The Wisconsin Badgers took down the Miami (OH) RedHawks 17-0 to start the season 1-0, pitching a shutout in the opener on Thursday night.

However, the win didn’t come without adversity, as starting quarterback Billy Edwards suffered a non-contact knee injury in the second quarter and did not return, leaving sophomore Danny O’Neil as the team’s signal-caller for the rest of the game.

O’Neil had a slow start but began to settle in as the game went along, throwing for 120 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, while completing 12/19 passes.

The Badgers weren’t able to sustain many offensive drives, but had some opportunities, with O’Neil also rushing for a touchdown in his Badgers debut.

After the game, head coach Luke Fickell acknowledged the tough situation for the sophomore, noting that the team had given Edwards a majority of the practice reps at quarterback ahead of Week 1, given that it was a new offense and system for the starter.

“We talked about complementary football,” Fickell said after the game. “We talked about, ‘hey, you’re going to have to handle adversity.’ It always happens. It happened in Fall Camp. I can honestly say that: no, [Edwards’s injury] was by far the furthest thing that I was expecting or hoping, or obviously wouldn’t hope, to have any type of adversity like that. And so, more than anything, you just had to kind of keep a straight face and don’t show any emotions of any sorts. And I thought our guys did a really good job of that.

“I thought Billy did show a really good job of that. Danny showed a really good job of that. In particular, I think the defense showed it. It was definitely one of those things where someone’s down and, like, no, he didn’t get hit. So don’t know much about it, just as it’s all said and done, we’ll find out. But it’s one of those things where, ‘hey, this is where you find out what you’re made of.’ And I promise you that we’re going to be built a little bit different than to say, ‘hey, it’s all on the shoulders of whoever comes in. They’re taking that snap.’ 

“And to be honest with you, Billy probably took 85% of the snaps the last six, seven days. And you say, hold on, is there some balance to that? I think in game one, I think with the new offense, I think there was a lot of snaps, even if there was a two line or some two other guys out there that Billy was taking. So Danny had to do an incredible job of this, the mental reps of being prepared, and that answers your question. But don’t really want to think much more about that.”

While Wisconsin obviously hoped this situation wouldn’t occur for a third straight year, they prepared for this exact scenario by upgrading at QB2 with the additions of O’Neil and Hunter Simmons from the transfer portal.

Of course, each quarterback has their own strengths and weaknesses, which will alter the game plan, but each also came in with starting experience.

“As we started this since January, the whole idea was, ‘look, we can’t be so handcuffed if you know by chance that another quarterback goes into the game, and guys have to be able to do what we’re asking them to do.’ And whether they’re six-foot-four, six-foot-three like Billy, or six-foot, six-foot-one [like Danny O’Neil], whether he has the arm or what kind of arm, like, there’s things that these guys got to be able to do. It’s to command an offense.

“It is to understand an incredible amount of shifts, motions, and things that the offense has. And so that’s where, you know, yeah, they all can do things pretty darn well, and they’ve all worked at the same thing. So is the offense that much different? No, it’s not. I think that there are strengths of guys, based on, hey, how they throw the deep ball? How do they throw the deep out? What are their other strengths? The quarterback run was in the game plan, whether it was Billy or Danny or Hunter. And you know, those are, those are just things that you know all encompassing with the offense will be able to do.”

The Badgers will likely be with O’Neil this week at quarterback, with Simmons being the backup, so both should get additional reps ahead of their contest against Middle Tennessee State. But, after that, we’ll see if Edwards is ready to suit up and play in Week 3 when Wisconsin travels to Tuscaloosa for a matchup with the Alabama Crimson Tide.