Just to be clear, I'm not making any...declarations on the program, just this particular game. It felt like they were trying to make a statement. This is a new Era and we're gonna throw the ball.
And you have to throw the ball. You don't get enough explosive plays in the run game unless you have a SPECIAL back, and even at UW, we've had...Taylor and Gordon who could take it 90 yards without great blocking despite a litany of VERY good backs(including the all time leading RB in Dayne).
Allen is in the group of really good backs(like Ball...who had sensational vision, or White, Clay, Davis, etc...). Mellusi looked like a new man, but I doubt he's taken that huge leap.
It just seems like Buffalo knew exactly what was coming and they(the Badgers) still threw it into coverage until it dawned on them, "oh yeah...we're a great running team."
But insofar as making decisions on...ANYONE based on this game, Aschcraft looked really nice and I saw better pass pro by the OL and that's as much as I can say. It was one game in a new year before the Badgers really have their guys all in place.