Wisconsin 2011

Wisconsin 2010 Statistics

(Big Ten) The Badgers play on artificial (FieldTurf) at Camp Randall Stadium (seats 80,321)

• Bret Bielema is in his 6th year as head coach at Wisconsin.  He’s had double-digit wins the last three years and finished 2010 with an 11-2 record.  They handed Ohio State their only loss and ended the season with a narrow 21-19 loss to TCU in the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten’s representative.
• Wisconsin’s success starts with its enormous Offensive Line. Last year their OL starters averaged 6’5½, 323 pounds and combined for over 100 career starts.  And they had 9 of their top 10 players return, which meant they had experience and depth.  It showed as they gave up just 14 sacks all season and one of the best rushing offenses in the nation 2010.
• But WHO is doing the Blocking this year? They lost three players (Guard, Center and Tackle) from the offensive line plus the Tight End all to the NFL Draft—and all players who played significant blocking roles.  This is Wisconsin so the offensive linemen will always be the top quality.  In fact, this year their projected lineup averages approximately the same height and weight as last year.  And while they are somewhat experienced, they don’t match last year’s resume.
• Quarterback for 2011 has already been a rollercoaster in the offseason. Wisconsin didn’t have great passing numbers in 2010, but quarterback Scott Tolzien did exactly what was asked of him—he efficiently moved the ball and limited mistakes. The projected starter was Jon Budmayr, who has some good skills but almost no relevant experience, until Wisconsin landed the biggest
  

  Quarterback Russel Wilson

  “free agent” of the off-season. NC State quarterback Russell Wilson opted to transfer because his coach, Tom O’Brien, gave him an ultimatum to choose between football and baseball and Wilson wanted to play both.  Because he is a graduate student, Wilson can transfer to a an FBS school and play immediately without needing to sit out a year.   And he chose Wisconsin…could it be because Wisconsin and NC State have the same colors (red and white)?   Wilson brings a lot to the table, including over 8,500 career passing yards and a 2010 campaign that included 4,000 all-purpose yards, 9 rushing touchdowns and 28 touchdown passes compared to just 14 interceptions.

• Running Back is the most solid position on offense. They lose John Clay, who unfortunately skipped his season to enter the NFL Draft, but was not selected.  Clay rushed for over 1000 yards for Wisconsin last year, but so did James White and Montee Ball was just 4 yards shy of that mark.  White and Ball return this fall as the Badgers look to have their 7^th straight season with a player who rushes for over 1,000 yards. Ball dropped 20 lbs from 236 to 214 for this season because he thought he was too top-heavy and that was causing him to trip over his feet.  Now he feels faster and thinks his cuts are a lot more smooth.  In addition, White strengthened his lower body by pushing his squat weight beyond 500 lbs.   The result is more explosion and better leg drive without compromising White’s signature speed and quickness.
• Ball’s diet secrets. “So what I would do is after every lift and
  

  Running Back Montee Ball

  after every run we would do as a team, I would just take it upon myself to just jog back to my apartment and while I do that I would just go in and eat healthy food and probably like a couple hours later I would go out and jog three miles and then come back and eat the same sort of foods and then drinks lots of water.”

• Defense Should be Solid despite the loss of six starters. They have the talent and experience, it’s just a question of who is going to step up on to replace the lost talent with the absence of their top three tacklers from last season.  On the defensive line they have to replace 1^st round NFL Draft pick J.J. Watt at defensive end.  In addition, they lose their top two linebackers.  But because of injuries last year, their top linebackers were almost never all available.  Finally, they also lost two of their starters at defensive back.  However, their most productive players return and the players who are gone only combined for one interception last year.
• This team scored 539 points in 2010! They were 5^th in the nation in scoring, but that impressive number is really the result of three games against Austin-Peay, Indiana and Northwestern in which the Badgers averaged 74 points a game.  Without those three games, Wisconsin scored a lot of points but were more like top 27% as opposed to top 4%.
• Their first Big Ten conference game this year is against the newly joined Nebraska Cornhuskers. This will be a game to watch on October 1 as it is Nebraska’s first official Big Ten game.  There’s also a good chance it will be a loss for Wisconsin.  With the Big Ten teams in rebuilding mode, they won’t have as many challenges this year, especially because who knows what the heck is going to happen with Ohio State.  I think they will probably lose two regular season games and the other one will probably be against Michigan State or Penn State.

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