Welcome to Badgers Musings. For those unfamiliar with us, this is our college football recap for the Wisconsin Badgers. We’ll do a SnoTap Badgers Preview on Friday morning, even though, we missed it this week (Sorry about that). Great way to start off the season for Wisconsin. They won handily 34-3 over Western Kentucky in a game that wasn’t close from the start. This did not turn out like last year where the Badgers struggled in the first half versus Utah State, rather, they played great throughout the game.

Jonathan Taylor starts his Heisman campaign with a bang
In a surprise to no one, Jonathan Taylor balled out in his first game. He scored two touchdowns and rushed for 146 yards. He did not get a huge workload in Week 1, and that’s a good thing. Taylor looked agile and swift. It’s good to see him get off on the right foot. It’s very early, but it definitely helps him with Bryce Love rushing for only nine yards to begin the year.

Defense gets off to a surprising start
Most people have been talking about how good the Badgers offense will be this year, but Wisconsin’s defense is being sort of pushed to the back. Well, the defense served a reminder on Friday night. They played really strong only allowing three points and not a touchdown. This defense looked like the 2017 defense. Badgers forced two turnovers with Chris Orr recovering a fumble, and Faion Hicks intercepting a Western Kentucky pass. Jim Leonhard is showing that Year 1 isn’t a fluke.

Wide receivers and tight end fill the void
Without Quintez Cephus and Danny Davis, Wisconsin’s other wide receivers needed to step up on Friday night. They did just that. A.J. Taylor had 85 yards with five catches and Kendric Pryor added four catches with 51 yards plus a touchdown. Another positive from the passing game was Jake Ferguson. He had four catches for 43 yards with Alex Hornibrook looking his way a bunch more. Ferguson is going to be a factor.

Next up
New Mexico comes to Camp Randall next Saturday. They play one of the worst teams in FCS this week, so, there’s no real way to judge what they do this week. They weren’t very good last season, and we’ll see what the Lobos bring to town. Expect Wisconsin to be a four touchdown favorite or so.

Charlie.