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Wisconsin will have to focus on improvement without looking past visiting South Dakota in a non-conference game on Saturday afternoon.

With two touchdowns, Wisconsin overcame an early fourth-quarter deficit for a 28-14 victory over visiting underdog Western Michigan in last week’s season opener.

South Dakota, ranked No. 6 in the FCS coaches poll, opened with a 45-3 rout of Northern State, an NCAA Division II school.

After South Dakota, Wisconsin’s degree of difficulty jumps considerably next week when No. 4 Alabama rolls into Camp Randall Stadium.

Wisconsin trailed 14-13 early in the fourth quarter against Western Michigan largely due to red zone inefficiency. The Badgers had a pair of 16-play drives and a pair of 14-play drives on their first four possessions but managed just one touchdown and two field goals.

Redshirt senior Tyler Van Dyke, a transfer from Miami, completed 21 of 36 passes in his first start for Wisconsin but did not have a touchdown pass, and his longest completion was 17 yards.

The Badgers rushed for 196 yards, averaging 4.3 per carry, but their longest run was 12 yards by reserve Cade Yacamelli. Sixth-year senior Chez Mellusi, who suffered a season-ending leg injury in the fourth game last year, had a team-high 74 yards in 19 carries with one touchdown.

“They did a good job at eliminating our ability to make some big plays, defensively,” Wisconsin second-year coach Luke Fickell said Monday. “In the whole game, I think they had three plays of plus-20 yards, and we had zero plays of plus-20 yards.”

South Dakota took control in its opener with three second-quarter touchdowns for a 31-3 halftime lead. The Coyotes outgained Northern State 351-207, including 266 yards on the ground.

Charles Pierre Jr. ran for a career-high 136 yards, averaging 10.5 per carry, with two touchdowns. Travis Theis added 86 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.

Aidan Bouman completed 9 of 12 passes for 85 yards with one touchdown.

The Coyotes had a 97-yard kickoff return and a 55-yard punt return for touchdowns, and Zeke Mata had a career-long 52-yard field goal.

“You understand you’re going to have to do a lot of things really well to have a chance to win,” South Dakota coach Bob Nielson said Tuesday about Wisconsin. “That’s just the essence of these games.”

Wisconsin is 2-0 since 1975 against South Dakota, winning 59-10 in the last meeting in 2011 in Madison.

“They’ll be physical, they’ll run the football, they’ll take shots, they’re probably going to be in a similar type of game plan to what Western Michigan was,” Fickell said. “And our job is to not allow that to happen.”

–Field Level Media