Michael Bennett is fast

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

Here's the lead from the AP story:

Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez is staggering the suspensions just right.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday afternoon Badger thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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