Recent News | Popular News | Subscribe

FACTS & STATS: Site: Camp Randall Stadium (76,129) -- Madison, Wisconsin. Television: ESPN. Home Record: Fresno St. 1-0, Wisconsin 1-0. Away Record: Fresno St. 0-0, Wisconsin 0-0. Neutral Record: Fresno St. 0-0, Wisconsin 0-0. Conference Record: Fresno St. 0-0, Wisconsin 0-0. Series Record: Wisconsin leads, 2-1.

GAME NOTES: The Wisconsin Badgers of the Big Ten Conference and the Fresno State Bulldogs of the Western Athletic Conference will attempt to remain unbeaten on the young season as the team's collide Saturday afternoon in Madison.

Fresno State cruised to a 51-0 victory over FCS foe UC Davis last weekend to open the 2009 campaign. Last season, the Bulldogs finished 7-6, and while some programs would be happy with a winning slate, a six-loss campaign for a Pat Hill-led squad is considered a disappointment. Fresno State will take on another Big Ten opponent, Illinois, to close the regular season, and the next two contests for the club will be against Boise State and Cincinnati, a pair of nationally-ranked teams.

Wisconsin is playing the second of what will be four straight home games to open the season. The Badgers were challenged by Northern Illinois in the opener, but they were able to escape with a 28-20 triumph. In Bret Bielema's first three seasons as head coach, Wisconsin has qualified for three bowl games and averaged more than nine wins per year.

The Badgers have won two of the three previous meetings with Fresno State.

Fresno State has won its season opener six years in a row. Ryan Colburn made his debut as the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs against UC Davis, and he opened the game's scoring with a one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. As a passer, Colburn connected on 5-of-9 attempts for 161 yards, including a 92-yard touchdown pass to Marlon Moore. Of the 511 total yards that Fresno State was able to muster, 310 yards came via the ground attack, as well as five of the club's six offensive touchdowns. Ryan Matthews racked up 106 yards on only 11 attempts, and he is expected to be the workhorse back for the Bulldogs this season. Robbie Rouse made the most of his 10 rushing attempts, totaling 75 yards and a score. Fresno State was 7-of-13 on third down conversion attempts and kept possession of the ball for more than 33 minutes. On a down note, they did come away scoreless on two of their five trips to the red zone.

Fresno State's Nico Herron was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Week, largely because of the fact that he intercepted a pass against UC Davis and raced 94 yards for a touchdown. Herron and company handed the Aggies their most lopsided defeat since 1934, and the shutout was the first for the Bulldogs since October of 2007. Lorne Bell led Fresno State with seven tackles in the opener, and Ben Jacobs posted six stops. The Dogs surrendered 231 total yards, including just 43 on the ground. They did not register a single sack and posted just one takeaway, so there is certainly room for improvement in the big play category. Still, the overall effort of the defense was outstanding.

Isaac Anderson and John Clay accounted for all of the scoring in Wisconsin's season-opening win over Northern Illinois. Anderson hauled in an 80-yard touchdown pass from Scott Tolzien in the first quarter, and he had a 23-yard scoring run in the second quarter. As for Clay, he had a pair of one-yard touchdown runs in the third quarter. The Badgers posted 21 first downs in the clash, as well as 433 total yards. Tolzien racked up 257 passing yards on only 15 completions, but he does have some room for improvement, as two of his five incompletions were intercepted. Zach Brown led Wisconsin with 51 rushing yards, and Garrett Graham made a team-high six catches. The Badgers did not allow a single sack, were 7-of-12 on third down conversion attempts and scored on both of their trips to the red zone.

Through 51 minutes of action last weekend, Wisconsin had allowed only six points on two field goals to Northern Illinois. Then, with the score standing at 28-6, the Badgers permitted the Huskies to post a pair of touchdowns in a span of less than six minutes to make things interesting. Bielema is a defensive-minded coach, and there is no question that he was unhappy with the late-game collapse. Still, the coach can be proud of the fact that his team surrendered only 274 total yards, including 100 rushing yards on 35 attempts, an average of fewer than three yards per carry. There were three sacks posted by Wisconsin, and Chris Maragos, who had one of the sacks, posted a team-high nine tackles, including two for loss. O'Brien Schofield had 2.5 of the club's eight TFLs in the tilt.

Expect this game to go down to the wire. Fresno State is a better team than NIU, and Hill is a tremendous coach. Give the slightest edge to the home team, although a win by the Bulldogs wouldn't be a shocker.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Wisconsin 24, Fresno State 23