The Wisconsin Badger football team was in need of a spark on Saturday. Immediately thrown into a 7-0 hole after the Tar Heel’s Michael Waddell returned the opening kickoff 97 yards through porous coverage, the Badgers could have fallen into complacency when combined with the demoralizing lull following last week’s loss to UNLV. It might have been too much for the Badgers to take.

“It just takes the wind right out of you,” Barry Alvarez said after the game. “You’ve got your team ready. You have worked hard all week. You’re focused. You come out of the locker room ready to go and (North Carolina’s Michael Waddell) goes however far he went untouched. It just takes the wind right out of you.”

Booker Stanley came to restore the Badgers’ breath. The generously listed 5-foot-10 tailback took the scoring load on his shoulders on Saturday, and emerged in the second half as the Badgers’ featured back. With Dwayne Smith falling to a groin injury, Stanley was left alone in the backfield.

“Booker played a big time game today,” UW quarterback Jim Sorgi said. “He was a big time back. That’s what Wisconsin is known for, and you can go right down the line and through four deep. It was just exciting and really was fun handing him the ball and watching him run today.”

Stanley recorded three touchdowns on the day to go along with 119 yards on 28 carries. The stocky but chiseled 210-pound running back from Whitefish Bay was used sparingly in last week’s game, rushing for just 25 yards on six carries. After the UNLV game, Stanley expressed some problems adjusting to his first competitive action on the collegiate level and put in some additional preparation leading up to the UNC game.

“It made me realize I need to study the game a lot more,” Stanley said of last week’s game. “I watched a lot of film this week and I think it really helped out this game.”

Stanley’s impressive performance came with an increased focus on establishing the running game this week in practice as means to keep the UNC offense, as well as the Badger defense, off the field.

“I thought he ran very tough and he found the holes,” Alvarez said. “I thought he made some good yardage after contact … they were whacking him pretty good, and he hung in there and he’s the workhorse. He didn’t show fatigue and he stayed strong … we wanted to establish the run, and what a tremendous job he did and all that tells you that the offensive line was doing a good job.”

The work did pay off, and the Badgers dominated the trenches, pushing the depleted Tar Heel defensive line at their will, giving ample room for Stanley to work.

“The line did a great job again,” Stanley said. “When the line is pushing the defensive linemen five yards back every handoff, you are just running right behind those guys, and as soon as something breaks, go and take it.”

“We just told Booker to follow us and we’ll take you where you want to go,” left tackle Morgan Davis said. “He just relaxed out there and he ran for us.”

But with all the praise thrown upon Stanley, the kick coverage could have taken all the breath out of the Badgers.

“I’m just sick about how we covered kicks,” Alvarez said. “That’s just beyond me and I’ve never seen anything like that before and we will address it. We’ll get it corrected. That really puts the defense in a tough situation.”

Wisconsin gave up 246 yards on six kickoff returns for an average of 41 yards per return.

“Special teams basically comes down to effort and attitude,” senior wide receiver Lee Evans said. “They came out and ran that first kickoff back, and we knew it was going to be a long day.”

Wisconsin may be able to get past an opponent like UNC while giving up field position, but the performance needs to improve if the Badgers want to be a force in conference.

UW gave up an 82-yard return against West Virginia and a 52-yard return a week later against Akron. Their opponent’s success came after the Badgers finished second in the Big Ten in kick coverage in 2002, limiting opponents to only 17.1 yards per return.

“Those are things we can correct,” Alvarez said. “We’ll put some starters on there if we have to.”

That might be the route the Badgers need to take. Field position is too crucial in Big Ten games to give up the lengthy returns they have been prone to in 2003. Linebacker Alex Lewis is an excellent special teams player who is routinely the first to the ball coming down the field, but he is only one player. Special teams coach Brian Murphy must reevaluate his personnel and fix those mistakes before next weekend’s Big Ten opener in Champaign.

The Badgers proved on Saturday that they have the needed depth on offense to stay competitive despite depletion due to injury. The offense has shown that it can win games despite the special teams’ problems, but as the Badgers enter the conference season, special teams problems could quickly become insurmountable.