Academic All-Big Ten Badgers

Let's step away from the field for a moment and give credit to to the Badger football players who earned academic All-Big Ten honors:

Zach Brown, Gabe Carimi, Nate Emanuel, Bradie Ewing, Antonio Fenelus, Matthew Groff, Will Hartmann, Jordan Hein, Aaron Henry, Tyler Holland, Peter Konz, Andrew Lukasko, Prince Moody, Brad Nortman, Chukwuma Offor, Curt Phillips, Devin Smith, Blake Sorensen, Scott Tolzien, Mickey Turner, J.J. Watt, Drew Woodward.

That's eight starters, five key reserves, and a smattering of special teams contributors. Nice work in the classroom, fellas!

Wisconsin-Ohio State halftime thoughts

Pretty frustrating to have completely outplayed Ohio State in the first half but be losing. Our defense dominates, then goes into its sieve mode, one half early. We're 2-1 on time of possession, which is great. We're still in it, and should have plenty of chances to pull this one out.

-Last year against these guys our first defensive possession was about as bad as it gets. This year, completely opposite, set the tone for the rest of the half. Pryor has not looked good at all, but his running ability really bails him out.

-O'Brien Schofield has made some nice pass rush moves, including a great inside move to draw a hold.

-Let's just run that end around to David Gilreath every play, it works. He's not expending any energy returning punts.

-Antonio Fenelus has played pretty well so far in coverage and on special teams. Aaron Henry had a really nice possession midway through, hopefully that'll push him on to more consistent play.

-John Moffitt struggled early, giving up a sack and blocking nobody in space on a screen. Is guard really his best position?

-Culmer St. Jean made a great drop and showed great hands on that pick. Conversely, that play showed just how medicore Pryor is as a passer, terrible read and pass.

-Even if Chris Maragos doesn't score on the fake field goal, I still like the call -- playing to win and not to lose against a favored team in an intimidating environment. We ran a successful fake punt last time we played in Columbus. I didn't think Maragos had the speed to turn the corner, and thought his right foot might have been out short of the first down, but it all turned out well.

-John Clay's lean is a yard or two less than it was last week against much better defenders, but I'm okay with how he's run so far. He does seem to be wrapping the ball with two hands quicker than usual, which limits his mobility.

-Too bad Garrett Graham got called for holding (it's happened recently, right? and another one on the first possession of the second half!), wiped out a nice run by Montee Ball, very well blocked by the left side of the line.

-That field goal by Philip Welch was't a gimme, very important. He almost made another 57-yarder at the end there. He seems to have overcome his early season yips.

-Scott Tolzien isn't playing all that well, although like with Clay, the opposition has a lot to do with it. I liked the move to have him roll out, that should help him buy time, rather than subjecting him to the OSU pass rush that clearly has an advantage on our line.

Keep running the ball and we'll have a shot. Let's see what happens.

Hey, I wanted that

Wednesday afternoon on my drive home from work, I was listening to the daily Badger update, with Matt LePay talking with Bret Bielema about things. The guys were talking about Ohio State's front seven, which is nasty as usual.

Bielema was talking about linebacker Austin Spitler, who is from Bellbrook, Ohio. "Oh, I wanted him," said Bielema. "He was just a tremendous player."

Then the coach moved onto fellow linebacker Brian Rolle, who was Aaron Henry's high school teammate in Immokalee, Fla. "I offered him a scholarship when he was a sophomore," Bielema said. "He was just such an amazing athlete."

So, 0-for-2 on those priority recruits. It's always interesting to hear coaches talk candidly about the ones who got away. Especially college coaches, because you really don't hear them talk about it that often. After all, it's a reminder that they got beat on the recruiting trail, which is only slightly worse than getting beat on the field.

Spitler and Rolle are studs, but they're not as good as James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman. But the defensive line is just about the same as last year. They're big, deep, and fast. They lost their best cover corner from last year, but their safeties are outstanding.

Watching Ohio State against USC in Week 2, I got a feeling of dread. A "We're going to score three points in Columbus and be embarrassed" sort of dread. They're still tough, but having seen five games of our offense, I think we can score 17-24 points. As we've done so far, I can see the pass setting up the run, as long as the offensive line gives Scott Tolzien a little bit of time to throw. Did you realize he's only been sacked twice this season?

Which might be enough. Terrelle Pryor is a physical freak, but he ain't Vince Young yet. The rest of the guys are good, but none of them scare you like a Beanie Wells did.

Ohio State definitely should win this game, it being in Columbus, but we've got a puncher's shot. Our play doesn't necessarily need to be flawless, but it needs to be cleaner than any full game we've seen so far. No more than one turnover. Better kick coverage. Maybe a plus play in the return game. Garrett Graham is going to get the ball a lot. We might rush for less than 4 yards per carry, but can't go away from it.

Should be a good game. If we win ... the fall of 2009 gets exponentially more interesting.

Wisconsin-Minnesota additional thoughts

Tell you what: I could watch our second half offensive performance over and over and over again. Aside from the fumbles and penalties, of course.

John Clay and the blockers operating in front of him just manhandled Minnesota time and time again. Emasculated the Gophers. Embarrassed them. There was Lee Campbell, visibly upset with himself after Clay shrugged him off on a touchdown run. There was that Triplett guy walking off the field groggy after Clay ran him over. There was Gopher defensive back Simmons, shaking in his shoes as Clay picked up steam in the open field, consciously waiting until Clay was almost by him and just diving at Clay's feet.

This is why we beat Minnesota every year. We are stronger and tougher than them. It was apparent sitting seven rows up Saturday, and just as apparent watching the replay.

Other thoughts after getting a TV view of the game.

-You know what else I could watch over and over again? Those ESPN clips of all the empty trophy cases at Minnesota's new stadium. I'll bet someone in their SID office is in trouble for allowing that to happen.

-Early on, Scott Tolzien scrambled and ran into former Badger Kimmy Royston, knocking him back. In the aftermath, Royston was the one talking trash, as if he were the one who had lowered the boom, not the one who got his ass kicked by our slow-footed quarterback. Man, we really miss Royston ...

-Speaking of Tolzien running, I didn't realize his fumble was forced. During the game it appeared he just coughed it up by himself, but on TV it was clear a Minnesota defensive lineman made a nice play to knock the ball loose.

-Louis Nzegwu's sack where he ran down Weber was really a coverage sack. But he made another nice hustle play where he ran down a Minnesota wide receiver downfield. He's a nice logical replacement for O'Brien Schofield next year.

-Watching Zach Brown's fumble and the return for a touchdown made me throw up in my mouth. How does that happen there? For all intents and purposes the game is over at that point. Instead my blood pressure remains elevated for another half-hour. It's too bad he's had troubles hanging onto the ball. For all the increased talk about Montee Ball, from the limited looks we had at him Saturday Brown is still clearly the faster, shiftier back.

-Aaron Henry appears to be the #4 cornerback now behind Antonio Fenelus, Devin Smith, and Niles Brinkley. Shaky knee? Shaky confidence? Other guys' improvement? A little bit of all those things, probably. He had pretty decent coverage on Decker's touchdown, but Weber made a good throw and Decker made a good play on the ball. Aaron also did make a play on the ball on the Gophers' last drive. Henry's got a lot of football to play yet for us, but I'm still a little worried about him.

-Did you see Decker making that Axe-chopping motion after his touchdown? Nice, huh? That'll have to do for him, I guess, since the only wood he'll ever ... never mind.

-Fenelus led us with nine tackles.

-Which was our special teams lowlight? The Gophers' repeated long kickoff returns? Smith and Fenelus fighting each other to keep Brad Nortman's excellent punt out of the end zone, neither succeeding? David Gilreath running full steam into Prince Moody on a return? This unit still needs tons of work.

-Oh yeah, and we also almost had a punt blocked.

-Among Minnesota's many bush league moves is having their band play loud, annoying noises right up until the opponent's snap. Not music, just banging on drums and blowing into horns.

-As much as Lance Kendricks is a nice receiver, he's really become an asset as a blocker. He's not Mickey Turner or Garrett Graham, but he's not a liability either and engages defenders sufficiently enough to give his backs some room. His footwork on the touchdown catch was really nice, and his vision on his other catch of Tolzien's beautifully-thrown ball was great too.

-The tight end screen to Garrett Graham was the perfect call at the perfect time by Paul Chryst.

-Apparently the 12-men-on-the-field penalty was defensive line coach Charlie Partridge's fault for sending in two defensive tackles. The penalty was a good call, Patrick Butrym was not off the field at the snap. Mike Taylor made a nice play on that pick, again, had to reach back across his body. He's good good hands and good instincts.

-Did you happen to notice that before the Gophers' onside kick, Bret Bielema was about five yards on the field yelling instructions and a staffer ran out and pulled him back to the sideline. After last year's Michigan State fiasco, does Bielema have a chaperone to keep him from penalties like that?

-Speaking of onside kicks, that's three times in five games where our opponent has tried one, and we're still not all that good at fielding them.

-Speaking of onside kicks, how funny was it that Minnesota was penalized for having a guy standing to the wrong side of the kicker? That's simple knowledge of the rules. That's the kind of thing we would have been penalized for last year.

-On our second-to-last possession, we passed on third-and-long rather than running. Most people would have run there, and I probably would have too, but passing there wasn't as dumb as it may have originally appeared. Given that they had just gone 80 yards in about 10 seconds on their previous drive, the difference between them having 1:45 and 1:20, only needing a field goal attempt to force overtime, wasn't that great. Why not make a legit attempt at a first down and end it?

-Why was Minnesota running play action passes on their last drive? Was running really an option at that point? And didn't Weber used to be a pretty good runner? He looks downright slow now.

-You know what else I could watch over and over and over? Chris Borland running by Minnesota's big, slow offensive linemen. And I didn't even have to rewind the DVR, it was happening on every single play. On one play, Borland spun around and Wills didn't realize he'd been beaten for another three seconds. Then, Borland has the athleticism to stop, change direction, and tip Weber's pass.

-Looks like Blake Sorensen forced that last fumble, not Schofield, but O'Beezy was right there on the play. Whatever helps him with his all-conference resume.

This team and this game effort still has plenty of warts, but watching the kids run around with the Axe makes you forget all of it. It doesn't get much better than that.

Guys I'm excited about seeing

Every year there are a handful of guys we're especially excited about seeing. Not returning stars, mind you -- we know what they can do. But guys who haven't played much before, but are in position to make a big impact. It's one of the beautiful things about college spots.

Here are the guys I'm especially excited to watch this season.

Aaron Henry. Mainly because there have been north of 1 million kind words written about this kid since he blew out his knee a couple years ago. I'm not expecting him to be Jamar Fletcher or Jack Ikegwuonu. I am expecting him to be a cross between Allen Langford and Donnel Thompson. Which is exactly what this defense needs.

Louis Nzegwu. Something about his frame, background as a running back, and the lack of playmakers on the defensive line suggest that he will get a chance to make plays this year.

Lance Kendricks. Thought he'd break out more next year, but he got hurt (his collapse coming out of the huddle against Michigan State was downright bizarre). He can be to Garrett Graham what Graham was to Travis Beckum.

Josh Oglesby. I'm excited abou JO because people, including me, have been so tepid on him since he struggled at times in his starts last year. I have expect him to come out and be dominant at times.

Montee Ball. As a good friend of mine has observed, he looks great in a hot tub. Here's guessing he gets some time at the end of lopsided games and impresses in limited carries.

Curt Phillips. Not alone in this, hoping he can cut down on the mistakes and seize the quarterback job for four years.

Blogger roundtable: Defense

OK, this is about a month overdue, and some of the responses might seem a little dated, but ... thanks to Adam Hoge for putting this together.

Can you believe it has been five years since that great defensive line of 2004? Depth is once again an issue this year, but there seems to be some promise in J.J. Watt among others. Do you see any newcomers stepping up on the D-line to provide some depth?

On Wisconsin: Yeah, 5 years since Anttaj and Erasmus, but harder to believe for me is that Chapman and Shaughnessy never became true beasts on the line. They had so much promise early. Schofield is solid (led the team in sacks last season) and everyone is excited about Watt, but it's all based on practice so far. I want to believe in him, but I'm a little nervous. I'm concerned about our size everywhere and Moore really should be an end (where he would probably be very good), but we should have speed on the edges. I don't know who the solid tackles-to-be are, but with Nzegwu, Mains, and Westphal, there is plenty of young talent ready to step up on the ends. We'll need it.

BadgerCentric: It's funny, because when you mentioned 2004, the first thing I thought was "I thought 2005 would be a down year, and we ended up winning 10 games, great year." But that was in spite of the defensive line! Even so, while injuries killed that unit (remember Beckum playing end?), but guys like Shaughnessy, Hayden, and Chapman showed promise. I don't see those guys on this unit. O'Brien Schofield is a solid starter. Watt seems to have a Hayden-like ceiling. But are there difference-makers? Doesn't look like it. I'll be happy if these guys can keep offensive linemen off our linebackers.

Hoops Marinara: It's a shame Erasmus and Co. flamed out in the NFL. Maybe they weren't that great after all. In 2009, the Badgers look weak up the middle and that spells trouble. I like O'Brien Schofield, who seems like he should be the emotional leader on the unit. Again, I like the younger guys UW has backing up the end positions, but inside is a question mark.

Bucky’s 5th Quarter: You have to be careful from what comes out of Camp Randall in the off-season because a lot of it can be propaganda. But I must say I am a little more optimistic about the defensive line than I was in the spring. After talking with O’Brien Schofield, I must say he seems like a solid leader and he’s determined to have a good year. If J.J. Watt blossoms like he is supposed to, I think Brendan Kelly and Louis Nzegwu do enough to make this a solid line.

Speaking of a lack of depth, the linebacking corp. seems to be scrambling to replace Jonathan Casillas and DeAndre Levy. Blake Sorensen didn't have a great spring, but he is still listed ahead of Mike Taylor on the depth chart. Are you worried about the linebackers?

On Wisconsin: I think the linebackers are the scariest group. First, Sorenson looked S-L-O-W in the spring. I'm pulling for Taylor if only because Sorenson either isn't fast enough or didn't care enough to try harder. I think St. Jean played pretty well when he had his chances last season, so we have two solid starters, but who's backing them up? That's where the loss of Hodge as a solid, contributing second-stringer really hurt. We've heard some positives about Megna, Rouse, and Hubbard, but we haven't seen it yet. Bottom line: I'm worried. Really worried.

BadgerCentric: Yes, very. Don't want to join the chorus questioning Sorensen, but I've never seen it with him. Saw Taylor play in high school and he was a stud, but we certainly can't count on him to be a standout this year. McFadden and St. Jean are average at best. And there is no one else. Wh

Hoops Marinara: Sorensen certainly has a lot of expectations to fulfill, but I think along with Culmer St. Jean and J. McFadden they can form a decent group. No one will accuse them of being as athletic as last year's group -- Casillas and Levy were two of the best athletes at that position that Wisconsin has seen. But what the Badgers really need is simply a group that knows how to tackle well. I don't want every draw play that gets past the line going for 6 ... can we get another Donnel Thompson in this bunch, please?!

Bucky’s 5th Quarter: I’m excited about McFadden in the middle, but very worried about the other two spots. Culmer St. Jean has never really put it all together and Sorensen didn’t exactly take advantage of his opportunities in the spring. It should be interesting to see what Mike Taylor can do. If he has a good camp, this will be the most fun defensive position battle over the next month.

Is it safe to say (and a little scary to say) that the secondary is the strength of the Badger defense? It seems like every guy listed on two-deep has shown flashes of brilliance at some point in the last few seasons, but they also have had their hardships. And will Aaron Henry really be as good as he looked like he would be before the knee injury?

On Wisconsin: I think they are a strength, but that's relative to the near total unknown of the front 7. Especially at safety, I worry about making that critical tackle. As much as Valai can lay the wood (needs to watch the head-to-head stuff, though), he missed his fair share of tackles last season. That's been Carter's problem all along, which is why Maragos will probably start at free safety. At corner Henry will be fine. I'm glad they decided to keep him out all of last season to truly let him heal. Niles Brinkley played fine last season, and I'm hoping Fenelus and Smith are coming along as well as advertised. But hope is not a method.

BadgerCentric: It is scary, and I'd even question the "flashes of brilliance" assertion. We've seen flashes of competence from these guys, and I'd settled for sustained competence. But every one of the starters has question marks: Henry with the knee, Maragos still learning the position, Valai and his pure hitter MO, and Brinkley giving up big plays. But I'm actually optimistic about these guys and the young guys too.

Hoops Marinara: There's no question that the secondary looks good by comparison. But I think they actually will be good. Henry should be ready to go -- he's one of the elite talents on the team. I'm really excited to see him grow up. The entire makeup of the secondary is intriguing. You have knock-out artist in Valai, an overachiever in Maragos. Niles Brinkley is probably the weak link.

Bucky’s 5th Quarter: Remember when Shane Carter led the Big Ten in interceptions two years ago? And Niles Brinkley picked off four passes last season? Why don’t I remember all of this? Oh, because when they weren’t grabbing turnovers they were getting beat for touchdowns and committing crucial penalties. Every member of the starting secondary has a good amount of experience, but how much talent do they have? We’ll find out soon.

What are your thoughts on the defensive coaching staff? Toughness seemed to be an issue at times last season. How will this unit overcome the mental and physical shortcomings that were apparent in 2008?

On Wisconsin: Bottom line is the heat should be squarely on Doeren. After what Hankwitz did to turn around the Northwestern defense, Bielema's choice to go with Dave over Mike hasn't looked so hot. Maybe it was just breaking everything in the first year with guys who were more used to Hankwitz's way of doing things? That's no excuse this year. On top of making tackles, the defense needs to improve its conditioning. The losses to Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State all lay at the defense's tired feet (Bielema's too, of course). The idea that a Barry Alvarez legacy team (as long as he's the AD, he's a part of it) could be 9th in scoring defense in the Big Ten is unfathomable. That can't happen again.

BadgerCentric: I don't know about toughness, it's hard to get to be a guy who plays a lot on a Big Ten defense and not be at least somewhat tough. Remember, there were a lot of injuries on that side of the ball last year: Casillas, Levy, Chapman, Henry, and that hurt productivity. What sticks with me are comments made on my blog after the Iowa game. I forget who said it, but the point was made that our defense had finally adapted to deal with the Spread, but when we go against a power line and back like Iowa had, we get run over. That probably won't always happen, but there's a lot of truth there.

So by making the seemingly necessary adaptation to deal with the Spread, we have lost our identity as being a stout, stop-the-run defense, and become just another defense with a bunch of undersized guys running around in space. If these undersized guys were racking up sacks and interceptions, that would be one thing, but the unit seems mediocre at best, and it's not like next year looks any more promising. Some of that's on X's and O's coaching, but it's also recruiting and player development.

Hoops Marinara: It starts at the top with BB. I can't stress enough how much I want the coach to relinquish the Special Teams duties. He needs to set the example being focused and knowing where to be at all times. The good news is if the secondary can be everything I want it to be, that makes the job of pressuring the QB a little easier. I think the offense can be better this year too, which should (hopefully) alleviate the problems the defense had being worn out all the time in tight games.

Bucky’s 5th Quarter: The good news is that fixing these problems was item No. 1 in the off-season. Improving the defense’s mental and physical toughness – and committing fewer mistakes – will give this team an extra win or two this season. And if the problems continue then it will be a major problem for the defensive coaching staff.

I'm back

To paraphrase the words of my favorite Onion columnist, Jim Anchower:

Hola, amigos. How's by you? I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya ... but travel, work, kids, Webinz, Weeds, blah blah blah. In short, the motivation to update this blog during the offseason has been missing.

But, as has been pointed out to me several times in the past week, it's time to get my butt back on the keyboard and talking Badgers. The season's less than a week away now, and even though my expectations are as low as they've been in about five years, that's no reason to stay silent.

Lots to talk about before Saturday's opener, but I'm going to focus my thouhts on the initial depth chart.

Quarterback
Scott Tolzien and Curt Phillips are co-#1, and Tolzien is going to start against Northern Illinois. Although it was more exciting when midway through camp it seemed Phillips would emerge as the starter, I can live with this setup. Hopefully Phillips impresses enough in his snaps to earn the majority of the playing time -- or Tolzien plays so well that he claims the job outright. Bottom line: didn't expect much out of this position coming into fall camp, still don't.

Running back
So Zach Brown is going to start ahead of John Clay? Interesting. In this instance, I see it as a positive: Brown picking up his game rather than Clay disappointing. Clay's still going to get his carries and make an impact, and maybe less carries will lessen his injury risk.

Outside linebacker
Very excited to see Mike Taylor out on the field. When is the last time we had a freshman starting at linebacker? The adjectives used to describe this kid are the right ones. No offense to Blake Sorensen, but he doesn't seem to be a big-play type of guy; neither does Culmer St. Jean. Jae McFadden is solid, but also isn't a turnover-forcing, sack-creating force. Let's hope Taylor brings some of that.

Cornerback
Devin Smith has earned raves all offseason, and it wasn't a big surprise that he beat out Niles Brinkley. Which, like at running back, is more a reflection on the improvement of the new starter than regression of the new backup. Brinkley struggled a lot last year, but he also made some plays, and I would have been perfectly happy with him starting again this year. Smith and Aaron Henry should be a solid pair.

Here's what excites me about this depth chart overall: seven senior starters, and only three more senior backups. Few of these guys are among our best players. We may struggle this year -- I'm fully expecting it -- but a lot of freshmen and sophomores are going to get significant experience this year, which should really pay off in the next couple years.

Questions from Adam Hoge

The latest round of Badger football questions comes from fellow Cardinal guy Adam Hoge, this time regarding the defense. Here are my thoughts:

Can you believe it has been five years since that great defensive line of 2004? Depth is once again an issue this year, but there seems to be some promise in J.J. Watt among others. Do you see any newcomers stepping up on the D-line to provide some depth?

It's funny, because when you mentioned 2004, the first thing I thought was "I thought 2005 would be a down year, and we ended up winning 10 games, great year." But thinking about it further, that was in spite of the defensive line! Even so, while injuries killed that unit (remember Beckum playing end?), but guys like Shaughnessy, Hayden, and Chapman showed promise. I don't see those guys on this unit. O'Brien is a solid starter. Watt seems to have a Hayden-like ceiling. But are there difference-makers? Doesn't look like it. I'll be happy if these guys can keep offensive linemen off our linebackers.

Speaking of a lack of depth, the linebacking corp seems to be scrambling to replace Jonathan Casillas and DeAndre Levy. Blake Sorensen didn't have a great spring, but he is still listed ahead of Mike Taylor on the depth chart. Are you worried about the linebackers?

Yes, very. Don't want to join the chorus questioning Sorenson, but I've never seen it with him. Saw Taylor play in high school and he was a stud, but we certainly can't count on him to be a standout this year. McFadden and St. Jean are average at best. And there is no one else. What about playing Pleasant at linebacker? We see so much Spread it might make sense to have a guy like that in the front seven.

Is it safe to say (and a little scary to say) that the secondary is the strength of the Badger defense? It seems like every guy listed on two-deep has shown flashes of brilliance at some point in the last few seasons, but they also have had their hardships. And will Aaron Henry really be as good as he looked like he would be before the knee injury?

It is scary, and I'd even question the "flashes of brilliance" assertion. We've seen flashes of competence from these guys, and I'd settled for sustained competence. But every one of the starters has question marks. Henry with the knee. Maragos still learning the position. Valai and his all-or-nothing hitter MO. Brinkley and big plays. But I'm actually optimistic about these guys, and the young guys too. Shane Carter is a wild card, if he could come in and force some turnovers that would be huge.

What are your thoughts on the defensive coaching staff? Toughness seemed to be an issue at times last season. How will this unit overcome the mental and physical shortcomings that were apparent in 2008?

I don't know about toughness, it's hard to get to be a guy who plays a lot on a Big Ten defense and not be at least somewhat tough. Remember, there were a lot of injuries on that side of the ball last year: Casillas, Levy, Chapman, Henry, and that hurt productivity. What sticks with me is comments made on my blog after the Iowa game. I forget who said it, but the point was made that our defense had finally adapted to deal with the Spread, but when we go against a power line and back like Iowa had, we get run over. That probably won't always happen, but there's a lot of truth there.

So by making the seemingly necessary adaptation to deal with the Spread, we have lost our identity as being a stout, stop-the-run defense, and become just another defense with a bunch of undersized guys running around in space. If these undersized guys were racking up sacks and interceptions, that would be on thing, but the unit seems mediocre at best, and it's not like next year looks any more promising. Some of that's on X's and O's coaching, but it's also recruiting and player development.

Spring game thoughts

Made it to the spring game today, and was glad I did. It was the first one I've been to in 11 years, if memory serves, and it's always great to watch live football in April.

Hard to tell too much, because a. It's the spring game, a glorified scrimmage, and b. I had Will with me, and if you've met him, he's a handful. We had a great time.

Overall, I was pleased with how efficiently the first team offense played. Granted, playing against third- and fourth-stringers they should put up good numbers, but for some reason it seems that the first string never looks that sharp in this contest. They looked as good as could be expected today.

No defensive players really stood out, although it's tough to judge the pass rush because plays were whistled dead before sacks could be finalized. In the secondary, Chris Maragos and Devin Smith both made nice plays on the ball, and Aaron Henry seemed to be moving around well.

At quarterback, Dustin Sherer was solid. It was clear his throwing motion has been improved (photos forthcoming), but he doesn't look entirely comfortable with it. Curt Phillips got in and made some plays, and while his arm wasn't as weak as I feared, it wasn't that bad. Scott Tolzien showed some shaky mechanics, throwing off his back foot. Jon Budmayr didn't look overwhelmed, but didn't create much; both he and Tolzien were probably held back by playing with the deep reserves.

As could be expected, the tight ends got themselves open and were a big part of the offense. Lance Kendricks had a nice touchdown catch, as did Garrett Graham. Mickey Turner did a lot of motioning into a fullback spot.

John Clay ran well, shedding tacklers left and right. Zach Brown ran hard inside. But Erik Smith was the biggest revelation. He showed nice lateral movement, in particular a nice jump cut, and some separation speed. He could play some this fall.

Notables seen in passing: Keaton Nankivil, Cecil Martin, UW band tuba legend Zack Dachel, and hockey/online video guru Todd Milewski.

Today did little to alleviate my main concerns heading into the 2009 season -- pass rush, defensive tackle, linebacker depth, offensive line newcomers -- but I didn't expect it to. It's fun to see all the new guys who get a shot to make a name for themselves as Badgers, and we'll be pulling for them all this fall.

Going to the spring game

After much deliberation, I've decided to take Will to the spring game. The deciding factors:

-Want to see Nick Toon
-Want to see Curt Phillips and Jon Budmayr
-Want to see J.J. Watt
-Want to see Aaron Henry
-Want Will to take part in the kids' day fun taking place before the game.

Looks like decent to nice weather, hopefully I'll get some good shots and info for a solid report.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Random memory from the Minnesota game ...

Sometime during a timeout in the second half, while the game was still very much in doubt, the scoreboard played a number of Badgers singing karaoke.

It was funny. Elijah Hodge's bit was good, and Aaron Henry sang a country song. But the bit that got everyone going was lineman Kenny Jones' rendition of Breakfast at Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something.

First of all -- what is any guy doing singing that song? And singing it seemingly without irony? And singing it pretty well?

Second of all -- at the end of the bit, the in-stadium cameras caught Jones on the sideline, and everyone around him was giggling, as were many of us in the crowd. Because it was funny.

But if you're a coach, or someone who was actually playing in the game, wouldn't the timing of this funny video seem in appropriate? I mean, you're locked in a battle against your bitter enemy, with players trying to get rest from 2-1/2 hours of a physical game, and coaches trying to figure out the next schematic move. All the while everyone's laughing at your guys, most of whom aren't playing.

I'm all for the kids having fun, and think this karaoke thing is great. But how about playing it in the first quarter, when the mood is still light? Or how about I just get less sensitive about these things?

Badgers are Champs, after all

So the bowl destination is ... Florida. Again. It beats Christmas in Madison, but I was sort of hoping for Pasadena or New Orleans or Phoenix or Miami. Oh well.

The Champs Sports Bowl it is, set for December 27 against Florida State. My thoughts:

-Love the opponent. Florida State is a brand name in college football, and was arguably the top program of the 1990s. As a kid I was enamored with their uniforms, the mascot, the Tomahawk Chop that Braves fans stole from FSU fans.

What I also love is that they are eminently beatable nowadays. The Seminoles lately have been a shadow of what they were in the '90s, for a variety of reasons. A decline in offensive coaching. The resurgence of in-state rivals Florida and Miami. Off-the-field problems.

Can't say I paid close attention to this year's team, but looking at their results their four losses are respectable: Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Boston College, and Florida.

Their quarterback, Christian Ponder, has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns and has been sacked 17 times, but has run for more than 400 yards. Antone Smith, their leading rusher, is a well-regarded running back. Wide receivers Greg Carr and Preston Parker are also highly thought of, even if neither has more than 40 catches or 500 yards receiving.

-I want to learn more about this Myron Rolle kid. If you've been paying attention, he's the guy who recently was named a Rhodes Scholar, interviewing for it on the day of a game, then flying in to join the team while the game was underway. Great story.

When my brother, dad, and I were hearing about this a couple weeks ago, our shared reaction was "He was a potential Rhodes Scholar and he went to ... Florida State?" Surely Stanford, Northwestern, Vanderbilt could have challenged him more academically. Whatever, good for FSU and good for Rolle.

-Rolle and his teammates had the 13th-best defense in the country this year, yardage-wise. That D is going to be a tough test for the Badger offense, lot of athletes and well-coached.

-As much as Orlando is starting to seem repetitive, and the trip might be a tough sell to Badger fans, going to Florida for the fifth straight year is a good thing. It's a state that Bret Bielema has made a recruiting priority, and we're doing pretty well there lately. Zach Brown. Aaron Henry. Jae McFadden. Elijah Hodge. Eriks Briedis. Anthony Mains. Kevin Claxton. Antonio Fenelus. Xavier Harris. Josh Nettles. Recruits David Gilbert and Conor O'Neill. (Florida State was also reportedly in the mix for O'Neill.)

Florida is an important state for us, and the more we're there, the better. Even if our fans aren't showing up in the usual numbers, you can bet that the family and friends of all those guys above will be in Orlando, and might even bring along some other promising young athletes.

-Even though this trip will be a tough sell, I'm hoping the opponent will be attractive enough to entice Badger fans to make the trip. (Disclosure: I won't be going.)

-This is our seventh straight bowl appearance, the second-longest in the Big Ten behind Ohio State. That's nice.

-Finally, this will be a battle of maligned coaches with the the initials B.B. If we think what Bielema has been going through this year is tough, imagine what it's been like for Bobby Bowden. He's presided over the slow decline of his program while enduring constant talk that he's too old, the game has passed him by. Sort of like Joe Paterno up in our conference.

My take on it is that Bowden really isn't that far off from having his program great again. He still hasn't recovered from Mark Richt leaving for Georgia (or too an extent from Chuck D'Amato leaving for North Carolina State), and putting his boy in charge of the offense didn't go that well. The other part of the downfall, off-field troubles, probably come from taking chances on kids of questionable character in an attempt to keep up with Florida and Miami. Or a run of bad luck. Iron those two things out and Florida State is not far from being golden again.

Hopefully it doesn't start with a win over Wisconsin.

Keys to greatness: Defense

Bored yet? If not, let's plunge on with the defense.

Stat category, 15-year average, great team (1993, 1998, 1999) average, 2008 average thus far.

Rushing attempts per game: 35.4, 33.4, 28
In our three great seasons, we run the ball almost 18 times per game more than our opponents. This year thus far the disparity is 19.

Rushing yards per game: 139.5, 110.8, 87.7
That 1998 defense was nasty, wasn't it? Those guys allowed only 92.2 yards per game. I'm not ready to put this crew in that class, nor the class of the 1999 defense that allowed 109.9 rushing yards per game. But with a pretty good defensive line and pretty good linebackers, they could finish in the 120 ypg range.

Passing yards per game: 212.2, 205.6, 230.3
So what do we make of this? Are teams just passing more nowadays? Is this because Akron and Marshall were playing from great deficits in the second halves of those games? Or is our secondary just plain shaky? They haven't made me throw a pillow at the TV yet. It appears we'll get Aaron Henry back for Michigan, which should help in the nickel and dime.

First downs per game: 18.0, 17.2, 17.3
Not much to comment on here. One guess is that even when teams are getting beat handily, they're going to get some first downs against our second-string defense playing a vanilla scheme.

Third-down conversion percentage: 37.1%, 37.3%, 44%
Cause for concern? Not yet. This year's defense does not seem to have given up as many third-down conversions as last year's team, which allowed opponents to convert 38% of these chances.

Turnovers per game: 2.1, 2.5, 2.0
In average years, we're +0.5 turnovers per game; in great years we're +1.4. That's a big difference — 12 possessions per season.

Penalty yards per game: 49.2, 45.0, 39.0
Nothing to talk about here.

Points per game: 19.8, 13.7, 13.7
The bottom line. My guess is this year's unit ends up yielding about 17-19 points per game.

So it boils down to stopping the run and forcing turnovers. This defense can do it. Will they?

Will and Kyle

When we first arrived in Camp Randall for Family Day on Sunday, Will saw another boy wearing a #7 jersey, and went up to compare with him. The kid looked at Will like he was wearing a Chad Henne jersey, but that wasn't Will's problem.

I asked Will if he wanted to go find the real #7, and we went off to find either Aaron Henry or Kyle Jefferson.

Jefferson's line was shorter, so we went there first. As we approached, Kyle looked at Will, turned to O'Brien Schofield next to him and said "Now there's a real jersey!"

To which Schofield said: "Yeah, a real John Stocco jersey!"

Touche!

Anyway, Kyle shook Will's hand and posed for the above picture, which was pretty cool. Jana later commented about how skinny Jefferson is -- she's pretty astute, that one.

Never got around to Henry, as Will was more interested in playing ball and getting Field Turf all over himself, but that's okay.

Friday afternoon Badger thoughts

We're 95% sure we're headed to Madison on Sunday to attend the football team's Family Day and visit with friends. Never gone to Family Day before, but figured it would be a good chance to get some pictures of the boys with some players, and maybe hook Will on Badger football this year. He will be wearing his John Stocco/Aaron Henry jersey, hopefully we can get it signed.

When I was a boy my dad took me to one Bucks game a year, Photo Night. Every kid got their picture taken with one Bucks player, and those guys were like gods to me: Sidney Moncrief, Paul Pressey, Terry Cummings ... and to a lesser extent Fred Roberts (two years, one of my dad's favorite players) and a fellow named Keith Smith. Hopefully we can start making memories like that for Will and then Charlie.

-Speaking of Henry, looks like he's going to have more surgery on his knee and could redshirt this year. Allen Langford has not reclaimed his starting corner spot, either, apparently. So it's looking like Mario Goins and Niles Brinkley as our top two. One of my favorite Badger beat writers compared it to Fletch and Echols' freshman seasons. It reminds me more of 1995, when Cyrill Weems and Jason Suttle were in their first year as starters and did their fair share of struggling.

-Feeling better about our kicking situation than I did heading into camp. Seems like Brad Nortman is the real deal, lots of good things being written about him. Little bit surprised that Matt Fischer seems to be leading the placekicking derby.

-Feeling better about Allan Evridge at quarterback. Not sure why.

-See Johnny Clay's a bit dinged up -- and so it begins (see poll at top right) ...

-Read that Jake Bscherer and not Josh Oglesby is the odds-on favorite to be the tight end in the jumbo package. Wouldn't take that as a sign of disappointment in Oglesby, it's probably just that Bscherer is lighter and more nimble.

-Feeling like our non-conference schedule is getting criticized too much. Yes, we dropped Virginia Tech for Cal Poly, didn't like that. But we travel to Fresno State, a top 25 team. That's nothing to sneeze at.

Are closed camp practices a big deal?

If you're an avid reader of Badger coverage in the state's big newspapers, you know that Bret Bielema has closed preseason practices to the media, breaking a longstanding tradition. Most of the team's beat writers have done at least some kvetching about this, and rightfully so -- it deprives them of the chance to see the team in-depth.

Questions I'd like to know, that a reporter observing fall camp could answer, include: how's Allan Evridge looking? How are guys like Jason Chapman, Allen Langford, and Aaron Henry looking coming off their injuries? How are the new kickers looking?

But Sunday a columnist took the complaining too far. The State Journal's Tom Oates suggested that by keeping practice closed, Bielema is dampening enthusiasm and interest in the upcoming season. Oates says that this lack of access for reporters has relegated the Badgers to a distant #3 on the state sports scene behind the Packers/Favre saga and the Brewers' playoff push.

Well, no kidding, the Badgers come in third here. But you think a beat writer chronicling Brad Nortman's punt-by-punt performance is going to push Favre and the Brewers into the background? It's an asinine argument by Oates.

The out-of-sight, out-of-mind argument was made compellingly by some commenters here last fall when the Big Ten Network's lack of penetration made catching Badger games more difficult than before. But this is a real stretch. Most fans never see practice, and guess what? UW beat writers don't after the season starts anyway!

As a former sportswriter, sure I wish Bielema would give these guys more access. Control-freak high school coaches drove us nuts.

But if I were in his shoes, and I had a big question mark at quarterback and special teams, and a number of key guys coming off inuries, I might want to keep their performance a secret too. And in the end, if that policy helps the Badgers win an extra game or two this year, then I'll take that instead of daily preseason updates on how many yards Bradie Ewing rushed for or how many touchdowns James Stallons threw.

(Ironically, after writing this post, I went to uwbadgers.com, and the lead story on the football page was titled "Media Friendly." Which brought my to another thought: maybe the program is trying to drive traffic to its original content on its own website.)

How did you find Badgercentric?

Badgercentric has been around for about five months now, and it’s a lot of fun to write. If you’re a stats/analysis geek like me, it’s also fun to take a look at who’s coming to your site and why.

Every few days I check out Google Analytics and see what sites are referring people to this blog, and what search engine keywords are doing the trick. Through February 23, 2,293 keywords have brought people here, and it’s fascinating to see them. Many are related to The Office and non-UW items, but I’m going to share my favorite Badger-related search terms for Badgercentric:

#5 punch groin wisconsin minnesota (you wouldn't believe how many there are like this - apparently Minnesota receiver Eric Decker's handiwork on Ike was noticed)
#7 brett valentyn
#13 bo ryan soulja boy (tons of searches similar to this)
#38 erin andrews ice fishing (pretty sure this was all Toohey)
#108 wquinton smith
#151 matt lepay’s call of final play vs. texas
#246 jack ikegwuonu nuts
#311 tim brewster feud with bret bielema
#315 university of wisconsin band nice clipboard rex (from the Packers-Bears game at Lambeau, rex is Rex Grossman)
#318 who owns the metrodome (we do)
#330 “aaron henry” trash bielema
#411 “jenna fischer” rentmeester
#426 “mark tauscher” vegas (what in the world could they have been looking for?)
#480 “scott burch” penn state (did Froehlich finally discover the Internet?)
#500 “tom crean” tan (a Journal Sentinel story last week called him “Tom Cream”)
#554 6’3 diamond taylor
#563 al toon wisconsin badgers jersey number
#579 andy crooks facebook
#583 anti uw shirts
#589 arrogant michigan
#604 badger baggo, #630 badger cornhole game
#720 bielema bad goatee (when did he have a goatee?)
#723 bielema mad youtube
#794 bret bielema passed out in bathroom (where did Google get that from this blog?)
#840 can curt phillips be a starter freshman year?
#859 chris chambers oshkosh north high school (huh?)
#925 culmer st. jean highlights
#996 doug gottlieb hates wisconsin, #1124 gottlieb why do you hate wisconsin?
#1035 erick olson badger football
#1072 football jansen wisconsin

#1100 gangster toohey (his secret life!)

#1167 how many times has joe krabbenhoft had stitches?
#1172 i love appalachian state t shirt wisconsin
#1215 jason bohannon drinking game
#1499 mock draft, tyler donovan
#1637 picture of bill callahan farewell tour
#1854 swan family website fennimore hamstring
#1921 tight end schwalbach (fill in your own punchline)
#2063 what is mike kelley former uw basketball player doing now?
#2279 matt schwalbach casino (search was from Pompano Beach, Fla. – did Megan hire a private investigator to look into our Vegas trip?)

Chryst not headed to Purdue

The State Journal is reporting that Paul Chryst has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Purdue job, as many insiders have speculated. Is it because he doesn't like recruiting? Was there not a spot on the Purdue staff for him to bide his time as Tiller-successor-in-waiting?

Don't know, don't care. I'm just glad that after a week of turmoil that some semblance of stability has returned to the program. To recap:

-Bob Palcic left for UCLA. Not altogether surprising or disturbing - he wanted to work with Rick Neuheisel, a close friend. This kind of thing happens in coaching. I'm confident we'll find a solid replacement.

-Bret Bielema fired co-defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz. This was a little surprising and a little disturbing. Is BB throwing Hank under the bus for an underachieving defense? Remember, in 2005 BB followed up a super defense by coordinating the worst unit in team history, and it's unlikely he would toss the coordinator after one subpar year. That would indicate lack of a conscience. My guess, based on pure speculation, is that it was a personality clash issue. When Palcic and Hankwitz were named as part of Bielema's first staff, it surprised me, but his attempt to balance youth and experience seemed sound. As has been pointed out, maybe he's now looking for climbers and not lifers for assistants. Let's hope Dave Doeren is up for the defensive coordinator by himself.

-Even though many things pointed toward it, I actually didn't think Ike would leave for the NFL just yet. My hunch was that he would be left feeling unsatisfied after his inconsistent season. But you know what? He's got to look out for his best interests, and if he's a top three round projection, that money can set him up for life. Obviously very concerned about the cornerback position without him, with Henry and Langford coming off knee injuries. We'll really need a better pass rush next year to give these guys some help.

-Let's not forget about the loss of Wes Kemp to Missouri. Probably not a bad move for him, staying close to home and playing for a pass-happy program that's riding high right now. Yes, we have some nice receivers right now, but not enough that we can just lose talented 6-4 guys without having a replacement. On paper, this is shaping up to be a mediocre recruiting class, which we all know means nothing, but I'd rather have a ton of four- and five-star guys.

My friends and I engaged in a nice back-and-forth yesterday about what all this means, and they made some good points. Here's the one that was the most interesting: what if our record gets worse the next two years? As my buddy pointed out, it's entirely possible, with the recent defections and a difficult schedule, to project 12-1 and 9-4 continuing on to 7-6 and 5-7 after graduation guts the 2008 team.

Look at next year's schedule. The game at Fresno State seems like a trap. We open the Big Ten season at Michigan, home against Ohio State and Penn State, at Iowa, and home against Illinois. That's a rocky road, folks.

If that happens, then what? It's not like the start of Barry Alvarez's tenure, when the program was in shambles and he slowly built from 1-10 to 5-6 and 5-6 before busting through. There aren't many places for Bielema to go but down after starting 12-1. How patient will Barry be if that downward swing dips below .500?

My thought on that was that just about every Big Ten program not named Ohio State and Michigan goes through something like this from time to time. Ours did in 1995 and 2001. In both cases we rebounded and built toward another pinnacle. How will we handle adversity when it inevitably comes?

The nice thing is, there's still a lot to like about this team heading into 2008, and the season may end up being special, like a 1998 or 2006. The last eight days have kind of made it hard to feel that way.

Outback Bowl one-minute preview

Every year I'm struck by how the Badgers' bowl game just kind of sneaks up on us. We usually learn the destination and opponent a month before it happens, then news and previews leak out, then Christmas, then boom! - game's here and it feels like I haven't given it much thought.

So the big game against Tennessee comes at 10 a.m. CST Tuesday, and here's my one-minute Outback Bowl preview.

-Tennessee is missing six players because of academics, including their leading receiver and starting defensive tackle and linebacker.
-Quarterback Erik Ainge, who was sacked only three times this year, is very good. He played most of the year with a shoulder injury.
-Running back Arian Foster had a big fumble in last year's Outback Bowl against Penn State, but he's used it to motivate him.
-The only new Badger injury since the Minnesota game is to cornerback Aaron Henry. Ben Strickland and Josh Nettles will replace him. This could be a big problem against a good passing team.
-Elijah Hodge is as healthy as he's been all season.
-P.J. Hill is expected to play, and so is Lance Smith, but Zach Brown will start at running back.
-Travis Beckum has decided to bypass the NFL draft and return for his senior season, but Jack Ikegwuonu is undecided and needs to decide in the next two weeks.

That's it, check back for my thoughts during and after the game. Go Badgers!

Oh, and this: Wisconsin 33, Tennessee 27

All our ree-cruits live in Texas ... and Florida

My Hotmail inbox has been flooded with messages from Scout over the past couple days updating me on new Badger football commitments. Here are the last four:

CB Marcus Cromartie, Arlington, Texas (two pictures of him at right)
DT Eriks Briedis, Miami
DE Anthony Mains, Naples, Florida
CB Devin Smith, Coppell, Texas

Scrolling down the list we see:
S Shelton Johnson, Lewisville, Texas
S Kevin Claxton, Lauderdale Lakes, Florida

So that makes three recruits apiece from Florida and Texas. Without going back and analyzing past recruiting classes, I'd guess this is the most we've gotten from either state in a single recruiting class, and to get six from the two combined is an eye-opener. By contrast, we've only got one recruit from Ohio, and none from New Jersey, out-of-region areas that have been good to us. Maybe Henry Mason's health problems have hurt us in Ohio.

Florida isn't that much of a surprise, given Bielema's background there. Elijah Hodge, Zach Brown, and Aaron Henry are already contributing. Texas has me worried, though. Who of note have we pulled from that state? The only one who comes to mind is Michael Broussard, and he flamed out quickly.

I'm not saying we should intentionally stay away from Texas, or anywhere else for that matter - if there's a potential contributor in Alaska bring him in - but if we're going to focus on "hotbeds" I don't think Texas is a place to focus. This usually ties in to who your assistants are. Whatever, now that they're almost Badgers, I hope they set the world on fire.

Of all those guys, Cromartie is the most intriguing. Toohey keeps asking if he's the brother of Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie - probably not, since Marcus is from Arlington, Texas, and Antonio is from Tallahassee. Isn't the difference in the two mug shots of him above hilarious? Why is it a requirement for football players to act like hard asses in their official mugs? That said, I want to see the guy on top show up for coach B, ready to smack someone.