[media-credit name=’BEN CLASSON/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Bret Bielema is a football coach, not a doctor.

The Wisconsin football coach misdiagnosed running back P.J. Hill’s injury following Saturday’s game against Indiana, saying Hill had suffered a bruised foot, but would still likely play this upcoming weekend against top-ranked Ohio State.

Bielema, it turns out, was mistaken. Hill’s bruise instead is on his left leg, almost exactly in the same place it was broken two years ago.

"Basically during the course of the game, they said to me, ‘Coach, it looks like he’s got a bruise right on top of his plate where he broke it freshman year,’" Bielema said at his weekly press conference Monday. "I thought he broke his foot. I didn’t remember him breaking his leg."

Bielema said the bruise’s proximity to the prior injury compounded the sensitivity Hill felt near the bruise, but he was hopeful his starting running back would be able to go this weekend, despite not practicing with the team Sunday.

Hill’s injury is of greater concern since the Badgers will be short in depth at the running back position. The usual backup, Lance Smith, cannot travel to road games because of his university-imposed suspension.

Despite attempts by Bielema to get Smith’s suspension reduced, the decision will stand.

"Basically in discussions with different university personnel, I’ve been told to remain quiet about the issue, so I’ll remain quiet," Bielema said. "It’s just a difficult situation because of how it all went down to begin with, and we tried to bring to light some new information, and I thought there might be a change in the way some things happen, but there wasn’t."

All that means is that freshman Zach Brown will probably see a healthy number of carries against the Buckeyes and their eighth-ranked run defense.

"We’re very excited about Zach," Bielema said. "I think he’s a young man that’s gotten better every week. … My feeling is you’re going to see a very excited No. 30, whether he gets one carry, 30 carries, whatever it is, he’s going to be going at it full-go."

A healthy effort

The month of October has been a case of contrasts for the Wisconsin defense. In the first two games of the month, the defense struggled mightily, allowing 410 yards and 31 points against Illinois Oct. 6 and 427 yards and 38 points against Penn State the following week.

In the last two games, they looked rock solid, giving up a mere six points over that span.

According to Bielema, better execution of the basics of defense has been a contributing factor to the turnaround.

"We tackled, we attacked the football, we played sound fundamentally and didn’t let the ball get outside of us," Bielema said. "Those basic things are going to be huge factors in everything you do defensively."

Bielema also noted the defense played with more aggression and at a faster speed than was the case in previous weeks.

The biggest difference, however, is that for the first time all season, the defense has been healthy almost across the board. That has been the case for the offense for the most part this year, allowing the unit to develop some continuity and have success.

Now, that is beginning to be the case with the defense.

"I’m never gonna be one that [focuses] on the injuries … but one thing that has changed in the last two weeks is we’ve had all our defensive players available for practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday."

On the road again

With a matchup against the nation’s top-ranked team looming this weekend, Bielema is faced with a situation in which his players could conceivably get overly excited and pumped up to try and pull off an upset.

For the Badger coach, it’s a tough line to walk between acknowledging the significance of the game and not hyping it up too much.

"It’s a balance you have to take as a head coach," Bielema said. "I think you have to understand the chemistry of your team that you have individually right now, a team that’s coming off two weeks of playing their best football collectively, so you kind of have to keep that in perspective."

To do this, Bielema relies on his old stand-by: the 1-and-0 mentality.

"The reason we had success (against Indiana) is the way we executed," Bielema said. "Not based on anything else, just how we handled our business on Saturday. That same thing will carry over."