Only a few days from the Big Ten Leaders’ Division championship game, Wisconsin head Coach Bret Bielema sat down with the media Monday to discuss the upcoming showdown with the Nittany Lions.
With the scandal surrounding the Penn State football program, immediate attention was brought to the pregame handshakes that took place before Penn State’s games against Nebraska and Ohio State.
‘I know the administration is meeting on it, and that’s going to include talks with Penn State,’ Bielema said in regard to any pregame show of sportsmanship. ‘Obviously, from our standpoint you would have to be oblivious to not understand what is going on there. You feel for everyone involved, and I just want to make sure that we do the right thing.’
Wisconsin, which has won its last three games, is looking to keep its streak going. To do that this weekend, however, the Badgers will have to slow down what Bielema believes to be one of the best defenses, and one of the best interior linemen, in the conference.
‘(Devon) Still does stand out to me. They use him in a variety of ways. He has a quick first step, which I admire in a lineman, how fast they can penetrate the line of scrimmage,’ Bielema said. ‘I know they had an injury to the linebacker (Michael Mauti), but to me the linebackers are square to line of scrimmage. You don’t see them breaking down or see gaping holes. They don’t give up a lot of yards, and they certainly don’t give up a lot of points.’
‘Wherever Still is at, you have to be cognizant of where he is and what he is doing,’ Bielema said. ‘I hope our guys take it as a challenge. I’ve told them that if they want to be considered one of the best, they have to go against the best. For the most part, they’ve responded pretty well.’
For Penn State, the introduction of a Wildcat package could have been used as a surprise wrinkle in the offense if it hadn’t been used against Ohio State. Even so, Bielema doesn’t think that it would create many issues for the Badger defense either way.
‘A lot of teams do it. Again, we haven’t played Penn State in two years, but it’s a formation that’s really pretty common,’ Bielema said. ‘They put two different wide receivers, both of whom have a high-school quarterbacking background, and they run a couple nice plays off of it. They caught Ohio State on some defensive stunts, and they created some opportunities they matched up well against.’
Bielema elaborated further.
‘The good thing is, we’ve seen teams pop this in so much that we have a little package that we use against that,’ he said. ‘Each team is a little different, so you have to be careful with what you’re doing. But it’s definitely something our guys will be wired into.’
The Badgers’ senior class, one that Bielema is particularly fond of, is only three wins away from 40 victories, which would tie the Wisconsin class wins record.
‘You don’t want to let go, and we’ve got a lot of good football yet to play, I hope,’ Bielema said. ‘But you’ve been with those kids so much, it’s just hard to see them go.’
Penn State and Wisconsin will now play at the end of every season until the end of 2014, a rivalry that Bielema hopes will grow into something people will pay attention to.
‘I looked at the end (of the schedule); that’s what I do. I’ve been preaching about trying to have an end-all game,’ Bielema said. ‘Ohio State, Michigan they have their thing, but if you look, we’ve won more games in the past four years than anybody else in this league and I’d like to see us play a game that you can circle on your calendar every year.’
Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Madison as Penn State and Wisconsin play for the Leaders’ Division title and a shot in the Big Ten title game against Michigan State. The game can be viewed on ESPN.
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