The good and the bad from Wisconsin Badgers' Week 2 win over Middle Tennessee State

Just a few plays later, it was Vinny Anthony II taking a misdirection handoff 14 yards into the endzone for a score.

It wasn't conventional, but it got the job done and showed the play-caller's willingness to get creative to generate offense.

Setting the edge

The Badgers have a budding defensive star in outside linebacker Mason Reiger.

The Middle Tennessee offensive tackles had no answers for him, struggling to stay in front of him all game.

Sebastian Cheeks also pulled off a sack and a tackle for loss of the edge, and they both helped Wisconsin's defense control the line of scrimmage and terrorize the Blue Raiders quarterbacks.

The Bad

Backup center

Starting center Jake Renfro was a surprise inactive on gameday, popping up on the injury report and sitting out the contest after playing all of Week 1 against Miami (OH).

Backup Kerry Kodanko filled in for him on the interior and made plenty of mistakes against a lesser opponent.

Not only did he struggle generating a push in the ground game, but he had multiple issues snapping the ball.

Early in the game, he snapped the ball before the rest of the offense was ready, leading to a broken play. Later, he snapped it over O'Neil's head for a big loss.

Wisconsin will desperately need Renfro back next week when they hit the road to face Alabama.

Running between the tackles

Kodanko wasn't the only offensive lineman struggling with run blocking.

Running back Dilin Jones didn't have many easy lanes to run through, and all three Badgers backs didn't have much luck creating yards after contact.

Redshirt freshman right guard Colin Cubberly had plenty of ups and downs, and even the more experienced starters like Riley Mahlman and Joe Brunner were far from perfect.

It was concerning to see Wisconsin struggle as much as it did running the ball against a Conference USA defense, knowing than Alabama is coming next week and Big Ten play starts after that.

Playing down to your opponent

The Badgers were massive favorites against Middle Tennessee and did very little to establish itself as an upper echelon opponent.

Wisconsin needed to come into this game and show noticeable improvement from Week 1 against Miami (OH). It was supposed to be a tune-up game before the competition really gets tough from here on out.

Instead, Badgers fans left Camp Randall Stadium with plenty of lingering questions about this team that were supposed to be answered in Week 2.

Even in a victory, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence moving forward.

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