P.J. and Pressley in the pros

What a great day for former Wisconsin running backs yesterday, as P.J. Hill and Chris Pressley were both signed by NFL teams. The only downside to Hill signing with the Eagles is that it comes because Brian Westbrook, one of the key players on my fantasy team, might be out with a concussion. It's doubtful P.J. will see much playing time, but whatever, he'll be able to hang out with Jack Ikegwuonu.

As Dave Heller says, with B.J. Askew out for the season Pressley has a better chance of playing. After all, teams don't sign fullbacks to sit, that's usually not a position where teams stockpile guys ... unless it's the Packers.

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.

How good are the Gophers?

I ask not sarcastically but seriously. Because Minnesota's turnaround from last year's one-year disaster has been a popular talking point around college football, and Tim Brewster has been mentioned as a coach of the year candidate.

Looking closer, it appears:

-The Gophers were probably better last year than their one win indicated, although not by much.

-The Gophers are the beneficiary of a favorable non-conference schedule and Big Ten schedule that is missing two of the conference's three best teams. The non-conference wins came against Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Montana State, and Florida Atlantic. Northern and MSU are the Gophers' only two victims with winning records.

In the Big Ten, Minnesota has beaten Indiana, which is awful; Purdue, which is almost as bad; and Illinois, which just lost to Western Michigan. (Granted, Wisconsin's resume is similarly skimpy, but that's not the point of this discussion.)

-The Gophers are adding more talent and should return to being the formidable border rival they were during the best Glen Mason years.

-Adam Weber has progressed nicely from his freshman season, cutting his interception down to five thus far after 19 last year. The good thing is we're looking far better against the Spread this season than we have in the past. Weber did a lot of good things against us in the Dome last year.

-The Gophers have been getting attention for forcing a lot of turnovers on defense, but their performance against a thoroughly mediocre Michigan offense shows that they are far from impenetrable. Their defense actually yields 27 yards per game more than their offense gains.

(Like us in Ann Arbor, Minnesota has to have a "will we ever?" outlook on its series with Michigan right about now.)

I'm guessing that we'll be able to run on them, not like we did last year or last week against Indiana, but still, run effectively. Given that Minnesota's DBs seem opportunistic and I still get scared every time Dustin Sherer drops back, running the ball about 60 times is my prescription for success.

-Minnesota changes its uniforms as often as West Bend East High School, with similar results. You're not Oregon, guys, pick a combination and go with it.

Statistical leaders: Defense

Here are the teams that led these statistical categories on the defensive side of the ball:

Yards per game: 2006 (253.1), 2004 (291.3), 1998 (292.6). The '06 defense was 38 yards per game better than the second-best — wow! In an era when more and more teams were running the Spread. And without a lot of exceptional individual players, maybe Ike and that's it. That's a credit to Joe Stellmacher, Mark Zalewski, and the other leaders of that defense who made sure everyone was in the right spot at the right time.

Rushing yards per game: 1998 (92.2), 1999 (109.9), 2006 (114.8). Holding opponents under 100 yards rushing per game over 12 games is nearly impossible to do, but Donnel Thompson, Chris Ghidorzi, Jason Doering and friends did it.

Completion percentage: 2006 (47.8%), 2004 (48.8%), 2000 (50%). That '04 mark is a tribute to the pass rush provided by Erasmus James and the defensive line — Brett Bell started at corner opposite the underrated Scott Starks.

Passing yards per game: 2006 (138.3), 2004 (167.3), 1999 (188.2).

Third-down conversion percentage: 2006 (28.2%), 2004 (31.2%), 1999 (33%), 1997 (33.3%), 1998 (34.7%). Are we coming to realize that the 2006 defense was the greatest in modern UW history?

Turnovers per game: 1993 (2.8) and 2998 (2.8), 2002 (2.5), 1994 (2.3). And yet the '02 team lost six games.

Penalty yards per game: 2006 (38.3), 1996 (39.1), 1999 (39.3).

Points per game: 1998 (11.9), 2006 (12.1), 1999 (12.8), 2004 (15.4), 1993 (16.3).

So here's the question I'll throw out at the end of today's exercise: which defense was better, 1998 or 2006?

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.

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.

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?)

Cal Poly who?

So the Badgers' 2008 football schedule is complete, as Cal Poly replaces Virginia Tech. Sigh. The first thing that came to mind was that Cal Poly sounds like a punchline - you know, "Wow, great win for Marquette last night, they beat Cal Poly School for Blind Albinos by six at the Bradley Center in their holiday classic." But Cal Poly is a good I-AA team, probably better than The Citadel last year, and we have to make sure they don't become an Appalachian State punchline for us.

Bielema's rationale is sound. Opening Big Ten play with Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State will be brutal. If we end up winning the conference next year because of this move, terrific. I've got my doubts about that likelihood, although that's how most of our special seasons have started before.

But my first reaction was this: I would rather lose a good game to Virginia Tech than beat Cal Poly. Of course I'd rather beat Virginia Tech, but the point is that Badger fans are hungry for a big game outside of the conference and outside our bowl game. Think about some of the recent high-profile non-conference games: Ohio State-Texas, LSU-Virginia Tech, USC-Nebraska. It's not hard to come up with others. Those are games that get your blood pumping, get ABC in town for prime time Saturday night broadcasts, get the GameDay crew in town in September.

To be the best, you have to beat the best, and while the Big Ten has some of the best around - Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State are surely more of a brand name in college football than Virginia Tech - it's a given that we'll play them every year. Bowl games are exciting because you get to test yourself again different conferences and players from different regions. We see it more often in college hoops, but regular season losses don't mean as much there.

We'll see the Hokies in 2016 ... hopefully.

-The Journal Sentinel's Bob McGinn is at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and filed a report on the Badgers' draft candidates. In a nutshell: Mehlhaff has looked good and could potentially be the first kicker drafted; Hubbard did everything well but catch the ball (oh, is that all?); Ike is looking at a big mountain to climb; Hayden benched 225 pounds 34 times, about what I do, and was working out today. Anyone caught these guys on the NFL Network yet?

Ike blows out knee

Bob McGinn is reporting on the Journal Sentinel's Badgers Blog that Jack Ikegwuonu blew out his knee in a training exercise and won't be able to play in 2008. Per McGinn's style, several anonymous sources are quoted in brutal fashion, including this:

"He's screwed now," an executive in personnel for an NFL team said. "He wasn't going to be that high of a pick, anyway. Fourth round. "I blame the agent for talking the kid into coming out. Stupid. Because he wasn't a first-day player."

Ouch. I didn't know that Ike had signed with Drew Rosenhaus, might be a good choice for a guy on the mend. What is it with Badger cornerbacks and knee injuries nowadays? Somewhere, Nate Odomes probably just blew out his knee shoveling the snow.

This sucks. The anonymous guy's comments regardless, he had a chance to be a first day pick and play next year. Now he faces a big uphill battle to make a roster in 2009 and beyond. If you voted for Ike in that poll to the right, you might want to reconsider going forward.

-Thanks to Toohey for pointing out that today is the birthday of Mr. Andrew Bernard, aka actor Ed Helms. "When the hell is this strike going to end?" Tim writes. I hear you, man. Thursday blogging just isn't the same thanks to to acronymed groups battling over Internet money.

Shrine Game notes

The East-West Shrine Game was held in Houston last night, and I caught bits and pieces of it during basketball commercials. Paul Hubbard, Nick Hayden, and Taylor Mehlhaff played in the game. Hubbard had two catches for 25 yards, Mehlhaff kicked 28- and 42-yard field goals.

Houston Chronicle blogger Lance Zierlein was very complimentary of Hayden and Hubbard in his practice notes.

- I continue to be impressed with Wisconsin DT Nick Hayden. The guy has a phenomenal motor. He's not a big guy despite being at right around 300, but would be a good rotation player in a 1-gap system as he is a mother bleeper in the gaps. He uses his hands great. He might also potentially be a good 3-4 DE as well. - Wisconsin WR Paul Hubbard is the WR with the most buzz and has clearly helped his stock this week. Scouts have been impressed with his size and quickness and I think he'll lock in on the 3rd round.

The SFGate Niner Insider blog also mentioned Hayden and Hubbard.

-Wisconsin receiver Paul Hubbard made a tough catch in traffic but then limped off the field. He's got size (6-3, 218) and speed.

-Wisconsin defensive tackle Nick Hayden put a great spin move on and nearly got to O'Connell.

Wow, nice praise for both. Earlier in the week ESPN's Todd McShay had praise for the job Hayden was doing against Michigan's Adam Kraus.

I saw Hayden as a fifth-seventh rounder, and Hubbard as a fringe pick, although both should have good measurables. My prediction is that of these three guys and Ike, Mehlhaff will have the best professional career, even if he does not get drafted.

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.

Yikes - bad morning

Check the Journal Sentinel Badger Blog first thing this morning and find almost nothing but bad news since logging off last night:

-Ike is leaving for the NFL.
-Wes Kemp de-committed and committed to Missouri.
-Mike Hankwitz has seemingly been fired.

Will discuss more after work

Wisconsin-Tennessee halftime thoughts

All in all, pretty happy to be down only seven at halftime. We really haven't done anything to slow down their offense, and we've been inconsistent with the ball. If Donovan can survive one more half we have a shot at this thing.

-Really going to miss Mehlhaff's kickoffs, that's been a real positive for this team for four years.

-Could you get a worse person to announce your starting lineup than Heath Shuler? Yes - Matt Kenseth. Would have been nice if someone had gone over Ike's name with him beforehand.

-O'Brien Schofield did in fact start at defensive end, but hasn't done much. Will be interesting to see if he or Kirk DeCremer starts there next year.

-In the second half, watch how far Erik Ainge sets up in the shotgun, might be a reason he doesn't get sacked often.

-On that note: we're not getting any pressure on Ainge, so why not drop eight guys and make them beat you six yards passing at a time?

-Jae McFadden and Josh Nettles both should have had picks very early; had they, it would have dramatically changed the complexion of the game.

-Interesting end-around call to Lance Smith, that usually goes to a receiver. Reminded me of watching Dan Pallante's Wing-T at Fremont Ross.

-Did you see the two men in motion penalty that wiped out Brown's touchdown run? I didn't.

-Nice first half for Garrett Graham - four catches, 37 yards, and a nice box-out block on Donovan's touchdown run.

-What a stupid call by the Vols to run that trick play. They were moving the ball at will without trickery. Interesting concept for a trick play, though.

-Donovan has to go down as one of the toughest players in Badgers history, we'll miss that. He's taken a lot of vicious hits; not sure if they're dirty or not - they seem so at first, but replays make them just look like hard hits - but Bielema's lobbying that they were resulted in a nice 15-yard penalty in our favor on the last touchdown drive. Really don't want to see Evridge taking snaps until the spring game.

-P.J. Hill is clearly our best running back today. He's running quicker and getting a better lean than Zach Brown.

-Great drive to end the first half, really needed that to have a chance. Beautiful play call by Chryst on Crooks' first catch of the year.

-During a commercial I flipped on the Cotton Bowl and heard an overmatched announcer wading through the Arkansas starting defense. Pat Summerall is back! Why?!

Should be a good second half between two evenly matched teams. It's going to come down to halftime adjustments, specifically Can we stop their passing game?

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

Mock draft features Ike

A Rivals.com mock NFL draft featured on Yahoo has Jack Ikegwuonu going in the last pick of the second round to New England, 64th pick overall. No, Ike hasn't declared yet, but this is one (of many) thoughts on his relative draft value. No mention of Travis Beckum.

Decker-Ikegwuonu: A revisionist perspective

Before getting into the BCS mess that may or may not be resolved later today, I want to touch on a comment left on the blog last night from "Tom."

Decker "appeared" to punch him in the groin. He did not actually do it. Ike lost his jock trying to cover Decker and had to leave the game to go find it.

To refresh your turkey-soaked memory, in Wisconsin's win over Minnesota two weeks ago Minnesota wide receiver Eric Decker punched Wisconsin cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu in the groin area. The story I referenced did use the word "appeared," and while I can't find any clip of it happening on YouTube, did it actually happen?

As fate would have it, Jim Polzin talked with Ike and Travis Beckum this week for a story about exploring their NFL draft options, and Ike had this to say about the incident:

Ikegwuonu admitted he lost his focus after being punched in the groin by Minnesota wide receiver Eric Decker during the second quarter of UW's regular-season finale two weeks ago at the Metrodome.

"That's my fault,'' said Ikegwuonu, who used the words "cheap shot'' and "bush league'' to describe Decker's actions. "I didn't see it coming. It kind of took me out of my game. I was more thinking about getting him back than playing my technique and doing things like that, and obviously it showed. I've just got to let those things go by and just forget about them."

Ikegwuonu, who left the field for one play after the punch, said he didn't know what precipitated Decker's actions.

"Maybe his coach told him to do it, I don't know,'' Ikegwuonu said. "When I look at the way the game went, that's the only thing I can think of because it was really early in the game. I probably had covered him maybe a handful of plays before that. I don't even think I touched him before that. That was really surprising."

Maybe his coach told him to do it? Now, it's no secret I'm not Tim Brewster's biggest fan, but I have a hard time alleging a head coach of instructing one of his players to punch another player in the scrotum. We all know how much that hurts, right?

But as for Tom's "appeared" defense (must be a lawyer): after seeing him lie on the ground in agony, and reading his words, can you still deny it happened?

For another look at it, read the Journal Sentinel's Badger Blog.

-If you didn't click on the first link above, you should, it's a quick read but touches on the juniors' thoughts going into a crucial decision making time. What do other people think about about these guys' draft prospects?

For Beckum, I think he's a wonderful athlete and player. However, at present, he's probably too small to be a tight end and a little bit too slow to play wide receiver in the NFL, although I don't have the stopwatch figures to back that up. If you can get open, you can get open, though, and he'll be a hell of an H-back when he gets to the league. However, do H-backs ever get drafted before the third round?

For Ike, it's been well-documented that he has the size/speed combination to succeed as an NFL corner, but had an inconsistent season. There's also his run-in with the law in DeKalb, we'll see what happens there. Never spoken with him, but he seems like a thoughtful, articulate young man. My guess is that if you average the league's opinion of him, he's a third round pick right now, but that a couple teams might consider him first round material, and it only takes one to make it happen.

As said before, if they both come back we are stacked next year.

Outback Bowl thoughts

Following up on Andy's comment to the original Outback Bowl post:

I think that's interesting too, since everyone has basically assumed that we're not going back to the Cap One Bowl for the third straight year.

Here's my fear: Missouri or Will's alma mater, West Virginia, loses on Saturday; Ohio State goes to the national title game; Illinois goes to the Rose Bowl; Michigan then leaps into the Cap One Bowl and not the fourth-tier bowl they deserve.

Whatever, I'm happy with Tampa. We've been there three times before: losing to Georgia in 2005 and 1998 and beating Duke in 1995 (see, basketball isn't that important - we beat Duke in football 13 years ago!).

Those were wildly uneven matchups. Following the '94 season, in which we had the talent to challenge for the Big Ten or national title, we got a Duke team that had overachieved and was outclassed. The first Georgia game followed a '97 season where we were pretty mediocre, undeservedly leapfrogged Purdue in the bowl pickings because our fan like getting drunk in Florida, then watched Mike Bobo turn into Joe Montana for one morning. The last trip was the culmination of a painful late '04 collapse, when we lose our last three games after starting 9-0, including the Tucson monsoon and Minnesota blowout on a perfect Madison November day that most of us were at. What I remember from that one is how much the media hyped the Erasmus James-David Pollack defensive end matchup, which was won convincingly by Pollack.

As I said earlier, I'd really like Tennessee to be the opponent, for variety's sake. Of course, the way LSU's games have been going this season the Vols could win Saturday, bump LSU to the Capital One Bowl, and bump Florida to the Outback Bowl. I'd be okay with that, too, although we're less likely to beat Florida than Tennessee. Trying to stop Tim Tebow would be challenging and entertaining, but they run the freaking spread, and you all know how I feel about that.

Don't know much about Tennessee, but pretty sure they run a man's offense. I'd rather face Erik Ainge winging it around back there than some magician/quarterback. Ainge threw for 2,900 yards and 27 TDs this year, they seem to have a number of capable wideouts, and Arian Foster is a 1,00-yard back. Will research more once the opponent is determined for good.

-Rivals announced its all-Big Ten team. Our first teamers are Travis Beckum, Kraig Urbik, Nick Hayden, and David Gilreath as a punt returner. Our second teamers are Matt Shaughnessy, Jack Ikegwuonu, Shane Carter, and Ken DeBauche. Good to see Gilreath get some pub.

-In the Journal Sentinel's Badger Blog Dave Heller today found that a Yahoo NFL Draft columnist thinks Wisconsin expects both Becks and Ike to return next season. I'm not so sure, but we would be looking pretty damn good if they did.

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.

Minnesota football: A program in shambles under Tim Brewster

Conversely, if you're a Gopher football fan, there's not much to be excited about, even after a spirited effort by an overmatched group on Saturday. In his first year as coach, Tim Brewster has led Minnesota to a giant step backward, turning a program that was competitive and excellent in many areas under Glen Mason into something resembling other big-city sports "entertainment" where the game is secondary to the hoopla surrounding it. They also played with a lack of maturity and discipline resembling Miami's late '80s teams, only with 5% of the talent.

To that end, let's take two examples that were well detailed in Jim Polzin's Capital Times story last night.

-... UW senior kicker Taylor Mehlhaff was heading over to congratulate Minnesota counterpart Joel Monroe on a great game when he was approached by Clint Brewster (right), the son of the Gophers coach and a freshman quarterback on the team.

According to Mehlhaff, Clint Brewster said: "You guys are terrible. … We're 1-10 and we should have beat you.''

"I just couldn't believe he said that,'' added Mehlhaff, who made two field goals Saturday but missed as many (two) as he had all season. "I was giving their guys high-fives … and telling them good game. I just couldn't believe anyone would come up and be like that.

"And then he said, 'How many kicks did you miss today?' That's pretty bold. I just said, 'I've got to go celebrate (with) the axe.' ''

Very classy, Clint. I remember two years ago, after the Gophers' gut-wrenching loss to UW in the dome, Laurence Maroney warmly embracing Brandon Williams (both St. Louis guys). That was how this rivalry should play out - fight hard, then a big hug. Our schools and states are pretty similar, records aside, and this should be one of those mutual respect deals. We'll see if the Brewsters can learn that.

-Another thing players that mutually respect one another don't do is punch their opponents in the testicles. From Jim's story:

Bielema revealed the Mehlhaff/Clint Brewster exchange during his postgame news conference and also said he was bothered by an incident between Minnesota wide receiver Eric Decker and UW cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu during the game. In the second quarter, Decker appeared to punch Ikegwuonu in the groin area while blocking him, causing Ikegwuonu to leave the game for a play.

Thing is, Decker (above) played really well Saturday, clearly getting the best of Ike, and this totally wipes that out. The Minnesota papers made a big deal out of the fact that Ike head-butted Decker at another juncture. Well, let me tell you, getting punched in the balls hurts more.

-The dome atmosphere resembled a Mike Veeck production. Fireworks. Loud piped-in music. A tire race in the end zone, the winner getting a 6-inch sub! Two drunks running through tackling dummies and doing end zone dances. People throwing Nerf footballs from the upper deck and end zone targets. Apparently, Brewster has decided the residents of Gopher Nation don't want Big Ten football, they want minor league baseball.

-And that's another thing - Gopher Nation? They can't even sell out the dome for the Wisconsin game! Most Minnesota fans left after we went up 41-27, and missed a really excited long touchdown pass. They still had a chance with a minute left. Gotta beat the traffic though. Gopher Nation? Better work on convincing the Twin Cities first, Timmy.

-One thing that stood out during the pregame festivities was the number of aggressively anti-UW shirts worn by Gopher fans. "Better dead than red." "Bucky Badger is a whore." "Buck the Fadgers." Now, I realize that similar anti-UM shirts for Badger fans probably exist, but I didn't see any Saturday, the logical time to wear them.

You know what those shirts are the sign of? An inferiority complex. You know how I know? Because those are exactly the kind of shirts we've worn (okay, I've worn) to denigrate Michigan, as they've beaten us year after year. So yeah, it's a rivalry, but it's so one-sided that the perennial loser resorts to conjuring up images of death, sexual indiscretion, and implied cuss words.

Last night when I first heard about all this crap the Gophers pulled during game, I was madder than a wet hen. Eric Decker punched Jack Ikegwuonu in the nuts!

This morning, though, with the emotions of the day worn off and a little perspective, I just feel bad for Gopher fans. Brewster could end up being a good coach, and I'm not writing him off yet. But the scene we witnessed yesterday indicated that even if he brings in some of those four-star recruits that fans are hyperventilating about, Brewster has a lot to learn about controlling his players, creating a college football environment, and winning ballgames.

Wisconsin-Minnesota postgame thoughts

Yesterday was fairly draining, but all ended well. There's going to be two posts about the game, one focusing on the game, and one focusing on what a joke of a program Tim Brewster is cultivating here at Minnesota.

-What a tremendous game by Zach Brown. Let's do some clarification here. Last week I compared him to Eddie Faulkner, a career backup. Several of my friends challenged that Zach is much better than Eddie. I will agree, but still see him as a backup, mainly because of the guys who should be ahead of him. This just speaks to the depth of the program and how the overall talent level has been upgraded in the last decade.

-Even against a horrible defense like Minnesota's, give props the line for opening the holes for Zach. And it was another next-man-in scenario, when Bill Nagy replaced the injured John Moffitt. Once again, surprising that Danny Kaye and Jake Bscherer didn't get a call, but it worked out.

-David Gilreath has been an emotional roller coaster all year, and Saturday he went out on a high note in front of the program he originally committed to. Like the running game, credit the blocking, he had gaping holes to work with, but credit him for taking advantage.

-Been up and down all year about Tyler Donovan too, and he didn't have his best game yesterday, but he won, and won with two bruised hands. The kid's tougher than nails and a winner ... can we compare him to Mike Samuel, only a better passer ... and runner?

-Once again Travis Beckum was the best player on the field. Someone in our group said "I think Travis has gone to his last class," and I can't disagree. Looks like an injured shoulder, hopefully he's ready for the bowl game.

-Love that Ben Strickland once again made a huge play to seal a win here. Our program succeeds with classy kids like Ben, not jackasses like Eric Decker and Clint Brewster.

-Elijah Hodge was hurt, Culmer St. Jean played okay in his place. Jae McFadden seemed to be back as well, didn't notice him that much.

-Another mediocre game for Jack Ikegwuonu, although getting punched in the groin by Decker didn't help.

-Thought we may have figured out how to defend the spread after beating an Indiana team with superior playmakers to the Gophers, but they really moved the ball well at times, without any semblance of a Division I running back on the field. Not having Hodge, Jason Chapman and Allen Langford might have had something to do with it.

-All Shane Carter does is catch interceptions. In a way he's comparable to Jim Leonhard, although Jimmy may have been better in run support.

-Another excellent game by the unsung hero, Ken DeBauche.

-One of my other favorite unsung players this season has been Daven Jones, and he made some intangible plays yesterday. He's done some terrific work on special teams, and I hope he ends up contributing at wide receiver to the level he was projected at coming out of high school.

-Adam Weber has a bright future for Minnesota, even if they stay with the spread. He's not nearly as athletic as I thought he was, and his passing needs polish, but he racked up over 400 yards of total offense on us.

-I'm going to miss Minnesota punter Justin Kucek, he's given Badger fans so many good memories.

Overall, we're 9-3 and have a shot to go a January bowl game. Ohio State's in a BCS game for sure; crazy things might happen to allow Illinois to get in there as well. If we play in the Outback Bowl, I hope it's against a new opponent like Tennessee. The Alamo Bowl wouldn't be bad, either, and the Big 12 opponent might be more beatable than one from the SEC.

So the regular season is over and we're not staring at a BCS game or national title game berth, but you know what? Good season. Nine wins for the fourth straight year, another winning record in Big Ten play, beat Michigan, beat Minnesota, 1,000-yard rusher, All-American tight end, undefeated at home sold out Camp Randall. All this even with a ton of injuries and other adversity. Nice job by the coaching staff keeping it all together this year.

I'm a glass-half-full guy this morning.