MADISON, Wis. -- Gary Andersen was plenty happy his team won its third straight game Saturday before Big Ten play began. Let's get that out of the way up front. Any win is welcome, including No. 19 Wisconsin's harder-than-expected 27-10 victory against South Florida.
But Andersen, Wisconsin's second-year coach, was none too pleased about what he saw from the passing game -- a continuing trend that has not inspired much confidence. How does he feel about that area with conference games approaching?
"Not real good," Andersen said. "It's just not. It's inconsistent and there's a lot of pieces, again, that go into that. We're going to work hard as an offense to get better in the throw game and third downs because if we can't, it's going to be a little difficult as we continue to move forward.
"You're not always going to hold teams to 10 points and eight first downs. It's not going to happen."
Wisconsin quarterback Tanner McEvoy completed 11 of 18 passes for 160 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, which by no means was bad. By contrast, South Florida quarterback Mike White connected on just 8 of 19 throws for 173 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
But McEvoy also missed a wide-open Sam Arneson on a pass that would have gone for big yardage -- and he has not demonstrated enough consistency in that regard all season. Consider that McEvoy doesn't even rank in the top 10 in passing yards per game among Big Ten quarterbacks. He entered the day ranked 102nd nationally in passing yards per game (148.3).
"We've got to connect on the big ball," McEvoy said. "We've got to hit some deep passes. We had some today we hit, just like third-and-5s, some 15 yarders. It was good to get those, but we've got to keep working, so a lot of room for improvement. We'll work on it."
McEvoy added that he was not particularly concerned about the team's inability to hit long throws, noting Wisconsin had only played four games. But he did acknowledge he needed to be more consistent.
"I've just got to go out there and execute what I do every day in practice," McEvoy said. "Just take it out on the field and do it on Saturdays. That's all I can do. I've just got to keep practicing, keep getting better, learn from my mistakes."
On Saturday, Alex Erickson caught six passes for 91 yards and continued to impress as the Badgers' No. 1 wide receiver. But no other player caught more than one pass for the game. This season, Erickson has 21 catches for 256 yards. The rest of the team's wide receivers have five catches for 44 yards.
"We'll watch the film and see how this game was," Erickson said. "If you watch the plays we've had, I think we're getting separation. We're getting open. Tanner and the wide receivers, we're all growing as one. I think it's progressing fine. I like where we're at."
Andersen said if Wisconsin is to achieve its goal of truly competing for a Big Ten title, the Badgers offense would need to be something more than one-dimensional.
"We're going to battle through and we're going to work to throw the ball better," Andersen said. "We're going to have to if we're going to, again, be a good football team and ever have a chance of being a great football team."
Defense holds up: UW forced two turnovers on Saturday and came up with one of the biggest plays of the game early in the fourth quarter. With South Florida trailing 20-10, Bulls receiver Kennard Swanson took a pass 52 yards down the left sideline before Badgers safety Lubern Figaro knocked the ball loose. Linebacker Vince Biegel then recovered the fumble, and Wisconsin went on an 18-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that ate 9:33 of game clock.
"I was kind of eyeing the ball up the whole time," Biegel said. "Lubern hit the ball with his helmet. I kind of simultaneously picked up the ball as he hit it. It was a huge play. A huge momentum swing. They were about to go down there and score."
South Florida did not gain another yard for the rest of the game.
Wisconsin also remains the only team in the nation to not surrender a red zone touchdown this season after forcing South Florida to go 0 for 2 on Saturday. Badgers opponents are now 0 for 7 on converting red zone trips into touchdowns (four field goals, two interceptions and one fumble).
Snap-exchange issues: For the fourth time this season, McEvoy and center Dan Voltz experienced a botched snap under center on Saturday. The play did not cost Wisconsin because McEvoy recovered, but it could have turned out much worse.
After Biegel recovered the fumble, Wisconsin took possession at its own 10-yard line. On the ensuing play, however, McEvoy fumbled the snap.
"It's something we've dealt with in the past," Voltz said. "It's gotten better. It's something we need to continue to work on. Especially heading into Big Ten play, we're going to have to shore that up. It's a big focus in practice every day, and it'll continue to be a big focus for us."
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