SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior running back Clarence Farmer gets tackled by 3 Utah players early in the first quarter during Saturday's 23-17 win over the Utes. Farmer rushed for 79 yards and along with the rest of the Wildcats will take on Wisconsin tomorrow at 9 a.m. local time.

Running game key to tomorrow's match-up against Wisconsin

With all the question marks surrounding the outcome of tomorrow's game in Madison between Arizona and Wisconsin, one thing is for sure; One of the teams will no longer be undefeated.

The feature match-up of tomorrow's 9 a.m. game will be at the running back spot.

Wisconsin sophomore running back Anthony Davis gained 1,466 yards last year as a freshman on his way to the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year award, however, yards haven't come as easy this season for the Wisconsin sophomore.

Besides his opening game performance of 184 yard, Davis has struggled a bit in the Badgers other three games. He was held to 49 yards on 14 carries last week against Northern Illinois and has been held under 100 yards in three out of the four Badger games. The Wildcat defense will try and do the same, but by no means are doubting Davis' ability, even though he has been in a bit of a funk lately.

"Our defenses' goal is to stop the run first and then just go from there," UA senior defensive tackle Young Thompson said.

The same struggles have seemed to plague the Pac-10's rushing leader from a year ago.

UA's junior back Clarence Farmer, who lead the Pac-10 with 1,229 yards last season, has only 108 yards in the Wildcats first two games with a meager 2.2 yards per carry average. With the minimal yards that Farmer has been able to gain, head coach John Mackovic said he is still pleased with his potential All-American running back's performances.

"He should not be faulted for not getting any more yards than that," Mackovic said. "Although, we will have to block and run better this week against Wisconsin."

The big reason for the slow start for the two running backs is the opposing defenses' stacking up against the run. Both Arizona and Wisconsin opponents have been playing a majority of the game with eight to nine defenders close to the line of scrimmage. With all of the added pressure to stop the run neither team plans on shying away from running the football.

"Running the football is so important to controlling the time and controlling the ball," UA senior quarterback Jason Johnson said.

One would think having a non-existent running game would be devastating, when in reality Johnson has just been licking his lips.

In consecutive weeks, Johnson has thrown for career highs in passing yards, while leading the Wildcats to a 2-0 start for the second straight year.

On the other side of the ball, Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger has had similar luck.

Bollinger has the Badgers off to a 4-0 start, throwing four touchdowns and one interception while running for two scores, including the game winner with 1:21 left last week against Northern Illinois.

"Bollinger has been the catalyst behind that team," Mackovic said. "The guy that is making that team go is Brooks Bollinger."

One area that these two teams have differed in has been in the turnover column. Wisconsin leads the nation in takeaways with 14 in four games and is fourth in turnover margin (+11).

On the other hand, UA lost the turnover battle last week, but was able to escape with a win.

"The most important stat I care about is turnovers and protecting the ball," Johnson said.

Though Arizona did manage to tally a victory thanks to a last minute goal-line stand, Mackovic said if the Wildcats turn the ball over like last week, the game would be over well before the last minute of the fourth quarter.

"We lost the turnover battle and won the game, which is highly unlikely," Mackovic said. "Usually you are not going to win the game unless you are a decided favorite."

UA heads to Camp Randle Stadium as an underdog a five-point underdog and although the Wildcats will make their first trip even to Madison, UA is not totally with out experience at Camp Randle Stadium.

Mackovic coached against the Badgers four times while he was at Illinois and was a perfect 4-0.

UA recruiting coordinator and receivers coach Rob Ianello will also make a return trip to Madison after being with the Wisconsin program from 1990-93, including Wisconsin's' first Rose Bowl win.

Tomorrow's kick off is set for 9 a.m. PST, and can be seen on ESPN2.