New NFL Badgers

Congratulations to Jack Ikegwuonu, Taylor Mehlhaff, Paul Hubbard and Nick Hayden, who became the latest former Badgers to be selected by NFL teams.

Ike went in the fourth round to Philadelphia. The Eagles have two good corners in Lito Sheppard and Asante Samuel, but it seems like Sheppard wants out of Philly. Doesn't matter much for this year, since Ike isn't going to play while he's rehabbing his injured knee. The Eagles have been pretty successful drafting and grooming cornerbacks over the years — then letting them go in free agency. Ike landed in a good spot, hopefully his injury and off-field issues don't inhibit him from reaching his professional potential.

Checking the Saints' depth chart, it appears that Martin Gramatica is the lone kicker in New Orleans right now. God, I hope Taylor beats out out that little brat! Apparently Gramatica kicked pretty well in the Saints' last three games last season, and was expected to compete with Olindo Mare for the kicking job. If Mehlhaff can stick, what a great place to start his career — a dome. Ryan Longwell's whining for years about the advantages dome kickers have may have turned off some fans (read: me), but he's right.

Hubbard's going to have an uphill battle to win a job in Cleveland, which led by Joe Thomas had a terrific offense last season. Braylon Edwards is the go-to guy at wideout, they recently acquired Donte Stallworth, and Joe Jurevicius is a good #3. Paul will have to beat out the likes of Tim Carter, Josh Cribbs, and Travis Wilson for a job. It'll help if he can show value as a special teams player.

The Panthers came into the draft looking to address their defensive line, but didn't take a D-Lineman until Hayden in the sixth round. So that bodes well for his chances of sticking. Carolina's other guys at defensive tackle are Damione Lewis, Steve Williams, and Ma'ake Kemoeatu; their ends are Julius Peppers, Tyler Brayton, Charles Johnson, and Stanley McClover. So basically, Peppers and a bunch of nobodies. It'll be interesting to see if Hayden can stick at tackle, since he weighs less than 300 pounds.

Just read that the Packers signed Ken DeBauche, who we saw at Crazylegs yesterday. Don't figure he'll make the team, but it will be good for him to get in an NFL camp and show what he can do; guys bounce around so much at those kicking positions that you just need to impress one team. And Luke Swan signed with the Chiefs. Here's hoping Marcus Coleman gets a shot with someone.

Which of these Badgers ended up in the best situation?

And in other news, Jim Leonhard signed with Baltimore after spending his first three seasons in Buffalo.

Death, or life, of the spread?

Two interesting takes on one of my pet peeves: the spread offense.

1. Terrelle Pryor has committed to Ohio State. Bad news for the rest of the Big Ten, this guy is incredible. He chose the Buckeyes to get himself ready for the NFL. Hmmm ... who again was the last great OSU quarterback in the NFL? Craig Krenzel?

The thing is, he chose Ohio State over Michigan, and Matt Hayes of the Sporting News says it's because Rich Rodriguez runs the spread, which isn't the way to become the next Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. Great short story, you should read it.

Pryor's commitment a sad day for spread

So why is it that ...

2. Bret Bielema is implementing some spread into the UW offense? According to a Journal Sentinel report, Bielema likes what Allan Evridge and Curt Phillips can do in the spread, and the Badgers would have run some spread last year if Marcus Coleman could shotgun snap. (Really? He couldn't?)

This has the feeling of arriving a party about two hours after the good-looking girls departed and the kegs are spitting out foam.

The only silver lining I see from this is that it should give our defense some more exposure against a scheme with which we've traditionally struggled.

Badgers on Facebook

My brother and I were talking about Facebook the other day, and he made this not completely untrue statement:

"Dude, when people like you are getting into Facebook, that's when you know it's not cool any more."

Ouch, but I do have a history of coming in past the prime time of cultural phenomena: downloading music, cell phones, online shopping, direct payroll deposit, high-speed Internet at home. We've purchased DVR four years after TiVo became popular, but DirecTV keeps messing up and we haven't gotten it hooked up yet.

So I don't have a great track record as an early adopter, but I'm trying to change that (why does nobody seem to care about all my Twitter messages?). However, among my long-time close friends, only Butch and Toohey have signed up for Facebook, which makes me as cutting edge as all my college-aged cousins and 40-something co-workers.

If/when you decide Facebook is for you, a. Become my friend, b. Sign up for Facebook's best Badger fan community:

http://www.facebook.com/add.php?api_key=c24ac9233116fef04c3e92aee417d3d2&next=?refuid=3097947

The coolest thing about this is the Badger trivia section. With plenty of time to kill over the holidays, I answered every last one as quickly as possible, and ended up in fourth place. Then I took the time to create about 50 questions, which put me in first until the guy I overtook for the lead noticed and created 60 more. Game on, Jeremy David Jones.

Since I found out about this community from my old college friend Vikram Naik, I joined his team and saw where we ranked among other teams. Not high - Toohey is stuck on a goose egg. But I did see who led other "teams" of trivia guessers: Zach Hampton, Justin Ostrowski, Marcus Coleman, Brandon Kelly, Brad Thorson. Looking further at these teams, I found Matt Bernstein, Paul Standring, Joe Monty, Kurt Ware, Darrin Charles, Mike Allen, RJ Morse, Jonathan Clinkscale, Kalvin Barrett, LaMarr Watkins, Andrew Weininger, Mark Gorman, Josh Balts, Ryan Flasch.

There's nothing that remarkable about finding these guys there; after all, they were/are college students, and that's what college students do nowadays. It was just cool to see these names again, as I'd forgotten most of them. Also: didn't see too many all-conference types on there. Is it too much of a hassle for a star college athlete to put himself out there on a social network? I think it makes these kids seem more like regular students.

-On another note, Mike Lucas is reporting that Bob Palcic is leaving UW to be Rick Neuheisel's offensive line coach at UCLA. Bring your guitar and canoe, Bob, Ricky's a real player's coach.

Lucas says Bob Bostad will probably take over, which makes sense. He'll probably do fine - the tight ends are better than ever right now. Bostad was here only two years, but he did a good job replacing Jim Hueber and upholding our reputation for producing top-notch offensive lines. Can't give him too much credit for Joe Thomas, but give him lots of credit for plugging holes created by graduation and injuries.

Beckum's back!

Just saw some great news on the Sporting News site that is confirmed on uwbadgers.com: Travis Beckum will return for his senior year at Wisconsin! I won't bother going over how incredible and uncoverable he was this year, or his numbers and accolades. Let's consider:

-How loaded with skill position players the offense will be. The Badgers should have the best 1-2 tight end combination in the country in Beckum and Garrett Graham. If everyone's eligible and healthy (no sure thing) we should have the best group of tailbacks in the country in P.J. Hill, Lance Smith, Zach Brown, and John Clay. Kyle Jefferson is ready to put up big numbers in his second year, and it's a good bet someone will emerge as a 25-catch guy opposite him (Daven Jones? Wes Kemp?).

The line, losing only unsung Marcus Coleman, should be good again - especially if Josh Oglesby forces his way into the lineup. That leaves just one big question mark: quarterback. Will Allan Evridge be at least adequate, as Tyler Donovan was this year?

-It will be interesting to see if Beckum puts on 15-20 pounds on the 224 he played at this season in an attempt to get more NFL-ready. And, if he does, will his ability to get open and make plays in the open field be diminished? If he can put on weight, improve his blocking, and still be a receiving terror, that would be tremendous. But given his importance as a security blanket for a first-year starter at QB, selfishly I would like him to stay around 230 and focus on receiving.

Whatever, I'm just happy he's back!

Slow Tuesday

Finals time in Madison, so no hoops and little football news to discuss. The two things the papers picked up on were:

-Surprise! Looks like PJ might be ready to play in the Outback Bowl after all! This has reached the point where I don't even care any more, and would ask coach B to refrain from addressing the situation if at all possible.

-The more interesting development comes from the offensive line, believe it or not. It appears that Eric Vanden Heuvel will remain on the bench for the bowl game, with John Moffitt (right) staying at left guard, Andy Kemp at right guard, and Kraig Urbik at right tackle. Bielema says this lineup gives them more athleticism, and without having broken down game tape, I would tend to agree - Moffitt goes 6-4/307, EVH goes 6-7/325, and you would guess the "smaller" Moffitt could fly around a bit better.

It was also said Moffitt is the favorite to replace Marcus Coleman as the starting center next year, and I would guess EVH returns to his starting right tackle spot ... unless Josh Oglesby beats him out. It's shaping up as a nice line.

Wisconsin State Journal story about next year's line

All-Big Ten: Where the Badgers landed

A mediocre season of football in the Big Ten has concluded, and the conference's all-league teams have been announced. The lack of true star power and bona fide first round picks is a good indicator of conference's overall strength. Scanning the lists released by the coaches and media shows a number of Badgers honored. Let's run them down:

Coaches
First team: TE Travis Beckum, CB Jack Ikegwuonu, K Taylor Mehlhaff
Second team: RG Kraig Urbik, DE Matt Shaughnessy, P Ken DeBauche
Honorable mention: S Shane Carter, LB Jonathan Casillas, C Marcus Coleman, QB Tyler Donovan, DT Nick Hayden, WR Paul Hubbard

Media
First team: Beckum, Ike, Coleman
Second team: Urbik, Mehlhaff, Shaughnessy
Honorable mention: Carter, Casillas, DeBauche, Donovan, Hayden, RB P.J. Hill

Thoughts:

-Beckum should have been first-team last year, not second team and honorable mention, so it's nice to see the right call made this year. We'll see how All-American honors work out for him, there are some other good ones out there, and Becks' perceived blocking deficiencies might hurt him there.

-At first Ike's honors puzzled me, since he seemed to regress this year after a terrific sophomore season. But he did lead the conference in passes defended in league play, and had great games against James Hardy and Mario Manningham. Like Beckum, it will be interesting to see if he returns to school for his senior season.

-Really happy to see Coleman get the first team media nod, what an unsung member of a really solid unit. It's so hard to gauge what constitutes an all-conference center, he's usually not getting out and blocking a corner, pulling, or pancaking defenders. With a freshman left tackle, shuffling chairs around him, and a first-year starting quarterback and parade of different running backs behind him, Coleman held it all together for what turned out to be a pretty damn good offense.

-Really glad for Mehlhaff, who's been so solid for several seasons now. Replacing him next year is a major concern. Think he got a vote from the Brewster household?

-Urbik - see Coleman. Could he be the center next season?

-I expected Shaughnessy to be first team this year, but his second team status is more a reflection of the strength of the position in the conference. Really hope he comes back next year, a consistently solid performer.

-Happy for Hayden, rebounding from a poor junior season to have a strong senior season reminiscent of his 2005.

-Thought DeBauche would have a better season, but he was pretty good. He spoiled us with his first three seasons, and went out on a solid note.

-Hope Casillas is ready to make the step to first or second team as a senior, he's got the talent to do it.

-Hubbard? Really? Both of UW's starting wideouts were hurt for periods this year, and Luke Swan ended up with twice as many catches. Still, Hubbard did some nice things this year.

-Speaking of Swan, he won a Sportsmanship Award, nice touch for a classy kid.

-Donovan turned out to be much better than I thought he'd be, a playmaker every bit as much as a game manager. He'll be missed next year.

-Missing those last 3-1/2 games probably cost PJ 700 yards rushing. He would have pushed Beanie Wells for first team all-conference in that case.

Wisconsin-Michigan postgame thoughts - hell yeah! (update following OSU loss)

As the tide seemed to be shifting in favor of the Wolverines in the fourth quarter, I started thinking about about what emotion would best fit my mood if we lost. Angry? Disappointed? Indifferent?

Then the defense and running game stepped in and finished things of, and I had to reverse my thinking. What emotion fits this win best? Elation? Relief? Bittersweet?

I'll go for the first. Beating Michigan never feels anything but awesome. Dominating Michigan like we did today? Even better. Forget all those what-might-have-been thoughts I was writing yesterday, it's all about the positive right now:

-Undefeated home record for the second straight year
-Still in the running for a winning conference record and the Capital One Bowl or the Outback Bowl
-Still in the running for a 10-win season
-Could be ranked again
-Some big-time players are playing big-time football
-Michigan has a chance to lose five games this year

And make no mistake, Wisconsin dominated Michigan today. I don't care if Henne and Hart had the sniffles or whatever, we were missing five starters because of injury and didn't have a roster full of Parade All-Americans to step in for them. Consider the stats:

-First downs: UW 24, UM 17
-Rushing yards: UW 232, UM 47
-Total yards: UW 477, UM 320
-Interceptions: UW 3, UM 0
-My favorite - Time of possession: UW 38:15, UM 21:45

The thoughts:

-It was Senior Day, and the relatively small senior class carried the day. Paul Hubbard (right) was huge with seven catches for 134 yards. Tyler Donovan threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, ran for 49 yard and a touchdown, and showed some nice dance moves avoiding sacks.

Taylor Mehlhaff made all three of his field goal attempts. Ken DeBauche average 45 yards per punt with a long of 65, and put four inside the Michigan 20. Marcus Coleman and the interior line handled a damn good defensive tackle in Terrance Taylor, who had a lot of tackles but did not stop the run. Nick Hayden (left) had 1.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup.

-Good to see PJ get back in and try to make a go of it. I expect him to play next week, need to take a lot of get-tough pills this week. Hope Donovan is ready to play, would rather not throw Allan Evridge in there at this stage of the season. Looked like a pretty bad bruise on TD's hand.

-What is it about our punt return team at home against Michigan? They're like magnets for the ball. Nice job by the defense to get a three-and-out after that potential disaster.

-I can't get over the ESPN cameras' preoccupation with the couple hundred Michigan fans in attendance, they just kept showing those idiots.

-Shane Carter showed his strengths and weaknesses on back-to-back drives: watching Mario Manningham go right by him on the long TD pass, then making nice play on the ball for his second interception.

-When I saw the shot of what were presumably Chad Henne's parents in the stands, I thought about how pissed I would be if I was them, to come all the way from Pennsylvania to watch tough Chad wear a coat and call signals.

-The personal foul call on Deandre Levy was terrible, he stumbled and grazed Ryan Mallett's helmet. Later Obi Ezeh went helmet-to-helmet with Donovan, knocking TD out of the game, and no penalty.

-Funny to watch Manningham bitching at Mallett on the sideline, who is he, Terrell Freaking Owens? That's the kind of program they have in Ann Arbor, big-time athletes with big-time egos, just a factory churning out NFL players preloaded with NFL attitudes.

-I jotted down "Not Ike's best game," since he gave up some big plays, then look at the stat sheet and see he had an interception and four pass breakups. He also made a nice play downing a punt on the Michigan 3.

-Mallett was resourceful in escaping or almost escaping sacks. That backward shovel to the tight end was almost one of those back breaking plays.

-Mallett will be good in time, but today he was spraying the ball around like Wild Thing Vaughn. The guy was 11-for-36 - Tarvaris Jackson numbers.

-Best shot: The Badger fan wearing the I Heart Appalachian State T-shirt.

-Really nice effort by Zach Brown running for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Still think he's a career backup, a la Eddie Faulkner, but a damn good one. Nice to know we have depth at running back, a necessity in this program.

-Love how the line kept pounding Michigan - they wore down at the end and paved the way for Brown's scoring runs. That's Wisconsin football. For all the things that haven't gone as planned this year, our time of possession has still been stellar, a testament to the offensive line. The depleted defensive line played very well too, with three sacks and five TFLs.

Great win, really looking forward to Minnesota next week. The Gophers have to be the worst Big Ten team in recent memory and we should score 50 on them, but we've been upset there before and they run that damn spread offense, so anything's possible.

**ADD, 5:41 p.m. - Wow, Ohio State loses at home to Illinois. Didn't think it was impossible, but unlikely. Huge win for that program - the sleeping giant is waking up. What does it mean? Need to think about it a bit, but on first blush:

-Ohio State probably beats Michigan next week and "settles" for the Rose Bowl, not the BCS title game ... although who knows?
-Michigan goes Cap One Bowl, which is fitting, they didn't deserve the Rose Bowl with the lackluster year they've had.
-Ironically, beating Ohio State may push the Illini down to the Outback Bowl. Is my thinking right on this?
-Now it's between us and Penn State for the Alamo and Champs Sports bowls. New Year's Day seems unlikely. Wouldn't mind mixing things up and playing an ACC or Big 12 team in a bowl.

All this could change if Ohio State only falls a few spots in the BCS standings, since conference championship games, especially the Big 12 and SEC, could knock a couple high-ranking one-loss teams down a peg. We might have to wait until the first weekend in December to know our bowl fate, thanks to the domino effect of all these other teams.

More thoughts on this Monday when the updated BCS standings come out. #1 Kansas anybody?