The pungent aroma of grilled bratwursts and onions wafted down Regent Street Saturday morning just after 8 a.m., some three hours before Wisconsin and Carolina would collide in an intersectional football game. Here in the Midwest, the Kiwanians sell brats on game day, as do the Lutherans, the Shriners, the corner Pantry and even McDonald's, if you can believe that. Around the corner on Lathrop Street, just one block from Camp Randall Stadium, the frat guys were already pounding the golden nectar that made nearby Milwaukee famous.

One of the fun things about following Tar Heel football over the years-and these days you've got to go looking for your fun -- is feeling the textures of the game in other parts of the nation. There's the beauty of West Point, the callouses of Pittsburgh, the animals of Texas (a steer) and Tallahassee (a horse) and the music of Oklahoma (get Boomer Sooner etched in your noggin and it's there for 24 hours at least) -- to mention some of the highlights of recent vintage.

On this weekend the Tar Heels emerged from the backwash of Hurricane Isabel in Chapel Hill to travel to Madison, where fall's already in the air and where they take their football seriously. The Badgers of coach Barry Alvarez draw more than 75,000 fans a game to watch a brand of ball that's quintessentially Big 10 and grain-belt. No frills, no-nonsense, smash-mouth, guns 'n bruises. The offensive line's bound to mutiny here if the coaches get too panty-waist with the play-calling, and they did in fact register a complaint Saturday over a pass-call at the Tar Heel six yard-line that turned into an interception.

"It's a power game up here," said Carolina defensive line coach Brad Lawing, who spent four years at Michigan State. "When it gets cold, it's hard to throw the ball. You've got to be able to run the ball in the Big 10."

Here the student section's as rowdy as the Cameron Crazies. There's no video board, no gangsta-rap on the P.A. system pre-game and no smoke for the home team to burst through en route to the field. As one of the visitors from down South astutely observed, "They just run out on the field and go play football."

That they do.

The Badgers drove 46 yards or less for three touchdowns and hit the Heels with TD strikes on two key third-down plays in claiming a 38-27 victory. It was Carolina's third loss in three games in 2003 entering its annual grudge match with N.C. State, and this one offered a contrasting storyline from the much-dissected overtime loss to Syracuse two weeks ago.

The Carolina defense, ranked last in Division I-A entering the game with 535.5 yards allowed in two games, actually did itself proud in some respects Saturday, though a certain cornerback had a particularly nettlesome performance. It was the offense that failed to deliver this week, with quarterback Darian Durant never finding his rhythm and the offensive line struggling to protect Durant against a Wisconsin defense that uncharacteristically rolled the dice often and with good success.

Meanwhile, Carolina's special teams ignited some fire with Michael Waddell returning the opening kick-off 97 yards for a TD and Mike Mason returning another for a score before it was called back.

"It was a game I felt like we could have easily won," Bunting said Sunday afternoon. "Once again, football games come down to two or three or four or five plays. We were in this one for the most part. Our defense played a little better. That was very noticeable on tape. They played harder and tougher. We still had some run-gap responsibility errors.

"Offensively, we did not play as well as we had the two previous games in terms of finishing plays and making good decisions. That hurt us."

A first-quarter fumble by freshman Ronnie McGill at the Carolina three and two short fields after poor punts allowed Wisconsin maddeningly easy touchdown drives of three, 46 and 35 yards.

"Our big thing is, 'Put the ball down,'" end Issac Mooring said, referring to a rally cry initiated last spring by defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable. "That's what we say. 'Put the ball down.' It doesn't matter where they get the ball. Our job is to stop them and go out ready to play defense."

That sounds very nice and it's commendable that the defense takes that attitude, but the fact is that three scoring drives totaling 84 yards amounts to giving the store away.

Carolina's defense forced Wisconsin into four punts, and safety Mahlon Carey made two interceptions, one a terrific play where he jumped with receiver Lee Evans and wrestled the ball from the receiver. Wisconsin gained 402 yards, which is a lot but still is better after the games the Heels played against FSU and Syracuse. The defense did enough good things as the afternoon progressed that you weren't left with the feeling that the Tar Heel offense would have to score every time it touched the ball.

"I felt we played a whole lot better," Mooring said. "We didn't miss as many tackles. We played our assignments better. We played real aggressive, we played fast."

"We played hard, we played together, we've just got to play smarter," Carey said. "When we put all of that together, we'll be all right."

A busted assignment between the linebackers and safeties led to a Wisconsin TD early in the fourth quarter, and cornerback Derrick Johnson was beaten one-on-one in the second quarter for a score when the Tar Heels blitzed and couldn't quite get to QB Jim Sorgi.

"We're going to take risks and sometimes there are consequences you're going to have to pay," Bunting said. "We're a young team, we're an athletic team, and we're going to get better. Wisconsin is a big, physical team and they like to pound the ball. That's their mentality. Sometimes we were able to stand up to them, and that's encouraging."

"We're going to take risks and sometimes there are consequences you're going to have to pay. We're a young team, we're an athletic team, and we're going to get better." Head Coach John Bunting

Bunting was asked by a Wisconsin writer if his defensive background as a player and coach made it particularly difficult to stomach Carolina's defensive ineptness over the last year and three games. He was quick to answer.

"Believe me, I take it very personally," Bunting said. "It kills me. It hurts me morning, noon and night. I wake up with it. But the encouraging part is, we made some progress today."

Bunting and the defensive staff will wrestle this week with the dual-pronged challenge of trying to stop State QB Philip Rivers and star running back T.A. McClendon. And they do so with glaring problems at cornerback. Waddell has been bothered by a turf toe and now has a sprained ankle, and fellow senior Johnson was picked on often by Wisconsin. Junior college transfer Lionell Green replaced Johnson for parts of the second half Saturday and played better in his third game of Division I football after getting beat twice by Syracuse for scores. Green's specialty is tight, man-to-man bump coverage, but the Tar Heels have to be careful how much they use that risky coverage on the wideouts because they're not generating much pass rush. Green is still learning to play zone coverage; it was in zone that he got caught for one of the long scores against Syracuse.

"That's a position we're going to have to devote considerable discussion to this week," Bunting said.

The Tar Heel offense was hamstrung most of the day by never developing any continuity. Procedure and motion penalties dogged the Heels more than in the Florida State or Syracuse games. The Badgers controlled the ball for 36 minutes and ran 70 offensive snaps to Carolina's 56. Carolina struggled converting third downs, making only three of 11, and it gave up the year's first three sacks on Durant.

Trailing by 15 points early in the fourth quarter, Carolina drove to the Wisconsin four, but an offensive pass interference call, a sack and a missed field goal sent the Heels away empty.

"We had some freakin' inexcusable red-zone mistakes," tackle Jeb Terry said. "We need to put points on the board whenever we're that close."

Carolina has been two games without the services of all-star candidate Bobby Blizzard at tight end. Blizzard was diagnosed with a viral infection the morning of the Syracuse game and has not taken the field since. Bunting hopes he might get back in uniform this week, but his recovery could be slow as he could have no conditionng training during his illness. Blizzard had developed into a good run blocker, and his speed and size provided a mismatch in the passing game against the slower linebackers and smaller safeties who had to cover him. Blizzard's loss has been a major dagger to the Heels' offensive plans. That leaves them with two offensive positions, tight end and fullback, where they don't have established scholarship players.

Durant wasn't as sharp Saturday as we've come to expect, completing just 12 passes for 139 yards, no scores and one interception.

"We didn't do our part on offense," Durant said. "The defense gave us some turnovers and special teams played great. It comes back to us."

So after this interesting diversion into Wisconsin football, the Tar Heels are back to familiar territory this week in Raleigh, with two rival games to follow-at home against Virginia and on the road at East Carolina.

"We've got to find a way to win one of these things," Bunting said. "Maybe it will be next week. There would not be a finer place to do it other than Raleigh. It will be an intense week of practice and an intense football game."

SQUIB KICKS -
*Four Tar Heels were on Sunday's injury list and will be evaluated as the week progresses. Waddell has a sprained right ankle. Running back Jacque Lewis has a sprained left foot. Reserve offensive tackle Brian Chacos has a sprained left ankle. Linebacker Victor Worsley suffered a concussion.
*Freshman linebackers Larry Edwards and Fred Sparkman played at least one series on defense each as Bunting and staff gradually introduce them to the speed of the game. "We'll keep playing them a little more each week," Bunting said. "They're going to be extremely good linebackers -- when they learn how to play. They're still learning. It's a little unfair, but they're not going to learn sitting on the sideline."
*The Carolina-State game will not be on network TV for the first time since 1990 but will be available in the Triangle, Fayetteville, Lumberton, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Charlotte areas on Time Warner digital cable pay-per-view. Cost is $9.95 in advance, $12.95 the day of the game. Jefferson-Pilot, which produces the regional ACC package, has in recent years pared back its schedule so as not to begin until October. ABC, which shows an ACC game each week at 3:30 p.m., decided that Wake Forest vs. Virginia was the better game given Carolina's poor start. ESPN did not pick the game up for either its primary channel or ESPN2.
*Lewis was flown to Madison in a private jet Friday night along with more than a dozen pieces of luggage belonging to the Tar Heel traveling party that had been misplaced at Raleigh-Durham International Airport earlier in the day. Lewis was allowed extra time to visit with family members following the death of his grandfather on Thursday. Lewis was Carolina's leading rusher, notching 82 yards on six carries, including a 56-yarder.
*Wisconsin's all-star tailback, Anthony Davis, missed the game with a high-ankle sprain, but the Badgers have good backup talent to run the ball. That's not surprising since the ground game is their stock-in-trade. "It's the trademark of our program," offensive coordinator Brian White said.