Before a crowd of 82,116 — the largest in Camp Randall Stadium history — the No. 21 Badgers (1-0) opened the 2004 season with a 34-6 victory over the Central Florida Golden Knights (0-1).

The win gave head coach Barry Alvarez his 100th career victory, making him the 10th coach in Big Ten history to win 100 games with the same program.

“I’m pleased with the victory,” Alvarez said. “We had certain things that we wanted to accomplish today, and I thought we accomplished many of them. I thought our guys really competed hard and did a lot of good things today. I don’t think there’s one mistake we made that we cannot correct.”

The Badgers set the tone early, stopping Central Florida’s Alex Haynes for a two-yard loss on the first play. Two plays later, the defensive line picked up its first sack, as senior Jason Jefferson dropped UCF quarterback Steven Moffett for a seven-yard loss.

“I thought our defensive line was very active,” Alvarez said. “I thought there was a guy hanging onto ‘Raz (Erasmus James) a lot of the day, but I thought they created havoc.”

On Wisconsin’s first possession, All-American tailback Anthony Davis single-handedly led a 52-yard touchdown drive to give the Badgers an early 7-0 advantage. With six carries and one reception, Davis gained all 52 yards on the opening possession, finishing the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run.

The senior standout dominated the first half, rushing for 78 yards on 13 carries, until an injury forced him to leave the game in the second quarter.

“I thought he was having a very good day,” Alvarez said. “I thought he was just getting warmed up.”

With 3:26 remaining in the first half, Davis went down hard when he was pushed out of bounds after a 21-yard run down the sideline. When he hit the ground, his helmet scraped against his eye, causing swelling and blurred vision. Davis did not return in the second half, but offensive coordinator Brian White expects him to practice with the team this week.

“It was a physical run and unfortunately it’s part of the game what happened to him,” White said. “We’ll get him back this week and get him moving.”

Prior to Davis’ injury, the Badgers got their first taste of instant replay, which was introduced to the Big Ten this season. After redshirt freshman Jamal Cooper knocked the ball loose on a sack, linebacker Dontez Sanders recovered the fumble and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown. However, the play was reviewed and the officials ruled that Sanders’ knee was down when he recovered the fumble, negating the 50-yard touchdown run.

“I didn’t think I was down,” Sanders said. “I was just thinking ESPN the whole time.”

On the following play, Davis’ 21-yard run also went under review. After a long delay to view the replay, officials ruled that Davis went out of bounds on the 29-yard line, one yard short of the initial spot that placed the ball on the 28.

“The only thing that bothered me was we had all the momentum in the world and two consecutive plays [were reviewed],” Alvarez said. “I don’t think the intent of that rule is to stop the game for five minutes to find out if he stepped out five yards prior to the spot. You could stop the game probably all the way along if you’re going to correct spots.”

Central Florida kept the game close until the closing minutes of the first half, when Wisconsin rattled off 10 points in the final two minutes before halftime. With the Badgers holding a 10-3 lead, quarterback John Stocco found Jonathan Orr in the end zone for a 16-yard strike to put Wisconsin ahead 17-3.

After a quick stop from the Wisconsin defense, senior Jim Leonhard returned a UCF punt 38 yards, exploding through a crowd of defenders. Stocco then connected with Brandon Williams on a 30-yard pass to set up a Mike Allen field goal that sent the Badgers into halftime with a 20-3 lead.

In his first college start, Stocco showed some opening game jitters, fumbling the snap twice in the first half and failing to connect with a wide receiver until midway through the second quarter.

“As a quarterback, you got to live for the next play,” Stocco said. “I’m not going to complete every pass. I’m going to make some mistakes here and there, but you’ve got to live for the next down. That’s all you want as a quarterback is one more chance.”

Despite the slow start, Stocco settled down and finished with 164 yards, two touchdown passes, one rushing touchdown and no interceptions, connecting on eight of 18 attempts (44 percent).

“The biggest anxiety that you have as a coach with a first-game quarterback is to make sure that they’re actually seeing the game, and John really handled it well,” White said. “I don’t think he had a misread in the passing game. There are some things you’d like to see him improve on in terms of accuracy early in the game, but I wouldn’t fault any of his decisions.”

On the first drive of the second half, Stocco displayed his physical toughness with a two-yard touchdown run on fourth down to put the Badgers ahead 27-3.

“There’s a time to be tough, and there’s a time to slide or whatever,” Stocco said. “Fourth and one on the goal line, you’re getting a touchdown no matter what it takes.”

To open the fourth quarter, Stocco connected with tight end Owen Daniels, who hurdled a defender on his way to a 52-yard touchdown that put the finishing touch on a 34-6 victory.

“That’s a play that we thought would be big against them,” Stocco said. “We got the play fake that drew the corner up and Owen was wide open. I just had to lay it up for him, and he made an amazing move.”

Against a shorthanded Central Florida squad playing without head coach George O’Leary, who missed the game to attend his mother’s funeral, and without last season’s leading tackler, Peter Sands, who did not play due to disciplinary action, Wisconsin dominated on both sides of the ball.

The Badgers’ defense held the Knights to 53 yards rushing, created two turnovers and sacked Moffett four times. Highlighting a ferocious performance from the defensive line, defensive tackle Anttaj Hawthorne picked up an interception after defensive end Erasmus James forced an errant throw from Moffett in the second quarter.

Fueled by the defensive line, the young linebackers answered the critics with a strong performance. In addition to Sanders’ fumble recovery, sophomore Reggie Cribbs and junior LaMarr Watkins recorded six tackles each, and sophomore Mark Zalewski had a sack in a solid first showing.

“One thing that they got, they all got experience today,” defensive coordinator Bret Bielema said. “They did do some trades and shifts, as we anticipated, and they communicated those things. I think we have to become better tacklers. I know ‘Tez (Dontez Sanders), Zew (Mark Zalewski) and Reggie (Cribbs) all missed a tackle that could be critical plays during the course of a game, so that’s something they need to keep improving on.”

The Badgers also came out strong on the offensive side, posting a 230-53 advantage in rushing yards and a 400-230 edge in total offense.

“I think it was a very solid opening game,” White said. “We were very disciplined. We didn’t have a lot of penalties. We passed the football a little bit. I thought we played with a lot of poise. It was a good opening game, one that we can really build off.”