MADISON — With six starters still out with injuries on defense, it was no surprise the University of Wisconsin football team's offense dominated a lengthy scrimmage inside the McClain Center Saturday.

The quarterbacks looked sharp, there were impressive runs and plenty of long drives during a lengthy scrimmage of more than 85 plays inside the McClain Center.
And the best news of all for the Badgers? They got through it without any more injuries.

''Because of the injury situation on defense, we're playing a lot of guys that necessarily shouldn't factor into our game plan next year,'' UW coach Bret Bielema said. ''So, I was excited to see the offense do the things (it) did (Saturday), moved the football.''

It started with P.J. Hill ripping off a 20-yard run on the first play. But the best run of the scrimmage came by Zach Brown on third-and-3. He ran untouched around right end and when strong safety Jay Valai tried to track him down along the sidelines, Brown made a cut inside and was gone for what would have been a 56-yard touchdown on the shortened 80-yard field.

''That was set up, probably the most impressive block of the day, other than (guard Kraig) Urbik's block on a screen pass, (center) John Moffitt pulled out in front and covered up a safety and gave him that play,'' Bielema said.

But the most impressive thing about the offense was the consistency shown in a couple of drives starting at its 3-yard line.

First, senior Allan Evridge led the No. 1 offense on a nine-play, 77-yard touchdown drive against the No. 1 defense. It was ignited by tight end Mickey Turner's one-handed grab for a 17-yard completion on third-and-3. Evridge hit David Gilreath for a 25-yard strike on the next play. Lance Smith capped it off with a 4-yard TD run.

Junior Dustin Sherer then took the No. 2 offense 77 yards in 10 plays, with Smith scoring again on a 5-yard run. Sherer overcame a sack and a holding penalty on the drive, completing a 22-yard pass to Maurice Moore.

''The thing I like about spring is no matter what play, there's going to be something good that's going to be happen,'' offensive coordinator Paul Chryst said. ''It's either going to be good execution or you're going to have a great teaching point. You like to have some success, obviously, but those aren't necessarily the best plays of the scrimmage.''

Failure to catch

Despite moving the ball on offense, dropped passes continue to be a problem. Sophomore Daven Jones, who has been one of the worst culprits lately, had a couple more early in the practice. Bielema said something to him about it and Jones made a couple of nice catches after that.

''We can't throw enough balls at each other over the course of the summer, to get ready for the fall,'' Bielema said.

Getting healthy

Some of the injured players are expected back Tuesday, including wide receivers Nick Toon (hamstring) and Xavier Harris (back), defensive end O'Brien Schofield (broken hand) and linebacker Blake Sorenensen (strained pectoral).

Even with all the injuries this spring, just about everybody is expected to be involved in summer conditioning. The one exception might be sophomore cornerback Aaron Henry, who tore his ACL during bowl practices in December.

''The flip side of all our guys being a little dinged, everybody except for one guy, I think, will be heavily involved in our June program as soon as it starts,'' Bielema said.

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