Hooray, we have cable back. There's been a lot of Badger previews on JSOnline.com among other places. The Big Ten meetings were held last week. Here's your links:
First, Position-by-Postion:
Running Backs (And At A Glance)
Quarterbacks (And At A Glance)
Defensive Backs (And At A Glance)
Defensive Line (And At A Glance)
__
I'm late with this, but RB Lance Smith is suspended indefinitely
__
Team conditioning on Bascom Hill
__
Returning players learn from last year
__
Big Ten Meetings:
Coaches Audio
Players Audio
___
On Bielema and Beckum
___
Are 3 tailbacks too many?
___
Defensive End Matt Shaughnessy was named to the Hendricks Award watch list
____
But this guy ranks him 4th in the Big Ten
____
Ranking the Big Ten Interior Linemen
____
Bleacher Reports Big Ten report
____
The Seniors want a title, the rest doesn't mean much
___
From this mailbag:
Brian from parts unknown, writes:
Hey Adam-lets talk some Badger Football-do you think the scheduling of Cal Poly will cost the Badgers a shot in the BCS? They have a favorable schedule-if they stay healthy and with a couple of breaks, they could be a very dangerous team later in the season. They have a lot of the skilled positions back, including the best groups of running backs in the Big Ten, maybe even the country. There are high expectations here in Wisconsin, your thoughts??
Adam Rittenberg: Most major-conference teams are dipping into the I-AA ranks for scheduling purposes, so the Badgers should be fine. A quick look shows that Ohio State plays Youngstown State, Florida plays The Citadel (a Wisconsin opponent last year), Oklahoma plays Chattanooga and West Virginia plays Villanova. The only thing that could hurt is that the Cal Poly game comes at the end of the season. Wisconsin's nonconference schedule isn't too treacherous, as a reporter pointed out to Bret Bielema last week, but a visit to Fresno State provides a major test in September. If Wisconsin knocks off Fresno in Fresno, it will have nothing to worry about regarding possible BCS selection.
____
Post Spring Two Deep depth chart
____
At the Big Ten Meetings Bielema was asked about our "soft" non-conference schedule and got a little feisty:
The reporter acknowledged Bielema had the floor.
Bielema noted that Akron, which visits Camp Randall Stadium on Aug. 30, had been a strong team in the Mid-American Conference over the past two seasons.
He noted that when the contract with Marshall, which visits Madison on Sept. 6, was set several years ago, Marshall was among the top programs in the nation.
"And then to go to Fresno State," he added, "if you read the publications in the preseason, is top 25 in almost everything."
__
