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.

Big Ten all-decade team

As is my summer ritual, I finally cracked into my first college football preview magazine last week. This seems almost quaint now that we're seeing preseason top 25 rankings on the Internet before the bowl games are even over, but I'm old-fashioned that way.

Here's the first thing I found interesting in the Athlon book: a Big Ten all-decade team. Athlon's rule was that no school could have more than four players represented, and Wisconsin had four: Joe Thomas, Travis Beckum, Erasmus James, and Jamar Fletcher. All worthy choices. Here are the entire teams:

Offense
Drew Brees, Mike Hart (gag), Damien Anderson, Braylon Edwards, Charles Rogers, Beckum, Thomas, Greg Eslinger, Jake Long, Robert Gallery, Levi Brown

Defense
James, Mitch King, Lamarr Woodley, James Laurinaitis, Paul Posluszny, A.J. Hawk, Dan Connor, Vontae Davis, Jamar Fletcher, Bob Sanders, Mike Doss

Special teams
Nate Kaeding, Travis Dorsch, Ted Ginn, Antwaan Randle El

Great teams, not too much to quibble about. Davis on defense is one I question, beating out Marlin Jackson. Lee Evans was the third wide receiver. Hart was apparently a unanimous selection, while I still maintain that he is the most overrated college football player in recent memory. What about Laurence Maroney or Marion Barber? As good as Minnesota's running game was for much of the decade, they should have more than just Eslinger.

The balance of teams represented does clearly illustrate who has been the league's weak sisters this century: Northwestern, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan State.

Michael Bennett is fast

In another hit from the Charlie Woke Up Really Early collection, the other morning we watched the replay of the Wisconsin-Oregon game from 2000.

Here's the lead from the AP story:

Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez is staggering the suspensions just right.

Sure seemed like it, didn't it? After we pulled this one out, I was pretty sure the Shoe Box thing wouldn't stand in the way of us having a big season. Wrong-o.

Watching this game was a painful reminder of just how much talent that team had, and how they managed to lose four games.

Even without Chris Chambers, Mike Echols, and Nick Davis -- all future NFL players who sat out that game -- we still beat a very good non-conference opponent.

The way he ran the ball that day, it seemed like Michael Bennett could have carried the Badgers to national championship contention all by himself. It's not a stretch to say that no one has run faster in a Wisconsin uniform than Bennett did that day. Of course, previous post subject B.J. Tucker finished second to Bennett in the 100 at the Big Ten track tournament, but he was repeatedly burned by Joey Harrington that day while replacing Echols.

But look at who else played that day. Jamar Fletcher had three picks. Brooks Bollinger ran for the last touchdown. Lee Evans averaged 19 yards per catch.

And that doesn't even include guys like Al Johnson, Casey Rabach, Ross Kolodziej, Wendell Bryant, Jason Doering, and Nick Greisen. Kind of makes you appreciate the recruiting efforts in the years immediately following the first Rose Bowl, which didn't seem that great at the time but turned out to be pretty damn good.

Statistical leaders: Offense

Okay nerds, you sick of these numbers yet? I'm not. (Please, Michigan Week, get here soon!)

Here are the leaders of the Alvarez-Bielema era in key statistical categories.

OFFENSE
Yards per game: 1993 (455.2), 1994 (423.6), 1999 (417.2), 2007 (408.8). I don't think people remember just how explosive that 1993-94 offense was. Had Lee Deramus not been injured that '94 team could have been absolutely awesome. And that '07 average being so high is a testament to Paul Chryst.

Rushing attempts per game: 1999 (53.0), 1993 (50.3), 1998 (50.0). Whether rushing attempts are a cause or an effect is debatable, but the fact is our three Great Teams rushed the ball more than the other 12. The first two are the same in rushing yards per game, but the 2006 team is third ... thank you, Ron Dayne.

Passing yards per game (fixed, thanks Toohey): 2005 (228.4), 1995 (221.7), 2003 (217.9), 2001 (213). Several points here:

1. John Stocco's 2005 was so overlooked because for three-quarters of the season everyone was still bitching about how bad he played in 2004. But what a season!

2. 1995 and 2001 are our only two non-bowl years since 1993. They were also seasons that got Darrell Bevell and Brooks Bollinger's butt whipped.

3. Is it really that surprising that Jim Sorgi ('03) has stuck in the NFL this long? He was a nice quarterback in college, and more pro-style than just about anyone we've had.

4. Last on this list: 1998, when Mike Samuel and friends passed for just 113.6 yards per game. Unreal.

Third-down conversion percentage: 1993 (58.3%!), 1996 (47.4%), 2005 (46.6%). The '93 team's margin of 'victory' here is staggering. Imagine how demoralizing it had to be playing against that team, when it converted so many of its third-down chances. Remember, UW's average in this period is 43.6%. Why again did the '96 team only go 8-5?

Turnovers per game: 1998 (0.8), 1999 (0.9), 2005 (1.1). On the other end of the spectrum, the '94 team turned it over 2.2 times per game. Obviously an important factor in a team's success.

Penalty yards per game: 1995 (25), 1997 (34.4), 1993 (35.1), 1998 (35.3). Funny, I don't remember that '95 team being an exceptionally disciplined bunch.

Points per game: 2005 (34.3), 1999 (34.1), 1998 (31.8), 1994 (29.8), 1993 (29.5). Few surprises here, except that the '98 team averaged almost 32 points per game while throwing for just over 100. A testament to Ron Dayne and, I presume, Jamar Fletcher.

So there you have it, another post that reinforces that we win big when we run the ball well and run it a lot. It's fun seeing a stat, seeing where it ranks, and remembering who was involved in making it happen.

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.

Sun bathing with Fletch

Last week we were talking about the 1999 Rose Bowl and the beginning of Jamar Fletcher's great career. It's easy to forget that his college career ended in El Paso Stinking Texas in the Sun Bowl in another Badger win over UCLA. The unsatisfying end to the Shoe Box season with arguably the most talented team in UW history.

The way I remember it, Freddie Mitchell had his way with Fletch in that game. Mitchell was named the MVP, after all. Apparently, though, the bowl remembers otherwise and recently named Fletch to its 75th anniversary team. Jamar did have seven tackles and the game-sealing interception.

It's interesting that the guy who set a bowl game record for receiving yards and was named game MVP would not make that bowl game's all-time team, but the cornerback responsible for covering him would be. Maybe it's because Freddie wasn't the most sportsmanlike player in college football history ... although Fletch did his share of smack talking as well.

Who would have thought that the Sun Bowl, at 75 years old, is the second-oldest bowl game?

1999 Rose Bowl

Charlie and I spent Thursday afternoon together watching the 1999 Rose Bowl. Know what I remember most about it? That my friends were all there watching it while I was stuck in my oversized closet of an apartment in Fremont, Ohio, cheering my heart out in solitude. Think about that next time you plan on graduating in four years flat, kids.

Anyway, fun game to watch. The second thing that sticks out in my memory was that Craig James called the Badgers the worst team to ever play in the Rose Bowl, and then Bucky went out and dominated a UCLA team that until early December had been a national title contender.

My third memory was that the one Badger game I saw in person that year was the loss in Ann Arbor -- the only loss that season. Great timing.

-Keith Jackson is just a treasure to listen to. My favorite line of the game from him is as we're lining up near the end zone and he says "First and goal Nebras - Wisconsin." Not a confused old man, but someone watching the spitting image of Tom Osborne's great Cornhusker teams. A high compliment indeed, worth exploring later this week as I decompress in the UP.

-The other thing I want to follow up on is Barry's Five Great Players Theory, which I believe was first advanced this season. The five on this team were Aaron Gibson, Ron Dayne, Tom Burke, Kevin Stemke, and Matt Davenport. That doesn't even include Jamar Fletcher, Wendell Bryant, and Chris Chambers, who were all young guys on that roster who hadn't yet proven themselves. Or Chris McIntosh, who may have been better than Gibby. Or Casey Rabach, who quietly may have been the best UW center since Mike Webster. Does the 2008 edition have five great players? Let's discuss later.

-If you would have told me in 1994 that Bob Adamov and Leonard Taylor would one days be starters on a Rose Bowl champion defense, I would have looked at you funny. But that's a testament to those guys' work ethic and the coaching they received.

-Seven starters on that defense were Wisconsin natives. For defensive starters were former walk-ons -- Nebraska comparison there.

-The run-pass ratio for the Badger offense was 552-183 entering the Rose Bowl. Hard to argue when Dayne is your tailback, Mike Samuel is your quarterback, and the line goes McIntosh, Bill Ferrario, Rabach, Dave Costa, and Gibby. But Brad Childress's offense was just so damn unimaginative -- same basic sets, same plays. Works against horrible defenses like UCLA's, but not hard to see why Michigan shut us down in our one loss that year. Was that Chilly's preference or Barry's influence on the offense?

-That said, Dayne's first touchdown run was a simple play executed to perfection, a thing of beauty that gave me goose bumps. What great blocking, and Dayne flat-out outran Ryan Nece.

-Bryant didn't start, but played a tremendous game, you could see he was going to be a beast.

-UCLA's defense was the worst tackling unit I've ever see playing a game of significance, god were they awful. They had a few NFL guys on that side of the ball, but most of them were young.

-If you're UCLA, it has to be disheartening to come out of the tunnel of your home stadium and see that less than half of the fans are wearing your colors. Must be what it feels like to be a Minnesota or Northwestern player.

-On Dayne's second TD run Rabach pulled right and paved the way. He was so athletic, but never really earned the recognition he deserved.

-Watching Samuel throw short, touch passes was painful, but a. He was a tough sucker, b. As was well-documented, he was a winner, and c. His deep ball wasn't half bad. Watching his two-handed pump fake brought back good memories.

-Davenport was 32-of-37 heading into the bowl game. That's a lot of field goal attempts, and a great conversion percentage.

-That team had so many interesting stories attached to the players. Nick Davis could catch a BB in the dark. Gibby could do the splits, dunk a basketball, needed a custom helmet for his huge melon. Davenport's nickname was Money. Donnel Thompson sold sodas at Camp Randall as a kid. Don't see too many of those anymore.

-Burke had 21 sacks on the season, an amazing total for a college season. The Badgers didn't sack Cade McNown all that often in the game, but forced a lot of holding penalties.

-Fletcher with the ball was as exciting as any offensive player we've had in the last 15 years. Why did he play only nine games that season?

-I know this is probably just because of how the sideline assignments fell, but the ratio of Bob Toledo close-ups to Alvarez close-ups was about 20:1. Sort of ridiculous.

-What a solid Badger defense. Great pass rush. Solid tacklers at linebacker. Emerging star young corners. They defended UCLA's screen to perfection.

A vintage Badger win from a vintage Badger team. Great balance between stars and role players, experience and youth, great coaching, great special teams. We've rarely come close to achieving that balance again, but watching games like this give you hope that it's going to happen eventually.

Badger draft busts and steals

With Crazylegs approaching Saturday, it must be time for the NFL Draft. Not much going on Badger-wise on the first day, unless someone reaches for Taylor Mehlhaff. Paul Hubbard, Nick Hayden and maybe Jack Ikegwuonu are other possibilities to be picked, and I wouldn't bet against Luke Swan signing a free agent contract.

For as terrific as our program has been over the past 15 years, we have still turned out our fair share of stinkers. Mr. Man, a frequent excellent commenter on Badgercentric, today had a post on his blog, Camp Lambeau, about a site called Football Outsiders that ranked the biggest draft busts from 200-2003, among many interesting lists.

Wendell Bryant and Chris McIntosh head the list of busts. Hard to argue, unfortunately. Wendell, a fan favorite who is responsible for so many fond memories from his college days, seemed to party his way out of the league, and Mac was hurt a lot. You could argue that among recent first rounders, Aaron Gibson (if the list started a year earlier) and Jamar Fletcher belong on this list, although they managed to stick around and contribute more than the other two guys.

On the bright side, Chris Chambers is on the list of top 10 second and third round steals, and Mark Tauscher on the list of top 10 second day steals. Both very deserving.

Plaxico-Harris: Plaxico-Fletcher or Fletcher-Mitchell?

At the start of last night's disappointing NFC championship game (congrats to the Giants, who clearly played the better game and deserved to win), I found myself thinking about the Plaxico Burress-Al Harris matchup and how it reminded me of the Michigan State-Wisconsin game in 1999. In that game Jamar Fletcher shut Burress down after publicly demanding the assignment, and I was hoping Harris would shut Plax down like Fletch did.

No dice. As Burress dominated the early going, I got to thinking of a different high profile matchup - Fletcher vs. UCLA's Freddie Mitchell in the next season's Sun Bowl, where Mitchell got the better of Fletch. In case you've blocked that game from your memory even though it was a Badger win, check out the recap. I remember being really sick and having to work that day, and Fletch's play and actions didn't make me feel much better; sort of like Harris last night.

Tying this all back to the NFL, Mitchell, a true horse's ass, made the fourth-and-26 catch for the Eagles to hand the Packers their most painful recent loss until last night.

Was planning on writing about this Burress-Fletcher memory last night, but the loss had made me numb and I took to watching Big Ten women's basketball. Then, logging on to the website of my favorite Madison afternoon newspaper, I see Lucas had the same thoughts, and did a nice job fleshing it out.

The other UW-related note on last night's bummer was that Mark Tauscher played really well. As far as I could tell, Tausch didn't let Michael Strahan do anything on him. And he recovered a fumble after a Giants interception, which thanks to curious play calling turned into just three points for the Packers. Tausch is a great player and a class act, one of the true underrated players in the league.

No Badgers in the Super Bowl ... sigh.

Badgers in the NFL: an '07 recap

Went to the Packers game yesterday, with a much better outcome than my last trip to Lambeau. Got a chance to watch former Badgers Mark Tauscher and Alex Lewis, but Brian Calhoun is hurt. As I saw Ron Dayne having another solid game, and when I got home and saw Jim Sorgi at quarterback for the Colts and Chris Chambers catching a touchdown for the Chargers, it got me thinking what a nice season this was for UW alumni in the NFL. Let's run it down:

-Michael Bennett, Buccaneers: 241 yards rushing, 1 TD.
Has over 3,600 yards rushing for his career.

-Brooks Bollinger, Vikings: 391 yards passing, 1 TD

-Brian Calhoun, Lions: 35 yards rushing

-Chris Chambers, Chargers: 970 yards receiving, 4 TD. Has over 6,200 career receiving yards.

-Owen Daniels, Texans: 768 yards receiving, 3 TD

-Ron Dayne, Texans: 773 yards, 6 TD. Has over 3,700 career rushing yards.

-Lee Evans, Bills: 849 yards receiving, 5 TD. Has over 3,700 career receiving yards.

-Jamar Fletcher, Texans: 19 tackles

-Nick Greisen, Ravens: 30 tackles

-Erasmus James, Vikings: 7 tackles, 1 sack

-Jason Jefferson, Bills: 11 tackles

-Al Johnson, Cardinal: 14 starts at center

-Matt Katula, Ravens: 16 games at long snapper

-Ross Kolodziej, Cardinals: 3 games

-Jim Leonhard, Bills: 54 tackles, 2 interceptions, 6 starts at safety

-Alex Lewis, Lions: 29 tackles, 1 forced fumble

-Jason Pociask, Jets: 1 reception

-Casey Rabach, Redskins: 15 starts at center

-Mike Schneck, Falcons: 12 games at long snapper

-Jim Sorgi, Colts: 132 yards passing, 1 TD

-Scott Starks, Jaguars: 22 tackles, 1 interception

-Aaron Stecker, Saints: 448 yards rushing, 5 TD

-Mark Tauscher, Packers: 16 starts at right tackle

-Joe Thomas, Browns: 16 starts at left tackle

-Brandon Williams, 49ers/Rams: 10 games, 2 fumbles

Lots of Badgers in the NFL. You could just about field a whole team of them, here's how it would look:

Offense: Sorgi, Bennett/Stecker, Dayne, Thomas, Tauscher, Rabach, Johnson, Dan Buenning (Bucs), Evans, Chambers, Daniels
Defense: James, Jefferson, Kolodziej, Anttaj Hawthorne (cut by Raiders in training camp), Greisen, Lewis, Fletcher, Starks, Leonhard, Rogers, BJ Tucker (last seen with 49ers)

Looking at these lists something strikes me: for a program built on defense and running the ball, the pro players we've produced have been offensive skill position players and linemen known for their pass blocking. It wouldn't be entirely surprising if none of those defensive players were on NFL rosters come September. Hopefully Ike, Shaughnessy, Casillas, et al can reverse that trend.

Looks like the Bills and Texans are my favorite teams other than the Packers. Also, if you would have asked a fan in 2000 which former Badger running back would be playing the best at the end of the 2007 NFL season - Dayne, Bennett, or Stecker - who would you have said?

Wisconsin-Michigan halftime thoughts

Before getting into today's game, a reference to two good stories from madison.com

-Andy Baggot on Ron Dayne's contributions to the UW athletic department. Never thought of them in such sweeping terms, but it's compelling.
-Adam Mertz tells us why Ohio State fans are miserable human beings. Good call Mertzy.

At halftime:

-I feel strangely confident, not my usual cautious optimism, but outright confidence. Probably because Michigan doesn't look like it cares about this game - if it did Henne and Hart would be playing, no matter what their boo-boos. I'd feel more confident if that awful 50-50 rule didn't give Mathews the catch that led to Manningham's TD. Seriously, what a terrible rule.

-ESPN's production gives the impression that the crowd is 75% Michigan fans, when it looks like it's closer to 1%.

-Why were we passing every down in the early going? Michigan's run defense is suspect.

-What a terrific catch by Shane Carter. He has run support limitations, but we haven't seen ball skills in a DB like his since Jamar Fletcher.

-What an awful pas by Donovan before Crable bailed him out with the personal foul.

-Instead of berating the officials - he should have been penalized - Lloyd Carr should have benched Crable for two dirty plays. Ol' Lloyd will probably feel silly when he watches the tape and sees both were easy calls.

-Donovan's TD pass to Beckum was one of those "No, no, no ... yes!" calls, kind of like me shooting a 3-pointer.

-Ryan Mallett is going to be a star for Michigan, he's got all the tools and will no doubt have weapons at receiver.

-Nick Hayden is playing really well. It would have been crushing had he gone to Michigan. Matt Shaughnessy is also playing very well against All-Universe Jake Long. ;)

-Great to say Luke Swan walk out without crutches. Paul Hubbard said it would be inspirational if he did, and it was.

-Awesome TD run/dive by Donovan. Just as big was his evasive scrambling and pass to Beckum on the last field goal drive, really stemmed momentum that was going Michigan's way.

-Hope Lance Smith isn't hurt too bad, Zach Brown doesn't look ready for this - although he did have a nice run called back by an obvious hold on the last drive.

Listening to a recap of Dayne's career right now, giving me goosebumps. Those were some great years ...

Chris Chambers, Michael Bennett on the move

They probably won't get many headlines Monday morning, but Chris Chambers and Michael Bennett each scored touchdowns with their new teams Sunday, Chambers with San Diego and Bennett with Tampa Bay. I'm glad these guys are getting a chance - Chambers to play with a real team and a real quarterback, and Bennett a chance to get some carries in a situation were he's not stuck behind Larry Johnson, Reggie Bush, or four bums who Mike Tice likes to rotate.

The bigger issue is that here are two more ex-Badgers involved in trades (Bennett for the second time, I think) in a league where players are not traded nearly as often as the other major leagues. Jamar Fletcher, Ron Dayne, and Brooks Bollinger are other recent examples. These guys are in a kind of NFL limbo - not good enough to be untouchable, but not bad enough to give up on altogether.

Given their college pedigrees - Fletch and Dayne especially - it's surprising they haven't been able to establish themselves as key players on a team. Especially Bennett. I think most honest observers would have projected him as the best pro of this lot, based on his explosive 2000 season.

Note: Chambers, in my opinion, can still become a cornerstone guy. The Dolphins weren't necessarily dumping him, they're building for the future. Hopefully having a respectable QB like Rivers and weapons like Gates and LT around him will give Chris's career the boost it needs.

And Vikings fans, tell me if I'm wrong on this prediction: Erasmus James is the next former Badger to be traded, for something like a conditional sixth-round pick, if he's not released outright.

Wisconsin-Indiana predictions

Wisconsin has handled Indiana fairly well over the past 15 years, going 8-2 against the Hoosiers since 1993. My favorite game was in 1994, our freshman year. IU came in ranked with a hot shot running back named Alex Smith, and Hill was still a big IU fan for football. We won 62-13.

But I just can’t shake the image of the two losses during that time:

-In 2001 Antwan Randle-El, Levron Williams and friends won 63-32 in Madison. I remember sitting in the press box at Titan Stadium in Oshkosh listening to the game on my Walkman, in total disbelief - touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. That game was the worst defensive performance by the Badgers since Alvarez took over. That game epitomized how badly the staff had missed in recruiting during the late '90s Rose Bowl years and left the program without depth. At least Randle-El was a worthy conqueror.

-In 2002 we collapsed late and lost 32-29 in Bloomington to a bad IU team. I didn’t even watch the game after we took what seemed to be a commanding lead, went shopping in West Towne with Jana. The best side story from that game: Bob Docherty (right), an Oshkosh North grad who went to UW along with Darrin Charles, was hurt that day and didn’t make the trip. He felt so comfortable with the game that he, too, didn’t watch the second half. Difference between him and me: he was a member of the team. After the game someone called him and asked him what he thought; he said something to the effect of “easy win, huh?” and his caller then informed him that the Badgers had lost. Soon Doc left UW and transferred back to UW-Oshkosh.

So while I was watching the replay of the UW-Northern Illinois game, the highlights that stuck with me weren’t of us running over an overmatched Huskies team, but the breaks showing Kellen Lewis and James Hardy against Penn State. The Hoosiers lost that one, because they turned the ball over four times in the second half, but put up 31 points on a damn good defense.

Indiana should also be plenty hungry – they’re still one win short of being bowl eligible for the first time since 1993, and they’re still playing for their popular deceased coach, Terry Hoeppner. They’ve got playmakers all over the field:

-Hardy (top), the best wide receiver in the country not named DeSean Jackson (that’s a toss-up).
-Lewis (bottom), who seems like Randle-El with a much better arm.
-Marcus Thigpen, great returner and slippery back.
-Two highly thought-of cornerbacks with girls’ names: Leslie Majors and Tracy Porter.
-A couple of other defensive playmakers in DE Greg Middleton and LB William Patterson.

Even with all that, I think we outscore them tomorrow and win. But look at the point totals they’ve given up this year:

Western Michigan 27; Akron 24; Illinois 27; Iowa 20; Minnesota 20; Michigan State 52; Penn State 36.

Actually, those numbers are sort of similar to the Badgers’ defensive numbers. If this is in Bloomington, I might be predicting an IU win, but we’ve gone back to winning most of the time in Madison.

I think Beckum has a big game, as do PJ and Smith. The big matchup is Ike and Carter against Hardy, we’ve got to hold him to one touchdown. And Mehlhaff has to get more of his kickoffs into the end zone than not, to keep the ball away from these dangerous returners.

Two good points from the Cap Times experts today: control the ball and keep it out of IU's playmakers' hands, and can Ike shut down Hardy like Jamar Fletcher shut down Plaxico Burress in 1999?

Prediction: UW 38, Indiana 34

Luke Swan jersey

Here's a fun fact: In my post job, I had a blog that ran for about 11 months and 280 posts. I probably got 10-15 legitimate non-spam comments, and a handful of meaningful, pointed emails. Three days into Badgercentric I got an email, and not even from a friend or family member!

It came from a woman who was looking for information about my Luke Swan jersey. I go mine at Scheel's, a huge sporting goods store in Appleton, in January, and Polzin and Mertzy say there are plenty available at the University Bookstore. But here's a secret: I think my #1 jersey was leftover from Brandon Williams' standout senior season.

#1 should always be a decent number to have, much like Schwalbach's #2. My other Badger jersey is a Pat Richter throwback, #88, but every time I wear it we play like crap, so it's a non-gameday choice. Yes, I'm insane.

This little exercise got me thinking: what's the best number in recent UW history? I'd say it's #2 (Schwib's jersey): Casillas, Calhoun, Starks, Fletcher, DeRamus. Probably forgetting someone, but that's a damn tough group to beat.