2007 Wisconsin Football Review: Disapointing Season for Badgers

Preseason hype and Wisconsin football just don’t mix.

It seems that every time the “unsexy” Badgers (as their head coach Bret Bielema has dubbed them) get media attention, they don’t live up to expectations.

Similar to 2002 and 2003, when UW was ranked in the top-25 but finished nowhere near that distinction after six-loss seasons both times around, the 2007 team wasn’t as good as the voters thought.

Every week, Wisconsin came closer to disaster, starting with Week 2 at UNLV. If not for a gutsy 29-yard paydirt-finding run by quarterback Tyler Donovan, UW would have lost.

The Badgers continued this trend of holding on by a thread until Week 6 against Illinois. The seal finally broke as the Illini paraded through with a 31-26 victory. After a “this isn’t football” shellacking to Penn State, Wisconsin fans, not players, lost faith.

By this time too, it became pretty evident that the departures of middle linebacker Mark Zalewski and safeties Joe Stellmacher and Roderick Rogers to graduation damaged the defense; it couldn’t stop anybody with two feet, especially quarterbacks that ran the spread option. 

The team settled into its own over the next two weeks, only because Northern Illinois was awful and Indiana...well, that was a legit win. Jack Ikegwuonu shut down receiver James Hardy, and IU quarterback Kellen Lewis didn’t know what to do without his favorite target.

Ohio State was simply the better team in week 10, and the same can be said about Wisconsin when it faced Michigan and Minnesota to conclude the season.

Despite injuries to both starting wide receivers, and a number of other setbacks to running back P.J. Hill and four other starters, the Badgers found a way to persevere—which is something positive to take away from the season. And it gave valuable experience to younger players that will only make them better in the years to come. Not to mention that the Badgers received an invitation to its fourth consecutive New Year’s Day bowl, even if it wasn’t in Pasadena, Calif., indicating that something went right.

But let's be honest here: when Jan. 1 comes, the only team the Badgers can beat of the three possible candidates—Florida, LSU, and Tennessee (although it seems likelier by the day that the Gators will face the Illini in the Zook Bowl)—is the Volunteers.

I can just see Tim Tebow running for 110 yards and passing for 250 more in a romp. LSU would be a more reasonable fight, but the Tigers are light years ahead of the Badgers in terms of ability and overall talent.

That won’t change next year either.

Bielema will struggle to find reliable replacements for his talented kicker, Taylor Mehlhaff, and punter Ken DeBauche. The defense shouldn’t be a concern as it loses just one starter, albeit a good one in tackle Nick Hayden.

But the offense is a different story.

With no depth behind starter-to-be Allan Evridge at quarterback (who looked hesitant in the few reps he had), and the possible departure of tight end Travis Beckum to the NFL, the success of the offense will come down to a slew of talent at running back.

I don’t doubt Hill, Lance Smith, Zach Brown, and electrifying talent John Clay (he redshirted the 2007 season) can carry the load. Still, don’t get your hopes up.