Montee Ball runs the ball vs. Oregon State in 2011Madison (WQOW) -- Wisconsin won its home opener against Northern Iowa, but the Badgers didn't do much of anything to impress the pollsters. Despite the win, Wisconsin drops one spot to 13th in the AP Poll.
Montee Ball had a decent day last Saturday (32 carries for 120 yards), but a lot more is expected from last year's Heisman Trophy Award finalist. Ball's longest run against UNI was just 14 yards. Head coach Bret Bielema says Ball's teammates weren't finishing their blocks, but Ball puts the blame on himself.
"It was challenging at times to get through the holes," says Ball, "but I'm a running back so I have to make something out of nothing if I have to."
UW offensive coordinator Matt Canada says, "There was some shoestring tackles, some almost cuts. you know Montee is gonna put some pressure on himself to be a great player. I think we had some holes at times and we didn't quite get it done, get it there so there was a lot of good but we got to be better."
It's worth noting that before Saturday, Ball hadn't been tackled since the Rose Bowl. He and his coaches expect a breakout game Saturday when Wisconsin is at Oregon State.
It's the first road trip of the 2012 season, and there are some interesting challenges ahead for the Badgers.
"I think it's close to a 3 1/2, 4 hour flight," says UW head coach Bret Bielema, "so that's gonna be a different environment for us. Obviously we're leaving a little bit early on Friday. just because of the dynamics of Corvallis, we're actually staying about an hour away from the stadium, so we've got a long bus ride on gameday, which in all my years as a head coach we've never come close to that, it's just one of the complications of being at that site."
