Big Ten grades

Mark Hasty over at (The) Fanhouse has posted a two part piece grading the Big Televen football teams.

His take on Wisconsin:

"WISCONSIN: F

"Bumbling" is a harsh word, but somehow it seems to sum up the Badgers' 2008 season. It started with a terrible decision to get rid of defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz, who was unemployed for about the length of a commercial break. (See Northwestern above.) It continued with a thoroughly inexplicable preseason ranking of No, 13. Toss in Bret Bielema's misplaced loyalty to quarterback Allan Evridge, woeful special teams play, and a defense no better than mediocre, and you've got a formula for disappointment.

The Badgers got flogged by Penn State, 48-7, and by Iowa, 38-16, in the midst of a 1-5 stretch. Those were good teams, however. The Badgers also lost to Michigan in there, and would have lost to Cal Poly if not for the Mustangs having special teams problems of their own. Then in the Champs Sports Bowl they got cratered by what was probably the weakest Florida State team since the 1970s. It wasn't the Badgers' fault they were overrated in the preseason, but this team didn't get better as the season went on.

2009 outlook: Gut check. Bret Bielema will be on the hot seat at the start of the season. Bank on it. Since his first season the Badgers have lost more and more games every year. The Badgers will be shockingly young next year, which isn't a good sign for them. The only thing the Badgers can be sure of is that in 2009, they won't have to overcome a too-high preseason ranking."

Yeah, pretty spot on, I'd say. While next year will be a "gut check" for the Badgers, and Bielema will most definitely be on the hot seat, the homer in me still sees the future with rose-colored glasses. Seriously, it'd take a losing record two or three games into conference play with no signs of improvement to start getting pessimistic. With Evridge gone, Bielema's hand forced to utilize John Clay more and a defense that (knock wood) won't get worse, the ship could (and should) get righted....