Not the Same Fresno State

MADISON, Wis. —  So this is what life is like after David Carr.

Overthrown passes. Fumbled snaps in shotgun formation. Interceptions thrown into double coverage.

And, yet, there was still almost a Fresno State victory. On the road. Against a ranked opponent.

But in the end, it became apparent that times have changed for the Bulldogs: They were the ones that got caught from behind at Camp Randall Stadium.

Wisconsin, ranked 25th, defeated Fresno State, 23-21, on a field goal in the final minutes before 75,136 in both teams’ season opener Friday.

No, there weren’t as many Fresno State visits to the end zone without Carr, who led the nation last season with 4,839 yards passing and 46 touchdown passes before being drafted by the Houston Texans with the first overall pick in the NFL draft.

The hardest college job in America (i.e., whomever replaced Carr) was filled by Jeff Grady, a redshirt junior who had thrown 23 passes in college before Friday. Grady, who played at Huntington Beach Edison High, completed 21 of 42 passes for 262 yards, produced three touchdowns and was intercepted twice. Grady struggled at times, sometimes overshooting receivers by 15 yards, but he didn’t get much help from his teammates. Case in point: After he connected with Marque Davis for a nifty 37-yard gain, Davis fumbled the ball to negate a third-quarter drive.

Grady was also short-circuited by the loss of receiver Bernard Berrian, who sprained a knee ligament in the first quarter. And Grady was injured in the second quarter, taking a shot in the hip from Jake Sprague, but continuing to play after sitting out one snap.

“He started off a little wobbly,” Fresno State Coach Pat Hill said of Grady, adding that the hip injury could sideline his starting quarterback for a couple of weeks. “He made some big plays. He never quit. And he played hurt.

“We played a good team ... we’re not playing Cal Poly or something,” Hill said.

Last season, the Bulldogs soared to No. 8 in the Associated Press poll with victories over Colorado, Oregon State, Wisconsin and Colorado State on the way to a 6-0 start.

Even though the Bulldogs stumbled with losses to Boise State and Hawaii, the nation came to learn what the “V” meant on the back of their helmets (an ode to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley) and folks in Fresno couldn’t get enough of the hometown team, shattering attendance records at Bulldog Stadium.

This season, however, the Bulldogs have already used the “slap in the face” cliche to describe a coaches’ preseason poll that picked them to finish third in the Western Athletic Conference. Still, Fresno State had three leads against the Badgers, only to be passed for good when Mike Allen kicked a 34-yard field goal with 2:05 left.

“I don’t want to hear that they overlooked us,” Hill said. “I heard that [from teams] all last year.”

Then there were the Badgers, also looking for a little respect after last season’s unsettling 5-7 record kept them out of a bowl for the first time since 1995.

They revamped their defense, with only one returning starter, a sensible move for a squad that folded in seemingly every game, bottoming out by giving up 63 points and 631 yards to Indiana.

Luckily for the Badgers, they didn’t tinker with sophomore running back Anthony Davis, who had 184 yards in 37 carries, helping Wisconsin take an enormous edge in time of possession, 41:09 to 19:51.