Free agent thoughts

A little bit surprised that P.J. Hill and Jonathan Casillas weren't drafted, their issues notwithstanding. The nice thing is, their baggage (injuries for JC, running into Open Pantrys for PJ) are pretty much irrelevant now that they'll be in pro camps.

Thoughts on these guys and the other free agent signees:

Hill, Saints: The consensus is New Orleans was a good landing spot for P.J., what with Deuce McAllister leaving, but I don't know. Pierre Thomas was pretty good last year (for my fantasy team!), Reggie Bush is Reggie Bush, and Mike Bell and Aaron Stecker have been solid pros. I'm guessing P.J. doesn't make the team and ends up on someone's practice squad.

Casillas, Saints: Conversely, as long as Casillas gets healthy, I think he makes this team on the merits of special teams play. I can see him being a guy who plays on those units for several years while he puts on weight and learns a defense, then makes an impact there in his third year.

Andy Kemp, Vikings: I hope he's terrible with Minnesota, gets cut, and goes on to a successful career somewhere else.

Mike Newkirk, Rams: Can't see him making the team, unless he can do some things on special teams.

Chris Pressley, Bengals: They've got a lot of average players in the backfield, but if Pressley is similar to his competition in talent, he may get an edge because of his character and leadership abilities, both sorely lacking in Cincinnati.

Bill Rentmeester, Chargers: Joins Michael Bennett in San Diego. Stop me if you've heard this before, but ... he can make this team with standout special teams play. Actually, of all these guys he's got the best track record, so it's not implausible.

Jason Chapman and Dave Peck were invited to try out with the Redskins and Bears. Of those two Peck has a better shot of making someone's roster, since he's a long snapper.

Good bye, seniors

The other day I was taking down the 2008 Wisconsin football poster/calendar in my office to make room for the one Jana made me. Before doing so I looked one last time at the guys on the poster who, for all the disappointments of this season, still contributed to 38 wins in their careers. Not too shabby.

Mike Newkirk
Good contributor for several years. His dad says he's bulked up to 275 pounds and could play in the NFL. We'll see. Part of me thinks if we'd had a really good line, he would have been best suited to be a backup who could play 50% of the snaps swinging between end and tackle.

Jason Chapman
Chappy was never the same after his knee injury. It was a shame, he was so quick off the ball. Every time he'd get whistled for jumping the snap I'd get upset with him, but then remember all the times he got away with it and disrupted the opponent's backfield.

Matt Shaughnessy
Never became the star many thought he would become after his strong freshman year, but always produced. Who knows, maybe his production will increase as a professional. The thing I'll remember about him is he always seemed to be disciplined, staying at home on reverses or quarterback rollouts. And don't forget, he was playing with a heavy heart this year.

Eric Vanden Heuvel
Not a star, but it was obvious the line was at its best this year when he was at right tackle.

Andy Kemp
The memory of Kemp I'll retain is of him chucking his helmet in celebration after the win over Cal Poly this year, out of character for a seemingly quiet kid, but enjoyable to watch. Against the weak non-conference teams we played he had success pulling. Will be interesting to see if he gets a shot professionally.

Dave Peck
I've already got Will practicing long snapping, it can earn you a Division 1 scholarship, and maybe a shot at the NFL. Don't know if Dave is good enough for that, but who would've thought Mike Solwold was?

Kraig Urbik
Only special players start four years on our offensive line. Joe Thomas, Chris McIntosh, Casey Rabach ... Kraig Urbik. Nice to see him get All-American honors from ESPN.com, even if it was sort of a stretch -- not that he didn't perform well, it's just that he was hurt this season.

DeAndre Levy
What I'll remember about Dre was his reaction after our embarrassing loss at Penn State in 2007. It was genuine, heartfelt, and showed that he really cared, which is not always the impression that some of these guys give. He represented the Milwaukee City Conference well, and hopefully inspired some of those kids to take football more seriously.

Travis Beckum
His emergence as a star in 2006 was one of the most pleasant surprises of a pleasantly surprising season, and he kept it up in 2007. That was more important than just on-field production. Becks was one of the most highly-rated recruits we've ever brought in, and had he failed, it would have hurt future recruiting. He was obviously not going to cut it at linebacker -- too tall -- and he lacked the instincts and aggressiveness to play defensive end. Kudos to the coaching staff for finding the right spot for his abilities, and kudos to Travis for making the most of the opportunity.

Allan Evridge
To think: I was expecting and hoping for him to beat out Tyler Donovan for the starting job in 2007. The thought was that a two-year starter would be better than back-to-back one-year starters. Wrong-o, T.

Jonathan Casillas
Anyone who was at the Metrodome for our 2005 game will remember him for his involvement in the greatest blocked punt in UW history. He was a playmaker on defense, too, when healthy. I hope he gets a shot in the pros, maybe he'll make an impact on some team's special teams and maybe get a shot at being a backup safety.

Ryan Flasch
When he transferred in I thought he'd factor into the mix at linebacker, but no.

Chris Pressley
Solid kid for the program. Heard that Bielema said few kids get as much out of playing college football as Pressley has, which is a great compliment. He'll represent UW well in whatever he chooses to do after college.

Josh Neal
Moved around a lot -- linebacker, fullback, defensive line -- wherever he was needed. Seemed to be a favorite of his teammates.

Bill Rentmeester
Favorite memory: his eight-yard run to clinch the Fresno State game. Apparently he was also a killer on special teams, although it never jumped out at me.

Allen Langford
Who would've thought this guy would be the well-deserved team MVP as a senior? What a story. Not as talented as Jack Ikegwuonu, but he wasn't a major liability when teams avoided throwing at Ike. Hurts his knee as a junior, but unlike many guys makes a full recovery in time for his senior season. Thrown out there with two rookie corners on the other side, and the secondary holds its own for the most part. Langford comes off like he was a 10-year NFL veteran, a consummate professional who happens to still be an amateur. He probably won't get the chance to play professionally, but I could see him being a good coach.

Damn, that was a good class. Probably the most individual talent of a departing senior class in a few years. No way they should have lost six games. It will be interesting to see how the coaching staff produces with classes made up of more Dave Pecks than Travis Beckums.

Restocking the D-Line

Bret Bielema got a nice little holiday present the other day when Cincinnati defensive end prospect Pat Muldoon gave the Badgers a commitment. Muldoon is the #24 DE in the nation per Rivals, #33 per Scout, and had offers from Ohio State, Boston College, and a few Big East schools. Seems like a really good get from my favorite state to pull recruits from.

This is shaping up to be a really nice defensive line class for us, and not a moment too soon. With Shaughnessy, Chapman, and Newkirk graduating, and Kirk DeCremer done with injury, we need bodies. If they can play, even better.

Beyond Muldoon, we've also got:

-Floridian David Gilbert, Rivals' #10 defensive end.

-Homestead's Shelby Harris, Rivals' #14 defensive end.

-Waupun's Jordan Kohout, Rivals' #16 defensive tackle.

-Hartford's Tyler Dippel, who chose up over Stanford.

-Casey Dehn may be an offensive lineman, but I've seen him listed as a defensive lineman.

Scout's rankings for most of these guys are lower than Rivals', but it's still a good haul. I can't remember the last time we had this many highly-rated guys at one position in one class. Hopefully they are the foundation for a return to dominance for our defense.

What's the line?

The other day Rich from Garnet and Great asked me the following question:

UW apparently has a huge D-line. Will it prevail against FSU's kiddie korps OL with three freshmen and two sophs? Keep in mind our OL Coach, Rick Trickett, likes 'em mean and lean -- akin to the Denver Broncos philosophy. Only one of his starters is over 300 lbs. -- and that's barely, at a svelte 301.

Here's how I answered:

It's funny, I've never thought of our defensive line as huge - our offensive line's girth is typically what gets the attention. Without knowing too much about FSU's offensive line and how it operates, here's a bit about our D-Line.

Defensive end Matt Shaughnessy goes about 6-6, 250. He's been an above-average contributor since he was a true freshman, but never took the leap to greatness. No matter, he can get to the passer, solid against the run, and is responsible on reverses and other gadget plays.

The other end, O'Brien Schofield, goes about 6-3, 230. He came here as an unheralded linebacker but has made himself into a nice player. Not dominant but often around the ball and opportunistic.

Defensive tackle Jason Chapman goes about 6-4, 285. End is his preferred position, but he's a pretty good tackle. He's quick off the ball, often to the point of either going offside or apearing to be offside. He hurt his knee last year and to me he hasn't been the same player as he was before.

The other tackle is Mike Newkirk, who's listed as 6-3, 264, but I don't think he's that big. A former champion wrestler, he's a good technique guy, but probably undersized at tackle. He made two really big plays in our comeback win over Minnesota, but other than that nothing sticks out to me.

Not much depth, which is going to kill us next year when three of those guys graduate. Dan Moore was brought here to give depth at tackle but he's playing end. Patrick Butrym and Jeff Stehle take some snaps at tackle but haven't made much of an impact.It's been noted by commenters on my blog that our defense, out of necessity, has adapted to be more effective against the Spread than traditional offenses. We got truly gashed twice this year, against Iowa and Penn State, which just killed us. Especially Iowa, Shonn Greene was running 10 yards downfield before benig touched.

If Florida State is anything like the smallish offensive line Minnesota used to field under Glen Mason, they can do some things, the Gophers always had success running the ball. Guess it depends on how good the smallish guys are!

Anything to add?

Langford, Graham named All-Big Ten

Congrats to Allen Langford and Garrett Graham, who were named All-Big Ten on Monday. Especially Langford, who was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dreary season.

Always playing second fiddle to Jack Ikegwuonu, Langford was the less physically gifted of the two cornerbacks in his class, but he consistently received praise for his technique and grit. Then he blew out his knee last year, robbing him of the little speed he had. All he did was respond with a near-flawless senior season, leading the conference with 11 passes defended in league play. Seldom was he embarrassed in coverage. Good for him.

Graham probably didn't have the season he would have wished for, but he still led Big Ten tight ends in receiving. He should do some great things next year.

Also receiving all-conference honors were linebacker Jonathan Casillas, honorable mention; defensive lineman Jason Chapman, honorable mention; wide receiver David Gilreath, second team; running back P.J. Hill, honorable mention; guard Andy Kemp, honorable mention; linebacker DeAndre Levy, honorable mention; defensive tackle Mike Newkirk, second team; fullback Chris Pressley, sportsmanship award honoree; defensive end Matt Shaughnessy, honorable mention; guard Kraig Urbik, second etam; safety Jay Valai, second team; tackle Eric Vanden Heuvel, honorable mention; kicker Philip Welch, honorable mention.

Tell you what, that's a lot of honors for a team that went 3-5 in the conference.

Newkirk overachieved this year, he finished fourth on the team in tackles and led with eight tackles for loss. If Shaughnessy was honorable mention -- and that's about what he deserved -- then O'Brien Schofield should have been, too, he had 7.5 tackles for loss and led the team with five sacks. Loved the energy Valai brought to the defense, even if didn't always seem to rub off. And what about Niles Brinkley? He led the team with four interceptions and had nine pass breakups.

Sunday thoughts

Looks like we've moved up to #8 in both polls that matter, which is nice. Unfortunately, our big win last night doesn't seem to have made he radar of most national media. For instance, the Badgers' win on the road against a ranked team in its biggest game ever didn't even merit mention in Yahoo's "Winners" list, and it's making few if any lists of Saturday's college football headlines. Hmmm. Not that surprising, given that our game got over at about 2 a.m. EST.

-Read that this was our first road win over a ranked non-conference team since 1958. Unbelievable. As much as that's a reflection of our program's quality over that time, it's also a sign that we should probably take more shots at big time programs.

-As bad as Ohio State looked yesterday, I think it's premature to declare Wisconsin, Penn State, or Illinois the new Big Ten favorite. Especially if Jim Tressel makes the move to start Terrelle Pryor at quarterback immediately.

-Any national media coverage of our game is focusing on Fresno's lost opportunity to crash the BCS, not our gain. Whatever, keep us under the radar.

-Key to yesterday's win: no fumbles, no interceptions. Seven penalties is too many.

-That may have been DeAndre Levy's best game. Nine tackles, three for loss, one sack, one interception and one pass breakup. Good time for it Dre!

-Seniors carried the defensive effort overall. Allen Langford had seven tackles. Jonathan Casillas had seven tackles and ran down Mathews on the long screen pass after the ridiculous fumble call overturn, saving four points on the possession. Jason Chapman was quick off the ball as usual, with six tackles, a sack, and two tackles for loss. Mike Newkirk had four tackles, 1.5 for loss. And Matt Shaughnessy had those two deflected passes and a TFL (not noted in the official stats).

-Nice to see that Jeff Stehle, Patrick Butrym and Chris Maragos all saw time on defense in meaningful situations. The first two are sorely needed for depth. Also nice to see Aubrey Pleasant still contribution in pass defense packages.

-Now that our game is in the past, I'm a huge Fresno fan. If the Bulldogs can win out and get back in the top 25 our win looks much better over time.

-With all due respect to Cal Poly, the non-conference season is essentially over. How do you feel about it compared to how you felt at this time last year? Wins over Akron and Marshall feel about the same as wins over Washington State and UNLV, but beating Fresno is about 100 times more satisfying than beating The Citadel.

UW-Fresno State halftime thoughts

Can't believe I'd be this happy with a 10-0 halftime lead. But we played a nice first half. Took their fired-up crowd out of the game early, which has been important. Offensive line is blocking well, defensive line has made a lot of plays.

-On the first (and only thus far) three-and-out drive, Allan Evridge locked onto Travis Beckum on third down and forced a tough pass into a tight spot for an incompletion. I was afraid he'd do that, but Evridge has spread the ball around well since.

-Niles Brinkley started at cornerback opposite Allen Langford.

-Good push by the right side of the offensive line on the second drive that ended at the goal line, especially by Kraig Urbik.

-On that drive: why wasn't P.J. Hill in on third and goal? Zach Brown is not the right guy for that run. It was no surprise Fresno stuffed us on fourth down, but I'm still glad we went for it and didn't kick the field goal.

-It looks like Blake Sorensen is coming in for Jonathan Casillas on third downs, yet Casillas has been matched up on Bear Pascoe on certain passes by Fresno. Casillas made two really nice tackles in traffic on Fresno running backs.

-Really good half for Matt Shaughnessy, with his tip on Deandre Levy's interception, tackle for loss, and another tip. Mike Newkirk did a nice job splitting blockers on a tackle for loss, and Jason Chapman ran a great stunt around the offense's left end to sack Brandstater.

-Great call on the touchdown pass to Garrett Graham, the play-action pass ought to be there the way we're running. Another solid half for Graham. Interesting to hear the announcers talk about how Graham might be the better tight end than Beckum. They're both really good, in different ways.

-It's nice to see an opposing offense running the I on offense, a man's offensive scheme.

-Even though the late field goal attempt was blocked, I like the aggressive play calling on the drive to get us in position to kick.

Keep it going in the second half and Charlie's baptism Sunday will be off to a good start!

Tackle leaders vs. Marshall

In reviewing the box score of Saturday's win over Marshall, something really jumped out at me: the tackle chart. Jae McFadden led the way with nine total (four solo, five assisted),but check out who came after:

Dan Moore 3-3-6
Mario Goins 5-0-5
Jeff Stehle 3-1-4
Erik Prather 3-1-4
Jason Chapman 2-2-4
Elijah Hodge 2-2-4
Chris Maragos 3-0-3
Blake Sorensen 2-1-3
Kevin Claxton 2-1-3

Of the top 10 tacklers, only four were starters: McFadden, Goins, Chapman, and Sorensen. It's quite possible that next week, only McFadden and Chapman will be starting. Hodge, Sorensen, and Prather will likely be the second-string linebacking unit starting next week, pretty solid. And Maragos hasn't played as much on defense as I thought he would, seems like Aubrey Pleasant is the first safety off the bench.

Ideally Moore and Stehle use this as a springboard to more meaningful playing time in relief of our regular d-linemen.

My hope is that the tackle chart looks like this after a few more games this season -- it'll mean we had some blowouts. Either that or a rash of injuries.

Akron preview

Opening Day is tomorrow, and I'm very excited. Unfortunately, my chances of seeing the game live are not great, as I'll be attending a good friend's wedding reception in Edgerton.

It won't be the last time I'll miss a game, and it certainly isn't the first. In fact, tomorrow is my fifth wedding anniversary. I can still remember huddling in my parents' room at the Ramada in Marquette, Mich., with friends watching the Badgers' opener at West Virginia. About halfway through the second quarter I realized that I wasn't dressed yet and was due at the church in less than an hour for pictures. It ended up being a close game that the Badgers won, but aside from the win over Ohio State at Camp Randall, 2003 was an unremarkable season.

Here's hoping 2008 is more remarkable.

A season preview is coming up later today, but let's talk about Akron for a minute. And no more.

This has the makings of a sloppy game. By all accounts, Akron isn't very good, but will probably come in spunky and looking to play well enough to provide a boost going into the MAC season.

As has been well-documented, we are riddled with injuries and have lots of question marks. Travis Beckum's hamstring. Chris Pressley's hand. Jonathan Casillas's knee. All of the other guy coming off 2007 or offseason injuries — Matt Shaughnessy, Allen Langford, Jason Chapman, Kirk DeCremer.

Throw in Allan Evridge's first start, inconsistency at wide receiver and cornerback, and a new kicker, and this game might not be the blowout it appears to be on the surface.

Bodog has us favored by 27. I'll say we don't cover that: Wisconsin 36, Akron 17. We focus on pounding the ball down Akron's throats, with P.J. Hill and Zach Brown both scoring rushing touchdowns. Garrett Graham has the Badgers' lone receiving touchdown. The UW defense bends but doesn't break much, and Jay Valai forces a big turnover.

Are closed camp practices a big deal?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another one bites the dust: Shaughnessy

It was confirmed this afternoon that Matt Shaughnessy, the last remaining healthy defensive lineman on the Wisconsin roster, broke his leg in practice last night. Great. Does Azree Commander have any eligibility left?

To recap, the walking wounded on the D-line include: Shaughnessy, Kirk DeCremer, Jason Chapman, Brandon Hoey, Dan Moore, Dan Cascone, and Mike Newkirk. So at the spring game tomorrow it's Jeff Stehle, O'Brien Schofield, and some guys they picked up at the Nat on the D-line.

At one point, the injuries didn't bother me, because they allowed some younger guys to get more reps in spring practice. But this is ridiculous. Assuming all of these guys are back in time for fall camp - a big assumption that it is probably not appropriate to make - the unit should be at least mediocre. But add that on top of our two best cornerbacks recovering from knee injuries, and the defense becomes even more of a question mark than it was in January.

Then again ... last year's unit came in with a lot of hype and underdelivered. I've got a feeling that we'll be really down on the D coming into this season and they'll play better than expectations. Why?

1. I think Shaughnessy will be back and fully healthy by August and dominate this fall.
2. I think Jonathan Casillas and DeAndre Levy will be All-Big Ten-type guys this season, and Elijah Hodge and his platoon mates will be good enough in the middle.
3. I think Shane Carter will show a more well-rounded game, and our play at cornerback will not be disastrous.
4. Our defense has been really good in even-numbered years under Bielema. That one's a stretch, and I don't think this unit will be as good as those from 2004 and 2006 ... but what were your expectations for the defense in those years?

We may have the offensive horses to win some shootouts this fall, but who can tell with the offense playing against the JV squad. Has there been a less interesting spring game in recent memory? Like most people, I'm most interested in seeing if Allan Evridge or Dustin Sherer outplay one another, and how Johnny Clay looks.

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.

Ahhh, Michigan

Being Badgercentric, I have all sorts of little superstitious rituals that no doubt help Wisconsin sports teams win, or not lose, games. For instance, last year I bought a Pat Richter throwback jersey at Camp Randall, and put it on during the first half of the Capital One Bowl against Arkansas. We didn’t play very well, so I took it off. Forgetting this, I was wearing it for the first half of the Citadel game earlier this year. We won’t be seeing it for awhile.

Another ritual I have is to read up on UW’s next opponent the week before the game. This is done not on the Internet, but on my toilet, on the back of which sits the Athlon Sports Big Ten preview. I love college football (and basketball) preview magazines, have ever since I was a kid. Not sure why, since they usually mean very little once you get a couple weeks into the season. Still, each week I read the preseason predictions for our next foe, go over the usually-outdated two-deep, review their incoming recruiting class.

It was especially hard to read the past two weeks. You see, Athlon picked the Badgers to win the Big Ten and finish fourth nationally this season. Upon first reading that, I said to Jana “Athlon’s has us ranked fourth and winning the league – that doesn’t feel right.” But as Jim Austin would say, “reversal!” – I really thought the ranking and prediction were justified by the talent we had returning. Even though Ohio State and Michigan would be tough as ever, this would be the year we busted through their stranglehold on the top spots, just like we did in the ‘90s. Tomorrow’s game would be one of those two or three Big Ten Games of the Year.

But it wasn’t meant to be. Things got started off on the wrong foot when Jamal Cooper was thrown off the team in August; Kurt Ware’s injury at the time was another setback that turned an area of strength into one of little depth. Then the defense underperformed in the first half against Washington State. Then Lance Smith was suspended for road games. Then we almost lost to UNLV. Then we couldn’t stop the Citadel for 30 minutes. It was apparent something was wrong, and even though we eked out gutsy wins over Iowa and Michigan State, the house of cards was toppled at Illinois and Penn State. The effort was strong last week against Ohio State, but the injuries to PJ Hill, Jason Chapman, Allen Langford, and Eric Vanden Heuvel were just too much to overcome.

So tomorrow’s game is relatively meaningless. (Spoiled fan alert) I suppose we’re still playing for a 10-win season to get to the best second-tier bowl game we can, is that still the Cap One Bowl? Is going down there and getting smoked by Florida something to look forward to? Michigan will be playing Ohio State next week for the conference title, and their epic loss to open the season precludes them from playing for the national title.

Still, I’m as fired up as ever about this game, basically because I loathe the Michigan football program. Their players, fans, coaches, stadium, everything. If I read another “Mike Hart is the toughest player in the country” line from some sports writer I’m going to puke, and wipe it up with my F%$@ Michigan T-shirt. (Actually, I donated that to Goodwill a couple years ago.) Chad Henne’s a meathead. Jake Long wouldn’t know how to spell his own name if it wasn’t tattooed on his arms. Lloyd Carr has been getting a lot of love this season, but let’s face it, no one has done less with more talent among big-time coaches in the last decade. Tressel mops the floor with him.

Their stadium seats 800,000 people or whatever, but it sounds like an SAT testing room. Their fans are as arrogant as they come; I remember sitting in a bar in Ixtapa, Mexico, on New Year’s Day 1998, watching us get trounced by Georgia in the Outback Bowl, and a couple Michigan fans down the bar from us sneering and laughing at our misfortune. In Vegas in September I did the same as Oregon embarrassed the mighty Wolverines.

So yeah, I want to win this game real bad. Will it happen? If I had to bet my 401k, I’d take Michigan. ("Reversal ...")

We can score on their defense, even though PJ is still out. (And BTW, how poorly were expectations managed after PJ was hurt against Indiana? I was under the impression it was a little bruise and he’d be back last week without question.) Lance and Zach Brown should be able to pick up the slack there, and there’s no reason Travis Beckum shouldn’t have a big game.

It seems EVH won’t play this week, but interestingly, it seems that they’re looking at keeping John Moffitt at left guard, plugging Andy Kemp in at right guard, and moving Kraig Urbik out to right tackle, where he started two years ago. This speaks to the play of Danny Kaye and Jake Bscherer, who were both supposedly right on Gabe Carimi’s tail for the left tackle job in fall camp.

The thing is, how are we going to stop them? For all my cracks, Henne, Hart, and Mario Manningham are really good, really dangerous players. The D-line is going to be vulnerable with Chappy out. Jack Ikegwuonu on Manningham seems like a good matchup for us, but he gave up two TDs to Brian Robiskie last week and hasn’t been a consistently lock-down corner this year. On the other side, Aaron Henry is going up against some damn good secondary receivers like Greg Mathews and Adrian Arrington.

To win this one we’ll need a couple turnovers and a big special teams play or two – special teams killed us last year in Ann Arbor. It’ll be interesting to see who’s back on returns.

Unlike Michigan's, our crowd should be a big factor. Good story in the Cap Times today about noise at Camp Randall.

So even though I don’t expect it, we still have a decent chance to pull a mild upset tomorrow and close the home season undefeated, which is important. But if we do, it will only serve to reinforce the disappointment of a season that once had so much promise.

Sunday morning thoughts

-The injury to Jason Chapman seems serious enough to likely keep him out of the Michigan game, so my thoughts for the D-line - DeCremer starting at DE, Newkirk playing more at DT - are about to come true, although not in the way I imagined. That's a huge blow to an already thin unit. Really wish some of those early games had been more lopsided so Stehle and Cascone could have gotten more experience.

-Here's another kick in the groin for non-Big Ten Networkers: the Badger basketball team kicks off exhibition play tonight at 7 p.m. against Edgewood in a game on the BTN. UW also plays Wednesday night against Eau Claire on the BTN. No big deal you say? These are just two of at least 21 games I count that will be on the BTN. So this fight isn't over just because the Wisconsin-Ohio State game is over, or at least it shouldn't be.

-Our Iola-Scandinava Thunderbirds advanced to the state football semifinals with a thrilling 29-22 win over private school power Stevens Point Pacelli Friday night. The game was played just down the block from our house, and we've never seen suge a crowd for a game, great atmosphere. Next up is Fennimore, Luke Swan's alma mater, and I just hope our kids don't have the feeling they just won state by beating Pacelli ... although I can't imagine our coach will let that happen.

-West Bend East lost to Watertown in the state volleyball finals last night in their first trip to state since 2001. Seems like the proper team won, as East was mainly an undersized group of scrappers who fell behind 2-0 and rallied in its first two matches at state. Apparently many of their key players went to my grade school, St. Frances Cabrini - SFC Warriors represent!

-Can't believe Michigan is in position to be a top 10 team, when they still haven't beaten anyone. Tell me why they were ranked #12 yesterday, about 10 spots ahead of us, with the same record, same amount of quality wins (zero), but more losses to I-AA teams.

-Andy and I watched the LSU-Alabama game, what an exciting game with talented athletes and great coaches. Then you switch on Illinois-Minnesota ... zzzzzzzzzz. I've been a Big Ten defender all the way, but it's now reached the point where the SEC is so much better than our conference that there's no way to spin it. Florida's domination of Ohio State in the title game last season was emphatic, and if LSU survives to face the Buckeyes in New Orleans this year it will be another rout.

-Yi Jianlian played really well for the Bucks in their win over the Bulls last night. Our much-hyped rookie from China shows a nice shooting touch, and should be able to combine with Redd for a tough-to-defend pick and roll combo. My favorite thing about him last night was his aggressiveness against some tough interior defenders. At one point, he went up for a dunk and had it blocked, thought he got fouled. But a couple minutes later he drove to the rim and tried to dunk again - and had it blocked again, cleanly. I liked how he stayed on the attack.

-Marquette lost a potential contributor when Trevor Mbakwe was lost for the season with a knee injury. The kid seems to have gotten a raw deal, held up from practice by the NCAA clearinghouse, now injured. They're pretty thin inside, which will probably preclude them from winning anything really significant this season.

UW-Ohio State postgame thoughts

The better team won. Even though Ohio State is not up to the standard of recent top-ranked teams, they looked good today, mainly in the fourth quarter. Here's why they won:

-They didn't beat themselves. How many blocking-related penalties did we have today, especially on kick returns, 20? How many fumbles? Poor passes? Ohio State didn't do that.

But mainly ...

-The Buckeyes' lines completely dominated play. From my vantage point, our skill position players are every bit as good as theirs, if not better, especially if PJ and Swan are healthy and play. Wells will get a lot of pub, but he wasn't touched on his touchdown runs, any one of our backs could have converted those opportunities. Their D-line had 10 sacks, although Donovan didn't help things by immediately tucking the ball at the end of his drop and making a beeline for the nearest defender.

Other thoughts:

-Have you ever seen Bielema as fired up as he was after that chop block call on Randle-El? I liked it, seemed like a bad call but couldn't tell for sure. Even if it was bad call, why do we still play Randle-El? All he seems to do is generate negative plays.

-Great pass and catch by Donovan and Beckum on the play immediately following what could have been a crushing penalty.

-Glad to see Pressley still involved in the offense, can't remember seeing him catch a pass before.

-Too many short fields for the Ohio State offense.

-Donovan still seems to be struggling progressing beyond his primary read. Case in point was a third quarter play in which he stuck on Beckum all the way and threw incomplete, even though Travis was tightly covered and Hubbard was more open five yards further downfield.

-Boeckman continued to hurt us with his legs, which just killed me.

-Did Vanden Heuvel's absence (Bscherer subbing) hurt us? I'm guessing EVH would have struggled to contain OSU's pass rush just as much. The Buckeyes have a scary young defensive line.

-Didn't like the second fake punt call, even if it might have worked, but the way they were moving the ball at that point it was probably worth a shot.

-Great catch by Robiskie, although Boeckman's pass probably wasn't intended for him. Those are the kind of breaks great teams make for themselves.

-Brown played pretty well today against a stingy defense. I think he'll be a four-year backup, next two years to PJ and/or Smith, after that to Clay or someone else, but he'll be a factor the whole time, like and Eddie Faulkner or Dwayne Smith.

-Hubbard really contributed today too.

-Brian Hartline = Curt Schroeder. The guy was hurt after every play he was involved in.

-Bielema just said it doesn't look good for EVH, Langford and Chapman; Chapman was down a couple times. We really need him against Michigan.

-Let's appreciate Beckum while he's still here - what a big-time athlete and gamer. He was the most talented guy on the field today - 140 yard and a touchdown. Hopefully he feels he needs to put on weight or work on his blocking and doesn't go pro after this season.

A little bit disappointed because we were in position to win but got beaten in the area the program is built upon - playing physical football. Still think we've got a great chance to pull an upset at home next week.

Calling O-H-I-O

SATURDAY ADDITION: Jim wrote a nice story on the Glenville connection in today's Cap Times, read it here. It's sort of buried on madison.com, but it's very well done and worth a read.

Most of you know that I spent my first two years post-UW in a humble little state called Ohio. It was an interesting time. Basically, my buddy Mike Pidanick and I would work 90 hours a week and play Madden and NHL ’96 for the other 78 hours. In warm months we added daily golf, with one year on the links accounting for 95% of my lifetime rounds.

We also spent lots of time watching high school sports, and after returning to Wisconsin I couldn’t help but think: the level of play and athleticism is significantly higher in Ohio. The difference was most noticeable in basketball, where athleticism is easier to spot. But the football players were also better. My second year there, Ben Roethlisberger came into Fremont and threw eight touchdown passes against our hometown boys. Eight! I can’t even begin to imagine a kid doing that in Wisconsin.

This has been on my mind more than usual since we play Ohio State this week. Let’s face it, the Buckeyes are going to take just about anyone they want from the state, but there are still lots of good guys left over. Lots of them end up playing in the MAC. I’m not saying we should be competing with Toledo and Kent State for recruits every year, but would Roethlisberger, Charlie Frye (who we also covered), or any of those other MAC stars contributed at UW? Damn right they would have. But we can also get high-level talented kids that would excel at OSU.

Henry Mason’s efforts have been outstanding mining talent from that state. I may be off a year or two here (Jim can help me out), but in the years preceding Mason’s arrival in Madison, we didn’t get much from Ohio. Kevin Huntley – a Crimson Streak from Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic – was a solid four-year contributor. But after Mason arrived came a line of real standouts: John Favret, Chris Chambers, Mike Echols, Chad Kuhns (a Bellevue Redman), Lee Evans. Russ Kuhns, Delante McGrew, and Dontez Sanders were starters. On today’s team, Jason Chapman and Kyle Jefferson and standouts, Lance Smith is good when he’s eligible, Shane Carter is making plays, and Otis Merrill, Prince Moody, Daven Jones, Brandon Kelly, and Bill Nagy are also on the roster, most with a chance to contribute some day. All except Moody are northern Ohio, most of them Northeast Ohio, guys.

The Ohio connection, in particular Bedford/Cleveland, is the best pipeline we have going right now. St. Louis was great for awhile – the Fletchers, Bryant, Starks, etc. – and we’ve got Wes Kemp coming next year. It is vital to the future of this program to keep these alive. We can only get so much out of Wisconsin, the Twin Cities should theoretically be more competitive with Brewster at the U, and Zook and Weis should take more of Chicago than we’re used to. New Jersey is another goldmine, but the rise of Big East football, Schiano at Rutgers in particular, and Penn State's return to relevance will make it tougher to get Ron Daynes out of that region.

I love how the Bedford kids talk about Chambers and Evans with such reverence, hopefully Jefferson can keep the tradition going.

As for tomorrow’s games, I have low hopes, but that’s okay. We ought to be a significant underdog, whether PJ plays or not, and have a chance to pull a stunner. My sense is that we will overachieve and play just well enough to lose by single digits. There’s nothing wrong with Ohio State, but the fact that they’re the clear-cut #1 nationally is more a reflection of college football’s dearth of elite teams than a reflection of their dominance. Last year’s OSU team would beat this year’s by 20.

Prediction: Ohio State 20, Wisconsin 16

UW-MSU thoughts

My first thought, as it was after the Iowa game, was that we survived. In the postgame, LePay said "Survive and advance," which is exactly what this is, especially when you look at all the other top 10 upsets.

-MSU is better than I thought, but for all the talk about how they're more disciplined under Dantonio, several mental breakdowns on the decisive UW field goal drive ended up being the difference.

-Mehlhaff and DeBauche are reminiscent of Stemke and Money/Pisetsky, true difference-makers in the kicking game. Hope we can replace them next year.

-Here's the difference between the program today and five years ago: depth. Think about all the guys missing today: Ike, Hubbard, Valai, Crooks, Randle-El, Jefferson, Graham for a time, Chapman was dinged up, as was Urbik. Yet the replacements made enough plays to win. The drop-off to the reserves is not as great as it once was.

-Evridge is going to need to play this year. Donovan is taking a lot of shots. I like his guts.

-Randle-El needs to leave the program. He talks about being a leader, but he pulls stuff like that asinine punching match today. He's coasting by on his name.

-Nice job by the defense on the last two plays. I was praying they wouldn't throw at Strickland, but he jumped that slant nicely. And everyone sniffed out the final play and stopped it - finally!

-Vanden Heuvel did a nice job on Saint-Dic.

-My guess is that without Smith next week, the change of pace running plays will be end-arounds from Gilreath and Beckum.

-Great hustle by Casillas to run down Ringer, a drive that ended with a field goal. Reminded me of Ike running down McFadden in the Cap One Bowl.

-Pretty good pass rush today. Hayden is playing better this year, and DeCremer is a great addition to the rotation.