FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -Coach Bret Bielema stood outside the Wisconsin locker room after surviving against Fresno State and saw his mentor and boss Barry Alvarez standing nearby.
Bielema went over and hugged the old Badgers coach and accepted congratulations for winning the type of game that Alvarez excelled at during his tenure.
The Badgers quieted a hyped crowd by answering almost every big play with one of their own and held off Fresno State 13-10 Saturday night in the type of physical road game Wisconsin would likely have lost a year ago.
“The great thing I learned when I was with Coach Alvarez was when you’re in these type of environments, it’s the 11 guys on the field that determine the play,” Bielema said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the guys in the stands, the refs or the coaches. It has to do with the guys on the field.”
it into the BCS title game following Ohio State’s 35-3 loss to No. 1 Southern California earlier Saturday that dropped the Buckeyes from fifth to 13th in the poll.
To have any chance of playing for a title, Wisconsin will have to play the type of defense it played at Fresno State. Last year, defensive struggles on the road did in the Badgers. Wisconsin went 2-3 on the road in the regular season, allowing more than 30 points a game.
But against the Bulldogs, the defense was stout and the Badgers relied on their smash-mouth running game and a couple of key special-teams plays to win.
“To be undefeated going into Big Ten play is huge,” Bielema said. “It allows us to be able to keep making corrections and go forward. … We’re going to take advantage of this off week.”
After returning home from the long road trip, the Badgers will return to practice on Tuesday, spending three days preparing for the conference opener at struggling Michigan on Sept. 27. If those practices go well, Bielema will give his players a weekend off before starting Big Ten play.
Wisconsin’s toughest games in the conference this season will be at friendly confines of Camp Randall Stadium, where Ohio State, Illinois and Penn State will all come to visit.
The Bulldogs (1-1) slipped four spots to No. 25 and had their hopes of making it to a BCS bowl dashed by the loss in the biggest home game in school history.
e Badgers know they will probably need to do better on offense to navigate through the Big Ten season. They were held to just three points in the second half, committing needless false starts and making other mistakes.
“We only won by three points, but we still won,” said quarterback Allan Evridge, who sat out the final minutes with cramps in his left leg. “At the at end of the day, that’s the most important thing. It means a lot. We showed we were able to handle adversity. But we need to clean those little things up.”
While the offense still needs some work, the defense carried the day. The Badgers held Fresno State without a first down following a blocked punt, leading to a missed field goal early in the second half.
Then linebacker Jonathan Casillas chased down Ryan Mathews from behind after a 61-yard gain on a screen pass to prevent a touchdown. Fresno State had to settle for a field goal after a first-and-goal from the 9, the drive stalling on a sack by O’Brien Schofield.
After allowing a 57-yard run by Lonyae Miler to the 25, Wisconsin didn’t allow the Bulldogs another first down and freshman Kevin Goessling’s third missed field goal helped keep the Badgers in front.
“When the other team gets the pendulum swinging, we can go right back out there and swing the pendulum our way,” defensive tackle Matt Shaughnessy said.
ked by DeAndre Levy on third-and-10 from the Wisconsin 47 with about 2:30 to go. That forced a punt and Wisconsin was able to run out the clock despite starting the drive on its own 1.
“This is right up there with our best wins since I’ve been here,” tight end Travis Beckum said.
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