Football
Big Ten Countdown - No. 3 Wisconsin
By Tony Gerdeman

Predicted Finish 10-2 (6-2)

Two-Cent Overview

The Badgers will be breaking in a new quarterback in Tyler Donovan, but basically all he will be asked to do is hand off, throw to tight end Travis Beckum and throw it deep down the sidelines to his receivers. Shouldn't be too much of a problem. Even though left tackle Joe Thomas is gone, the Badgers grow linemen like grandmas grow rhubarb, so there are candidates to work with. Most of the defense is back for the Badgers, but they will have some replacements up the middle. Elijah Hodge replaces last year's leading tackler Mark Zalewski at middle linebacker, and two new safeties will now patrol the backfield for the Badgers. Both kicking specialists return and both are awards candidates.

Schedule

Sept. 1 Washington State (W)
Sept. 8 at UNLV (W)
Sept. 15 The Citadel (W)
Sept. 22 Iowa (W)
Sept. 29 Michigan State (W)
Oct. 6 at Illinois (W)
Oct. 13 at Penn State (L)
Oct. 20 Northern Illinois (W)
Oct. 27 Indiana (W)
Nov. 3 at Ohio State (L)
Nov. 10 Michigan (W)
Nov. 17 at Minnesota (W)

Goal

To win the next game. Head coach Bret Bielema apparently doesn't like to set his goals out too far in advance. Take this quote at Wisconsin's media day for example, "I've never been down the road of one of our preseason goals should be to win a championship or win this or win that. It should be focused on the now." That's a good approach for the coach to have, but don't expect the fans to be as incremental.

Five Questions Looking For Answers

1. How seamless will the transition be for new starting quarterback Tyler Donovan?
2. Can running back P.J. Hill avoid hitting "the wall" this year?
3. How much fall off will there be at left tackle without Joe Thomas?
4. Are there any pass rushers on the defensive line?
5. What can be expected from the two new starting safeties?

Something To Look For

More running backs getting involved. In Wisconsin's first eight games last season, P.J. Hill rushed for 1,172 yards, averaging 146 yards per game, and scored 13 rushing touchdowns. In the final five games of the season, Hill only scored twice and averaged 79 yards rushing per game. Bret Bielema doesn't want Hill wearing down this year, so expect to see a few different players helping him out on the ground this season. The first off the bench will be Lance Smith, who finished second on the team last season with 345 yards rushing. It was an okay debut for Smith, but more is expected of him this year. Also expected to get some carries is newly eligible John Clay, who was a high school All American last year. True freshman Zach Brown has also been impressive so far. Don't expect the backups to just to get fourth-quarter blow out duty, they should be in relatively early and often.

Returning Starters

Nine on offense, seven on defense and both kicking specialists.

Best Player

Cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu. If you ask any Badger fan who the best cornerback in the conference is, they won't hesitate in answering with Ikegwuonu. And Bret Bielema would probably answer quicker than the fans. Ikegwuonu is frequently asked to shut down the opponent's top receiver, and that's usually what he does. He's got great size (6'1" 193) and speed, but what Bielema likes best about him is his physicality and his determination. "I'd love for him to play every day like he does game day, but in reality, that probably can't exist because he wouldn't be able to last."

Second Best Player

Running back P.J. Hill. "Extreme Makeover Big Ten Running Back" has come to Madison and apparently done a bang-up job on P.J. Hill. Per Bielema, Hill "noticeably looks different" and has "had some pounds readjusted and moved to different locations." This all means a quicker and faster running back. But will he still be looking for contact? We'll see. He spent some of the off season seeking the counsel of former Badger running back Brian Calhoun on the finer points of avoiding the hit. So even though you may not see Hill carrying the ball as much this season, you can expect him to be quicker and shiftier and, perhaps, less inclined to collide with any random tackler he can find.

Best Chance For a Big Loss

at Ohio State. With this defense, and the ball-control aspect of the offense, this team won't have any big losses by statistical measures. However, a loss at Ohio State should spell the end of any National Championship hopes that the Badgers have--if they ever allowed themselves to aspire to such long-term goals, that is.

Most Important Game

Michigan. This game could be the only thing stopping Michigan from heading to the BCS Championship Game. This is important for everybody who hates it when good things happen to bad people.

Best Road Game To Pack Up The Family
Truckster And Travel To

at Penn State. As a kid, perhaps your parents used to take you in car rides out in the country to calm you down. That's a lot like what this trip would be. Except when you finally got to where you were going, you'd have to deal with the Bumpuses (think "A Christmas Story) of the Big Ten.

Best Reason They Won't Be Undefeated

The road schedule. It's asking a lot to take a new starting quarterback into both Happy Valley and Columbus and come away with two wins.

Best Reason They Will Be Undefeated

Ball control and defense. And some pretty good special teams. It's known at Ohio State as "Tresselball", and it's pretty effective.

Game They Shouldn't Lose, But Could

at Minnesota. A new coach at Minnesota will get his first shot at the Paul Bunyan Axe, with the Badgers having won it three straight years. Motivation won't be a problem for the Gophers.

Game On The Schedule That Would Make Bret Bielema Jealous

The Citadel. Obviously, with this whole schtick about Bielema being jealous of other team's cupcakes, it makes this version a little awkward. But no more awkward than the discussion of actually adding The Citadel to a college football schedule.

Player People Are Expecting Too Much From

Running back P.J. Hill. People need to stop expecting 2,000 yards from Hill. This isn't Ron Dayne. People want to compare the two constantly, but they're different players and Hill has already shown that he probably can't handle as much abuse as Dayne did. Just be happy with the 1,500 yards he gives you.

Player People Will Be Pleasantly Surprised By

Strong safety Aubrey Pleasant. About a year ago at this time, Pleasant was 25 pounds heavier than he is now and battled injuries early on. He took a redshirt last season and came into this spring as the starter at strong safety. Even though Pleasant was anointed the starter, the coaches still needed to see more out of him. And he obliged. He became extremely serious about studying and the coaches are really liking what they're seeing. Now at 6'1" 194, he is in the best shape of his life and faster than ever. He is one of those players who seems to find the action no matter where on the field it happens to be.

Best Newcomer

Left Tackle Gabe Carimi. Carimi is a redshirt freshman who has had the left tackle torch passed down to him from Joe Thomas. But it wasn't just handed to him, he had to go and take it from the guy everybody thought was going to get it--former super-recruit Jake Bscherer. The coaches love Carimi's desire and attitude and they feel he fits perfectly with what they need on their line.

Something They Do Well

Run the ball. Come on, this is Wisconsin. Anybody could have gotten this one right.

Something They Don't Do So Well

Return the ball. The Badgers ranked 11th in the Big Ten last season in kickoff returns with a 15-yard average per return. They also finished 9th in punt returns with an average of 6.6 yards per return. In conference games last year, the Badgers averaged a pitiful 3.9 yards per punt return--or eleven feet per punt return. For comparison's sake, Indiana and Michigan both averaged eleven YARDS per punt return in conference games last year. Look for some younger players to get a look in the return game, including former Cleveland Glenville receiver Kyle Jefferson.

What's Improved?

Defensive tackle Nick Hayden. Hayden has slimmed down this season, dropping around fifteen pounds to get down to his current 290 pounds. This decrease in mass has lead to an increase in speed and a better-conditioned player. Hayden hasn't lost any strength and his new gas tank should mean that the coaches will no longer take him out on passing downs, as they expect that he should be able to make a push up the middle in those situations.

What's Gotten Worse?

Experience at quarterback. Losing a twelve-year starter in John Stocco will take some getting used to. Stocco didn't do really anything great, but he did everything well. Tyler Donovan's job will be to make this transition as easy on his teammates as possible. The quarterback's job is pretty simple at Wisconsin, so Donovan should be fine. But it's hard to replace the experience that Stocco had.

Anything Else We Should Know About?

Cornerback Allen Langford. It would be unfair to call Langford the "Robin" to Ikegwuonu's "Batman", and the "Tomax" to his "Xamot" would probably be giving him too much credit (however obscure). Actually, there are no need for comparisons, just know that Langford is far from being the weak spot of this defense. If there was no Ikegwuonu on this team, Langford would be getting All Conference attention.

Anything Else?

Watch out for the linebackers. Last year's starting middle linebacker Mark Zalewski has been replaced by sophomore Elijah Hodge this season. Hodge played plenty last year, so this year won't be too much of a stomach-churner. It won't hurt to have returning starters DeAndre Levy and Jonathan Casillas running next to him. Casillas is probably the fastest linebacker to ever play at Wisconsin and all Levy did last year was lead the Badgers in sacks with six. While Hodge isn't as fast as Zalewski, he is faster than his brother Abdul Hodge, who was an All Big Ten linebacker at Iowa a couple of years ago. So it would seem there's enough talent and speed here to get the job done.

One Prediction

The Badgers will have three different running backs rush for 100 yards in a game this season.

Did you know (Media Guide factoid)

Madison, Wisconsin was ranked the #1 city in America for walking by Prevention magazine and the #1 city for cycling (Pop: 200,000-500,000) by Cycling magazine. No word yet from Motorized Standing Monthly on where Madison ranks in Segwaying.

Coach Speak

What Bret Bielema says: "A year ago we didn't have the opportunity to play Ohio State and it was kind of the way it all panned out, but I would love to see the computer that spit out that we play Ohio State and Michigan back-to-back. That's a nice random, blind draw. The fact that maybe some other schools don't even play either one of them, but you lay it out, you put it out in front of us, there's a saying in our program, it's a 1-0 mentality and we won't deviate from that."

What Bret Bielema means: "Waaaaahhhh, waaahhhhhhaaaahhhhh. Waaahhhhhh, waahh waahhhhhh. Wuhh wuhh waaahhhhhhh. Sniff. Waaaahhhhhhhhhh? Waaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"

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