MADISON, Wis. -- Visions of appearing in the inaugural four-team College Football Playoff have faded from view for Wisconsin's football team, at least for the foreseeable future. What lingers now is the sting of a 28-24 loss to LSU in a game that most Badgers players would tell you they should have won.
How does a team regroup after blowing a 17-point third-quarter lead in the most significant season opener in decades? That's the question the Badgers must ask themselves as they prepare for Week 2 opponent Western Illinois. The teams will meet at 11 a.m. Saturday in Camp Randall Stadium.
"It's like a hangover, man," Badgers linebacker Marcus Trotter said Monday. "It's constantly there. It kind of sucks. But you can't really focus on that. When something doesn't go your way, you kind of have to focus on the present and the future. There is a chance that we might not get in the playoffs now because of that.
"There might be a chance that LSU might lose a couple games here or there. A top tier team might lose. What we can control is what we can control right now. That is just Western Illinois. So if we can take care of business every week, we'll be fine."
Wisconsin is now 0-4 in games decided by seven points or fewer during the Gary Andersen era. But the team's inability to close out games that hang in the balance dates to well before Andersen arrived.
UW also lost five consecutive games that were decided by seven points or fewer during Bret Bielema's last season in 2012 -- including the Rose Bowl coached by Barry Alvarez -- making the Badgers 0-9 over the past nine of those games. In fact, the last time Wisconsin won a one-possession game came against Andersen's Utah State team, when the Badgers escaped with a 16-14 victory.
"We've just got to finish," Badgers safety Michael Caputo said. "It's just plain and simple. We've just got to keep your foot on the gas pedal, keep your foot on the throat type of deal. We haven't done that in the past couple years, and it's getting kind of old. I know a lot of guys on defense are really fed up with it. A lot of guys on offense are, too. We're starting to get that feeling that we really need to start turning this around."
Andersen said the only thing Wisconsin's players could do at this juncture was study tape of the LSU loss and try to learn from it -- a sentiment with which Badgers right tackle Rob Havenstein agreed.
"We've got to look at that film, take what we can from it, put it in the past but never really forget about it," Havenstein said. "Never really forget that feeling after the game. That was a hard feeling to go through. I hope a lot of the older guys and the young guys really grasp that and keep it right there in the back of your mind. Not in the forefront but the back of your mind and just learn from it. And then go ahead and just keep getting better each week."
No Twitter: Andersen no longer is a member of Twitter after apparently deleting his account over the weekend. He created the account at the end of July and said he did so at the time to help the program in recruiting. Andersen had tallied more than 9,000 followers.
"I dumped my Twitter," he said Monday. "I just think it's the best. For recruiting, I tried it for a period of time. The assistant coaches definitely need it. But it just really becomes one more distraction that I don't need to be able to deal with. I don't think it helps myself as a head coach in recruiting. It's a definite help for the assistants, for the recruiting people.
"There's no pleasing the world in Twitter, I guess, when I go back to it. Coaching a position and being in the spot that I am right now as a head coach, it's just one more thing on my plate that I could eliminate. I guess I'm out of the Twitter world."
Injury update: Andersen said he expected nose guard Warren Herring and defensive end Konrad Zagzebski to be back playing for the team soon. Herring, who suffered a fourth-quarter knee injury, is "day to day," Andersen said. Zagzebski, who was carted off the field after a hit to the head, is expected to be back either for this week's Western Illinois game or for Wisconsin's Sept. 20 game against Bowling Green following a bye week, according to Andersen.
"Zags handled it very well with the team when he went off the field," Andersen said. "It's hard now when you lose two senior defensive tackles. You're already light in the freshman area. Those kids stood up and did some great things. I'm always concerned when one of my guys goes down. It bothers me a lot. But I'm glad they're going to be back with us for their senior years as we move forward."
Andersen added that punter Drew Meyer, who spent time in the locker room but returned to fulfill his punting duties against LSU, had endured "some cramping issues." Meyer punted eight times and averaged 37.5 yards per punt attempt.
"But he's fine," Andersen said. "We expect him to obviously punt the ball better, and he expects himself to punt the ball better."
On the wide receiver front, Andersen said sophomore Rob Wheelwright would return to practice this week. Wheelwright was expected to compete for the team's No. 1 receiver spot but missed much of fall camp with an injury and did not play in the team's season opener.
"He'll have his opportunity to get into the mix," Andersen said. "And that will be good to see where Robert sits. Hopefully that takes place."
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