Badgers quarterback Tanner McEvoy leaps as he runs for a first down in the fourth quarter. McEvoy finished 11 of 18 for 160 yards and a touchdown. Credit: Mike De Sisti

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Madison — Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen didn't dodge the question or mince words when asked to address the state of UW's passing game through four games:

Can you describe your overall comfort level with the passing game headed into Big Ten play?

"Not real good," Andersen said after UW's lackluster 27-10 victory Saturday over South Florida. "It's just not. It's inconsistent and there's a lot of pieces, again, that go into that.

"We're going to work hard as an offense to get better in the throw game and third downs, because if we can't, it's going to be a little difficult as we continue to move forward.

"You're not always going to hold teams to 10 points and eight first downs. It's not going to happen."

Quarterback Tanner McEvoy continued a trend of missing receivers early in the game and finished 11 for 18 for 160 yards and a touchdown.

McEvoy acknowledged afterward he has to focus on setting his feet more consistently.

"I need to do what I'm doing in practice," he said. "I've got to control my feet. There were a couple times I was shuffling around, even on the long balls.

"If I settle my feet and relax I know I can make the throws. I've just got to go out there and execute.

"That's on me."

One near miss both McEvoy and tight end Sam Arneson wanted back was a slight overthrow in the fourth quarter with UW holding a 20-10 lead. The play would have been a 44-yard touchdown.

Arneson, who had left the game late in the third quarter after suffering a minor ankle injury, was open between the hash marks.

McEvoy had time to throw and lofted the ball with touch, but Arneson, who acknowledged he slowed slightly on the route, wasn't able to make a diving catch.

"He's wide open down the middle," McEvoy said. "We've been practicing that play the past two weeks.

"He slowed down a little bit, but I've still got to put it on him."

Arneson caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from McEvoy seven plays later.

"Tanner threw a good ball," he said of the incompletion. "I've got to get to it. That's on me.

"With a little ankle tweak, maybe I wasn't as fast as I could have been."

Surprisingly, UW's wide receivers recorded their second-highest reception total of the season (eight) for 117 yards.

UW wide receivers had five catches for 41 yards in the opener against LSU. They had 11 for 132 against Western Illinois, though Alex Erickson had 10 for 122. The unit had just two catches for 10 yards against Bowling Green, both by Erickson.

Erickson led the way against South Florida with six catches for 91 yards. Jordan Fredrick had a 17-yard catch to convert a third-and-9 play on UW's second series, and Kenzel Doe added a 9-yard catch on the Badgers' final touchdown drive.

"I've got to throw to the right read," McEvoy said. "Whoever the receiver is, that is who I'm throwing it to. It doesn't cross my mind who is out there."

Andersen uses head: Andersen has shown little fear of gambling on fourth down, and UW entered the day 3 for 4 on fourth-down chances.

However, with the Badgers holding a 17-10 lead in the third quarter and facing fourth and goal at the 1, Andersen called for a field goal.

Rafael Gaglianone hit a 19-yarder for a 20-10 lead with 1 minute, 4 seconds left in the third quarter.

"It made it a two-score game, which I thought was imperative at that moment," Andersen said. "And we had not been doing a good job on the base power play....

"We fumbled the ball when we got in the red zone once before. So at that point, in my opinion, the right thing to do was to kick that field goal and get a two-score lead."

No blame for Gordon: On third and 2 from the South Florida 5 in the final minute of the first half, UW tailback Melvin Gordon had no time to secure the handoff from McEvoy before right defensive tackle Elkino Watson slanted into the backfield and forced a fumble the Bulls recovered.

"I don't think that there's any running back in the history of the world that would have any chance of not fumbling that football," Andersen said. "We got (a tackle) running through the middle of the (line) and hit him on the exchange."

Center Dan Voltz tried to get a piece of Watson but missed. According to Voltz, Watson executed the same technique on the second possession of the second half.

UW blocked Watson on the second try and Gordon scored on a 43-yard run.

"It's all a matter of adjusting," Voltz said, "and we did that in the second half."

Too many big hits: UW's defense limited South Florida to eight first downs and 245 total yards.

Members of the defense weren't happy, however, because the Bulls hit five plays of 20 or more yards, for a total of 161 yards.

South Florida had pass plays of 22, 26, 35 and 52 yards and a 26-yard touchdown run.

UW opponents came in with only nine plays of 20 or more yards, six pass plays and three runs.

"We're just really...I want to say disappointed," senior linebacker Marcus Trotter said. "There's a lot of plays out there we should have made.

"We've got to learn from it. We can't miss those plays against teams like Nebraska and Iowa."

Extra points: Arneson has 19 catches at UW. Six have been touchdowns....

UW has opened the second half with a touchdown drive in all four games this season. All four drives have been 75 yards....

Gaglianone, who had a 24-yard field goal in the opening quarter, has made 5 of 6 attempts this season.