With senior wide receiver Lee Evans at the helm, success should have been a given. But somehow the Badgers squandered what ended up being a triumphant return from a knee injury two years ago by Evans and floundered mid-season, after preseason picks had the football team winning the Big Ten.
The Badgers headed into the 2003 season fully loaded. Evans decided to return for his fifth year of eligibility, junior running back Anthony Davis, who recorded more than 1,000 yards his sophomore year, was back and UW hosted a series of strong defensive players led by senior Alex Lewis. Nonetheless, the season began ominously after struggling at West Virginia (24-17) and home against a mediocre Akron (48-31). In the following game against UNLV (5-23) in the pouring rain, UW failed to tally a single touchdown and suffered the tougher blow of Davis injuring his ankle, something that would plague him for the remainder of the season.
On the plus side, Davis' injury allowed young running backs sophomore Dwayne Smith and freshman Booker Stanley to show extreme promise. After the game and victory of the season over Ohio State (17-10), signs pointed that this was going to be the Badgers' year. Avoiding a fully loaded Michigan didn't hurt either. After a four-game winning streak and being ranked among the top 10 teams in the country, the Camp Randall faithful could imagine a trip to Pasadena in their future. But UW would choke harder than Buckeye linebacker Robert Reynolds, letting four of their last five games slip by, including an embarrassing defeat to a cellar-dwelling Northwestern (16-7) and the loss of the Paul Bunyan Axe at Minnesota (37-34).
Although Rose Bowl hopes were dashed, the chance to play New Year's Day in the Outback Bowl was on the line at home against Iowa, but after coaches forced the oft-injured senior quarterback Jim Sorgi to sit after another head injury, UW fell just short on Senior Day.
A trip to Nashville seemed much a consolation prize to what should have been UW's shining year and a loss to Auburn (14-28) marked the end to an amazing career for Evans but another mediocre season for the Badgers.
women's basketball
