ball out of the backfield, a new wrinkle in the West Virginia game plan. If UW slows down Cobourne, the Mountaineer attack will falter.
Continued good play from UW linebackers
Last week the foursome of Jeff Mack, Kareem Timbers, Broderick Willliams and Alex Lewis were a force to be reckoned with against Las Vegas. The group had a hand in at least two fumbles and an interception as well, while showing speed that has not been seen from a linebacker unit at Wisconsin in some time. West Virginia showed a fairly balanced attack last weekend, so the Badger linebackers will need to be strong against both the run and the pass. If they can play as well as a group as they played last week the Wisconsin defense could be dominate against their Big East foe.
Scott Campbell
When Campbell was signed as a JUCO transfer as a part of last seasons recruiting class it was widely assumed the JUCO All-American would step in and handle the kicking duties. However, Mike Allen was able to kick well in practice and held down the job for the first two weeks of the season before being replaced by Campbell for UW’s final field goal after missing two attempts while having a third blocked. Campbell finished the game by hitting a 42-yard kick with plenty of room to spare. Should Campbell hit his field goal attempts Saturday, UW’s kicking dispute may be settled for the first time since Vitaly Pisetsky lined up for the Badgers.
Offensive Consistency
The Badger offensive has had stretches in each of the first two games where they looked horrible as well as a few stretches where they looked unstoppable. The consistency of the offense has been the number one complaint from Barry Alvarez this season. More to the point, third down conversions and total lack of production inside of the 30-yard line have both Alvarez and offensive coordinator Brian White upset. On the plus side, the Badgers have won without consistency from the offense because of a surprisingly good defense so far this season. If the offense can put together one entire game of good play the team should not be challenged by West Virginia. But that is one big “if.”
The Crowd
Coaches and players alike have raved about the great crowd that was on hand for the Fresno State game. With a good crowd at Camp Randall the stadium is one of the toughest venues in the country, however, last season some of the crowds were thought to be much quieter and less rowdy than in previous years. The game begins at an incredibly early hour for most college students, but the crowd has been an important enough aspect of the game to draw comments from Barry Alvarez all season including a few words last Monday. “The Fresno game set the tempo for the attitude and atmosphere that we’ll have in the stadium. I think the next three [games] are 11:10 a.m. games so hopefully that isn’t going to deter a good atmosphere.” Apparently, even coaches believe getting up early and partying is a good thing.
