EVANSTON, Ill -- Here are some notes from Tuesday's practice:
-- After practicing on the turf field near the football facility for 90 minutes, players and coaches jogged inside Nicolet Training Center, where fake crowd noise was blared at high volume as the offense tried to go up-tempo and execute a long drive, never stopping to huddle. "It's loud," coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "I thought the guys handled it really well today."
-- Camp Randall Stadium is one of the toughest road venues in the Big Ten because of how loud it is. There's no way to simulate that environment, but artificial crowd noise -- especially indoors, where the sound reverberates around the room -- is arguably the next best thing.
-- Quarterback Kain Colter made a few poor throws, including two passes (one interception, one not) thrown directly at defenders. Defensive end Tyler Scott laid one HUGE hit on wide receiver Jordan Perkins, who was carrying the ball on a reverse.
-- Wisconsin's run game ranks first in the nation at 7.44 yards per carry. Fitzgerald talked about the different blocking schemes Badgers offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig utilizes, and specifically mentioned one formation where the Badgers create space on the perimeter."They do such a good job schematically of always trying to outnumber you at the point of attack," Fitzgerald said. "If you stop them with that stuff, then they're going to come back and bring some counter action the other way or misdirection. They've got a great fly package where they're getting their speed guys out on the perimeter."
-- Bringing extra defenders to the line of scrimmage isn't a great way to stop Wisconsin's run game, either. "You load the box and they're going to kill you with [Jared] Abbrederis," Fitzgerald said.
-- Northwestern will hold its second practice of the week Wednesday morning.