The Badgers managed to put an impressive end to their season with their thriller over Colorado (the second most exciting bowl game this year after the Fiesta Bowl), but now, with 2002 in the rearview, let's pause and look ahead to next season.
On the offensive side of the ball, the team will miss Brooks Bollinger's poise and efficiency in managing the game, but junior quarterback Jim Sorgi has proved more than capable of running the offense in the past and should do so again. While Sorgi's performance seemed to wane in 2002 (see the Badgers' awful home loss to Illinois), he has been far too patient as Bollinger's understudy to not take advantage of his only chance as a starter.
Continuing on with the offense, a huge key for Sorgi's, and the team's, success in 2003 will be the wide receiver position, and fortunately, things are starting to look very good in that department. UW lost key games to Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State last season simply because its wide receivers couldn't come down with catches in clutch situations. The return of Wisconsin's all-world wide receiver Lee Evans will put an end to that. With Evans, the Big Ten's record-holder for receiving yards in a single season, UW would have won more than 10 games this year, and with Evans back in 2003, UW will be as good on offense as any team in the Big Ten.
Also boding well for the Badgers is that in Evans' record-setting 2001 season, most of his receptions and touchdowns came from Sorgi, not Bollinger. If those two can rediscover their chemistry, and if the young receiving trio of Jonathon Orr, Brandon Williams and Darrin Charles can elevate their play, the Badgers could potentially have--and don't laugh--one of the best passing attacks in the nation.
The biggest question mark on offense next year is the offensive line. Cousins Ben and Al Johnson in addition to Jason Jowers will be gone, leaving UW with a lot of pounds to replace. However, if the line is successfully retooled, Anthony Davis should continue where he left off at the end of the year, when he re-established himself as one of the better running backs in the country.
In short, barring injuries and other outside influences, UW's offense will be stacked.
UW's defense was up and down all season; among the nation's leaders in forcing turnovers, but also able to be picked apart by Indiana's underwhelming Gibran Hamdan. Next year, however, with the entire defense returning except for Jake Sprague and B.J. Tucker, the defense will be better. Junior linebacker Jeff Mack's shoulder injury that caused him to miss nearly half of the season was a huge blow to the defense, but his absence also coincided with junior linebacker Alex Lewis' emergence,who was a revelation at middle linebacker.
Fans caught a glimpse in the Alamo Bowl of what the Mack-Lewis duo can accomplish, as they bruised and battered Colorado running back Chris Brown, holding him to under 100 yards and knocking him out early with a concussion. With Mack and Lewis, UW's talented defensive line and junior headhunter Ryan Aiello at free safety, teams will find it hard to run on the Badgers.
Defending the pass, though, will again be a challenge. The Badgers are skilled, but undersized in the secondary, and will again have trouble against taller wide receivers unless Head Coach Barry Alvarez is successful in bringing in recruits with height. Nevertheless, if the defense can succeed at stopping the run, Wisconsin will be able to devote more of its schemes to protecting its cornerbacks.
The Big Ten will be tough next year. Ohio State returns quarterback Craig Krenzel, Maurice Clarett and the rest of its offense, Michigan will probably be ranked in the top five to start the season and several other teams (Purdue, Iowa, Penn State and Minnesota) will be in the mix for the conference title.
Nevertheless, the Badgers have the pieces in place to have on of their best teams ever.
If Sorgi can produce in a starting role the way that he has as a substitute there is no telling where the team could end up.
No one expected Iowa to get to the Rose Bowl. No one could have predicted that Ohio State would get to and win the Fiesta Bowl.
I ask you, dear reader, why not Wisconsin?
