This has been a trying time to be a Badger fan.
You probably think I am talking about the heartbreaking loss the Badgers basketball team suffered at the hands of Michigan State and two mismatched game clocks Tuesday night. Or maybe the Rose Bowl loss against Oregon in which time ran out on the Badgers down by only a touchdown. Actually, you're probably thinking I will complain about the home loss the basketball team had against a mediocre Iowa team at the Kohl Center on Saturday. Or the back-to-back regular season losses against Michigan State and Ohio State on last second Hail Marys.
I am actually talking about my entire experience as a Badger fan. All of these heartbreaking losses are part of a much larger, much more depressing picture.
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Coming in to each and every year, I know that the Badgers will have the biggest and best offensive line in the nation and likely a large running back that will rack up yards and touchdowns all year. Unfortunately, the guy standing between that offensive line and running back have included: Jim Sorgi, Matt Schabert, John Stocco, Tyler Donovan, Allan Evridge, Dustin Sherer, and Scott Tolzien. Not exactly All-Americans. This has always made me wonder what a Badgers team would look like with an elite quarterback.
This year was supposed to give me that answer. In June, Russell Wilson announced that he would be attending Wisconsin in the fall. Wilson was a great QB at North Carolina State and Badger fans throughout Sconnie Nation could not have been more excited about the prospects of pairing a great QB with an already powerful offense led by Montee Ball and James White. I didn't receive the answer I wanted.
Instead of seeing the Badgers compete for a national championship, I was forced to watch the Badgers blow two games they had no business losing at Michigan State and Ohio State. In both games, the Badgers managed the clock and their timeouts poorly and found a way to lose games that they should have won. This is something that has consistently occurred in the Bret Bielema Era.
Don't get me wrong. I think what Bielema has done for the program is great. Back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances are a step in the right direction for the program. Consistently appearing in BCS Bowls will help the Badgers improve and come closer to becoming an elite program. The only problem is that elite programs win their bowl games. Appearing in the Rose Bowl is not enough. For the Badgers to become an elite football program they need to win BCS bowls.
At this point, it just seems like Bret Bielema can't win big games. Maybe Bielema will win these big games in the future, but at this point I believe his seat should start feeling a little hot. I know its crazy to say that a coach coming off of back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances should be on the hot seat, but that is just the evolution of every sports program. Barry Alvarez took the first step for the Badgers in making them nationally relevant with his three Rose Bowl appearances. Now, Bielema has taken the next step in making the Badgers one of the best football programs in the Big Ten year in and year out, but this might be as far as he can take them.
There's only one problem though. If Bielema is able to continue pumping out teams that win the Big Ten and win 10-11 games a year, Barry Alvarez (Wisconsin's Athletic Director) will find it very hard to justify firing Bielema. As a Badger fan, I don't think there is any way that Bielema can win a national championship here at Wisconsin, but yet I also think that he should easily win at least 10 games every single year. Where does the football program go from here?
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Being a Wisconsin native and basketball junkie, people will typically ask me before each college basketball season how I think the Badgers will be in the upcoming season. My response is always the same.
Good.
Badgers basketball teams will always be good. That is an absolute guarantee. Going into the past few seasons, I have had friends ask me what I thought about the basketball team and have told them that they will be good and nothing more. When asked about the possibility of a national championship, I typically laugh. Last year, they asked how I could laugh at that with Jon Leuer, Keaton Nankivil, and Jordan Taylor on the team. This year they asked how I could laugh with an All-American point guard returning. It's all very simple. Badgers basketball teams coached by Bo Ryan will just always be good.
Since Bo Ryan has taken over the Wisconsin basketball program, the Badgers have not missed the tournament. Even in Bo Ryan's worst season as head coach in 2005, the Badgers were able to finish 19-12 and still make the NCAA Tournament. Every single year as a Badgers fan, you know that Wisconsin will finish in the top half of the Big Ten and typically the top three. It doesn't matter if the Badgers have just lost the fourth pick of the NBA draft or are returning all five starters, they will be one of the best basketball teams in the Big Ten simply because of Bo Ryan's presence.
Now, it may seem a little curious that I laugh at the idea of a National Championship for the Badgers. With such a seemingly good basketball coach, how does a National Championship seem so far out of reach?
It has everything to do with Bo Ryan. This was covered earlier this year after Wisconsin narrowly lost to North Carolina, but Bo Ryan preaches a very methodical pace on offense. And when I say methodical, I mean boring. Don't get me wrong as a Badger fan, I love watching other teams suffer as Ryan's teams slowing take the air out of the ball and slow the game down to a snail's pace, but it does get rather annoying after a while.
The most frustrating thing for me as a fan has been the lack of hope that it brings about. There is no looking to next year. There is no excitement on signing day. While other Top 10 teams are signing the nation's brightest young high school stars, Bo Ryan signs guys like Jared Berggren. He was the Badgers' top signee four years ago! Jared Berggren! A slow, plodding 6'10" four-star center from Minnesota. That's the best a team that is consistently in the Top 25 and typically the Top 10 can do? Give me a break.
That's the thing though. Bo Ryan doesn't care about recruiting the best players. All he cares about is recruiting players to play in his system. I have often said that Bo Ryan could turn a team full of three-star recruits into a Top 25 team, but he could also turn a team of McDonald's All-Americans into a Top 25 team. As much as his system brings out the absolute best from mediocre players, it limits the abilities of supremely talented players.
Obviously, here inlies the problem. Bo Ryan will continue to produce very productive basketball teams until the day he dies, but among those very productive teams there will never be a national champion. At what point is winning not enough? At some point, Badger fans have to ask themselves if they would rather have 20 years of winning with no national championships or fluctuating winning percentages with the possibility of putting together a team that can actually win a national championship?
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