Grading the Bucks: Wisconsin

Survive and advance

Offense: C+
By far, Braxton's worse game as an offensive leader.  No explosion, poor decision making, overthrown balls, and no runs that were worth anything were rampant in this matchup.  Carlos Hyde once again performed admirably especially considering the disdain Miller shows for handing the ball off.  Hyde was the explosion we needed...but Tom Herman and Braxton Miller decided to restrict his carries.  As we near The Game, we need to install a wrinkle known as the 'I formation' and let the O-line and Carlos go to work against the overrated UM defense.  The creativity needs to be turned up a notch for this one (no we haven't been 'saving good offense' for M!ch!g@n).  Stoneburner's drop on the early 3rd down was a huge confidence killer for Braxton but a starting QB for nearly 2 years can't get rattled after a drop.  Time to step up to the plate and move to the next level.  12-0 may not mean a Championship this year, and the schedule may suck, but this team has a chance to be the 6th Buckeye team of all time to go undefeated.

Defense: A-/B+
Rarely will I upgrade a team for a single sequence of plays, but that goalline stand was exceptional--barring a spectacular play by the O-lineman, Bryant is in the endzone and this game never touches OT.  The defense played fairly well but Montee Ball got a bit too much. Yes, he's a great back, but there were some poor tackles attempted as well.  The UW O-line had many plays in which Ball was 5 yards downfield before he was touched.  The secondary let a team with no passing attack and a QB with 7 career attempts move the ball down the field throwing the ball which is unacceptable.  That being said, the linebackers have improved by leaps and bounds (Shazier, Sabino, and Boren) and Jon Simon is finally living up to preseason expectations over the last few weeks.

Special Teams: A
Hey! No blocked punts!!  Wooo!!  Orhian Johnson made a special play on the punt team saving the ball from the endzone with a diving bat on the first punt, setting the tone.  Corey Brown made the play that set the tone, housing the punt in the 1st half with a spectacular shiver move and knifing up field.  Not much to poo-poo here.  Let's do that again!

Coaching: B
Defensive gameplan was pretty good, but I was still very upset with the offensive scheme.  Hopefully, Braxton can be coached up more effectively when things don't go his way early.  Urban and Tom Herman need to focus this week on encouraging Miller to hand the ball off periodically on the veer plays (if only to keep the defense honest) and work on quicker decision making.  The scrambling in the pocket and confusion is something that should be taken care of in practice.

Overall: B
The defense and special teams had great games, but the offensive blah was enough to be a bit discouraging.  That being said, a win in Camp Randall is a big time win any year.  Now the preseason is over...time for the regular season.  GO BUCKS! BEAT BLUE!!