Although Halloween has come and gone for Coach Alvarez and the Badgers, the team got a few treats when the recent polls were released.
The Badgers are now ranked No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll and No. 5 in both the Associated Press poll and the latest BCS Rankings.
While the rankings came as a welcome surprise, the Badgers’ main focus is their upcoming border battle with the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Camp Randall Saturday. Boasting one of the top defenses in college football, the Badgers will have their hands full Saturday as they look to contain Minnesota’s powerful two-headed running attack, led by sophomore Laurence Maroney and junior Marion Barber III.
Last season, Maroney and Barber each rushed for more than 1,000 yards, and both are well on their way to accomplishing that feat again this year. In nine games, Maroney has rushed for 1,030 yards while Barber has gained 881 yards on the ground.
“I really see a very strong runner [in Maroney],” Alvarez said. “He’ll run through tackles, has excellent vision and has tremendous speed. I think he was very mature when he came into the league as a true freshman. He’s taken another step. When I think about Barber, I always see him out on the edge. When he sees a seam in the defense, he has tremendous speed where he can accelerate but had the vision to get to those holes and get to that seam. They get a lot of big plays [for their offense].”
Stocco settling in: Though his numbers weren’t superior, quarterback John Stocco led the Badgers to another Big Ten victory and to a top five ranking in both polls. In Wisconsin’s win over Northwestern, Stocco completed 13 of 21 passes for 178 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Regardless of Stocco’s numbers, Alvarez feels that his first-year quarterback has progressed just as the coaching staff had hoped this season.
“[At the beginning of the year] we didn’t want to put the whole game in his hands,” Alvarez said of Stocco. “We anticipated going into the season with a veteran line and Anthony [Davis] that we would be able to establish the running game and throw the ball when we wanted. With all the injuries to our running backs, because of the way our defense was playing, we were able to stick to that plan. [We wanted to give Stocco] safe throws, not have him beat us and not have him be careless with the ball and he was able to do that. We wanted to bring him along slowly, so when we got into the Big Ten season and needed him that he could be able to step up and be able to do the things we needed him to do.”
In the Northwestern game, the Badgers went to the air early looking to exploit a porous Wildcat secondary. Alvarez believes Stocco handled the opportunity well, an indication that his progression has continued as planned.
“Last week, we wanted to throw the ball to start the game and we did what we wanted to do in the first half,” Alvarez said. “He’s followed the plan and the coaches have done a nice job of helping him progress.”
Battling for the Axe: In the longest standing rivalry in the Big Ten, the Badgers will take on the Minnesota Gophers Saturday looking to reclaim the Paul Bunyan axe. Wisconsin lost possession of the axe, which is given to the winner of the annual Wisconsin-Minnesota showdown, after a game-winning field goal gave the Gophers a 37-34 victory in last season’s matchup.
Ever since that game, the Badgers have waited for the chance to reclaim the axe. Although it is just a piece of wood, Alvarez recognizes the symbolic significance of the trophy.
“That’s our emphasis and that’s one way to really focus on this football game, “Alvarez said. “It’s a tremendous rivalry. We’ll show them all the clips of former years and give them their history lesson on the axe and the rivalry. We’ll make [the axe] important, because it is important. [This rivalry] is a part of college football history, the longest ongoing rivalry [in Big Ten football]. I think it’s important for the guys know that. We built a trophy case for that axe and that’s not good … We want that damn axe back.”
