TE Travis Beckum and LB Jonathan Casillas could be ready to go against Fresno State on Saturday.

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said at his press conference Monday:

"Travis practiced all yesterday and really felt that he was probably just a couple days away last week but when he wasn't able to go on Thursday of last week we made the determination we'll just go ahead and hold him out of the game and let him go full-go Sunday (yesterday)," Bielema said. "I actually saw him this morning in the training room and he was all excited about the way he felt today after practicing pretty good yesterday."

"Jonathan Casillas, I did not see him this morning but I know he was in the training room and he basically had a conversation with our trainer, Clark Pearson, that he felt he was good to go for tomorrow's full practice," Bielema said. "He practiced yesterday as well."

Casillas, a senior who was named to the Lott Trophy Watch list and was named preseason All-Big Ten by some magazines, has been out with a knee injury.

Beckum, a senior who was picked as a preseason All-American and All-Big Ten player and selected to the Lombardi Trophy watch list, has missed time due to a hamstring injury.

Beckum tallied

At the conclusion of East Carolina's game against West Va. this weekend, Pat Hill might have sighed and said "finally."

The last two seasons especially, Hill has been dogged by questions about his "anyone, anytime, anywhere" scheduling as Hawaii and Boise State creeped into BCS games on weaker schedules. After being teased and tormented, he found pleasure that East Carolina took down No. 8 West Virginia last weekend and No. 17 Virginia Tech two weeks ago to break into the rankings at No. 14 (AP) and no. 20 (USA TODAY).

"I like what they're doing," Hill said at his Monday morning presser, and of course he would because it's the same thing he does here at Fresno State -- schedule BCS opponents.
"That sends such a strong message to the naysayers about scheduling. If you schedule big and you win, good things happen. If you schedule big and you lose, everybody can pick at you.
If you don't schedule big and you win, you're hoping for everyone else to lose. That's what it comes down to. So far it's worked out well. It gets very competitive down the stretch."

Then a radio guy snickered and Hill continued, dropping his best line of the day for the second time that morning.

"East Carolina went further in two weeks than Hawaii and Boise State did in 10 or 12 weeks. Now they gotta continue it. So it's whether you want to control your destiny in life or let someone control it for you. I like the way we schedule. And it's good to finally see someone else reaping the benefits from a tough schedule. It's not easy. It is not easy. But you know what? I like it."

East Carolina isn't done with this season's BCS scheduling yet. It still has ACC teams Virginia and NC State to face. It'll be interesting to watch.

And while Hill called East Carolina coach Skip Holtz on Sunday to congratulate the fellow mid-major coach, there's a chance the two could be chatting face-to-face before a game in which they play each other this postseason.

The Pirates played (and beat) Boise State in the Hawaii Bowl last season. If Hawaii doesn't become bowl eligible and neither Fresno State nor East Carolina makes it to a BCS game, the Hawaii Bowl could be a matchup of two of the better non-BCS teams in the country.

Fresno State coach Pat Hill is one of the most recognizable men (and has the most distinguishable mustache) in the Valley by far. But Friday night the ball coach's star power was dulled by Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Joe Montana and Wayne Gretzky.

All four stars showed up to cheer on Oaks Christian as they faced Bulldog recruit Derek Carr and his Bakersfield Christian team.

Here's an excerpt from the Bakersfield Californian story on how Carr did:

--- Will Smith, Wayne Gretzky and Joe Montana all made appearances in the visitors' stands to watch their sons, but that was soon forgotten when a competitive game broke out, brought to you courtesy of Bakersfield Christian's brightest star, Derek Carr.

The younger brother of former Stockdale standout and No. 1 NFL draft pick David Carr, [Derek Carr] threw for 227 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw three interceptions and left the game with cramps a couple of times in the second half.

For a while, it looked like Carr would keep the Eagles in the game by himself. With no semblance of a running game and spotty pass protection, Carr threw for 177 yards in the first half, including an 11-yard strike to Jake Peterson with 1:07 to play in the first half. That answered two Nick Montana touchdown passes and made the score 14-7.

Montana finished 7-of-12 for 132 yards and the three scores.

"It was fun," Carr said. "These guys really gave it to us, but it was fun. It was an experience." ----

Here's another story about the celeb citings from the Californian. I'm not gonna lie, I kinda wish I would have finished my story early so I could have gone down there to check out Derek and see the rest of the atmosphere as well.

No, Fresno State won't be playing in black jerseys against Wisconsin (though I think black jerseys would be great for one game even if they're not Fresno State colors), but players who have outstanding games get to wear black jerseys in practice the following week.

Players wearing black jerseys in practice Thursday because of great performances against Rutgers were: free safety Marvin Haynes (two interceptions), strong safety Lorne Bell (four tackles, overall solid play), strongside linebacker Kyle Knox (seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss), defensive tackle Jon Monga (four tackles, 0.5 TFL, nice play up front) and middle linebacker Ben Jacobs (5 tackles, 0.5 TFL).

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that Badger tight end Travis Beckum is a game time decision for Saturday's home game against Marshall.
Tom Mulhern wrote:
"After practicing almost all of Tuesday, tight end Travis Beckum (hamstring) has been in and out the last two days and is now a game-time decision against Marshall Saturday."

Beckum is among the John Mackey Award candidates this season for best tight end, but did not play in the Badgers' first game against Akron. His presence is huge in the passing game (just check the link above for how high he is on the Badgers' career receiving list). If his hamstring causes more problems and he can't go against the Bulldogs in their home opener Sept. 13, it would be a big plus for the 'Dogs.

Fresno State coach Pat Hill will use this bye week to rest his current Bulldogs and get a grasp on new ones.

He has given his players off Saturday so the players will be able to rest up and be ready to focus on the new information they'll receive Sunday about their next opponent: Wisconsin.

But while he's given his players off Saturday, he'll be working. And he'll also be working Friday night. Hill said Thursday afternoon that he planned to go to local high school games Thursday night and Friday night.

He said he would be at Bakersfield Christian Friday night.

(Bulldog recruit and Bakersfield Christian quarterback Derek Carr happens to be set to take on Oaks Christian Friday night at 7:30 pm.)

Using bye weeks to recruit is something other college coaches do as well.

One of the biggest things that stuck out to me in Fresno State's game against Rutgers, was it seemed the Scarlet Knights' offensive play calling early on smacked of desperation.

Was that the Big East team really going for it on fourth down in the first quarter? Was that the BCS conference "power" going to its trick bag with a flea flicker (that ended in an interception)?

It's usually the mid-major schools that dig into the far reaches of their playbooks and take risks. I think that says something: That's how worried Rutgers was about this game. The coaching staff thought it needed desperately to score first and get the momentum from this Fresno State offense 3,000 miles away from home.

Fresno State withstood the blows and its offense fianlly got goign in the second half, but let's not act like Rutgers didn't waste some clear opportunities.

Not only did Rutgers miss two fied goals (one was the kicker's fault, the other the snapper's) and fail on a fourth-down conversion at the goalline, but WR Kenny Britt torched a DB down the left sideline and had the ball bounce off his finger tips in the endzone. That's too many opportunities to miss against this team, the mid-major team.