How Will Bret Bielema Fair as Arkansas Head Coach?

Bret Bielema has been in the college football world far longer than (what I assume) most people realize. He played for the Iowa Hawkeyes, but also served as an assistant coach there from 1993 to 2001. In 2002 he became the co-defensive coordinator for the Kansas State Wildcats. He kept that position until 2004 when he got hired by the Wisconsin Badgers to serve as the defensive coordinator as well. After one year as the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, Barry Alvarez announced his retirement from coaching, and Bielema became the head coach of the Badgers.

Bielema was quite impressive his first year at Wisconsin. Not only did he lead them to a Capital One Bowl victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks, but he also led them to a 12-1 record. Bret also led Wisconsin to a victory over the #1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

Bielema ended up winning 17 of his first 18 games as head coach of the Badgers, which is the second-best start to a head coaching career in the Big Ten, only seconded by former Michigan coach Fielding Yost.

Between 2006 and 2012, Bret racked up 68 wins as the Wisconsin head coach, and only lost 24 games. He coached the Badgers in six bowl games, but only won two. Two of the losses were in the Rose Bowl.

As I mentioned before, Bret did lead Wisconsin to a victory over the Buckeyes in his first year, but that was the one and only victory he saw as Wisconsin head coach. Overall he went 1-5 against Ohio State.

Although Bret did fair very well as head coach of the Badgers, never having a losing season, now he finds himself with the Arkansas Razorbacks in the very impressive SEC. In the Big Ten Bielema found himself against many tough matchups, including Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and his alma mater Iowa. But some may argue that the SEC is a tougher conference. We won't get into comparing conferences right now, but he will find himself in games against the likes of the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Auburn Tigers the Florida Gators and many others.

I'd say it's safe to say that it's going to be tough for Bielema to see the same success he saw his first year as Wisconsin head coach, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. However, he is playing Florida, Alabama and LSU at their home stadiums.

Bielema has an quite the impressive coaching career, and I expect to see the same style and same winning attitude out of him at Arkansas, but the SEC is a little bit different than the Big Ten. Will it be a difference that benefits Bielema or hurts him however, we will just have to wait and see.

- Matt Lytle

@mattlytle

Will Gary Andersen Do Well With Wisconsin?

In December of 2012 Bret Bielema left his 8-5 Wisconsin Badgers and took the job of the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. On December 19, 2012 it was announced that Gary Andersen would be leaving the Utah State Aggies, whom he led to an 11-2 record in 2012, to become the new head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers.

Andersen began his coaching career as a defensive coordinator. In fact, he was the defensive coordinator of the Utah Utes, who in 1008 went undefeated and defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2009 Sugar Bowl. In 2009 Andersen became the head coach of the Utah State Aggies.

His first two years coaching the Aggies Andersen went 4-8. in 2011 he improved their overall record to 7-6, and finally as noted in this article, in 2012 he led them to an 11-2 year.

Can Gary bring the success he found with Utah State in the Mountain West to the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten? It's a good and fair question. Obviously he is going to find tougher competition in the Big Ten, most notably the Ohio State Buckeyes, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, and Nebrask Cornhuskers, among others.

Andersen is a defensive coach, which isn't a bad thing, especially in the Big Ten. He will be competing against other top defensive coaches such as Brady Hoke (of the Michigan Wolverines) who has defensive coordinator Greg Mattison (who is known for coaching the phenomenal defense of the Baltimore Ravens).

The Badgers didn't do as well as many expected in 2012, so I think Wisconsin will be looking to come out on fire and try to take the Big Ten Leaders Division Title, however with a new coach you're never really sure how a team will perform. As we get closer to fall we will be able to see what kind of shape Gary is whipping his new team into. And until then the Badgers can know that they have a leader that although it may not seem to matter a whole lot, seems to be a stand up guy in that after he made the decision to leave Utah State, he called each one of his players individually to let them know about his decision.

- Matt Lytle

@mattlytle

Big Ten Championship: #12 Nebraska vs Wisconsin Preview

In its 2^nd ever championship game, the Big Ten conference hosts the #12 Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Wisconsin Badgers in a rematch on neutral turf at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. On September 29^th both teams opened their in-conference play against each other at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. At this point in the season both teams were 3-1. Though the Badgers led the Huskers 27-10 all the way into the 3^rd quarter, Nebraska came back in a big way in the 4^th to a 30-27 victory. Nebraska went on to finish 7-1 in conference play, Wisconsin ended up 4-4.

Taylor Martinez looks to lead Nebraska to the B1G Title.

Nebraska is coming off a 6-game winning streak to finish off the regular season, including their last win at Iowa. The Huskers cinched that win in the 2^nd half after senior running back, Rex Burkhead, who had been out with a left knee sprain, started the 3^rd quarter, scored the go-ahead touchdown and finished the game with 69 yards in 16 carries. Coach Pelini has said that Burkhead will be good to go in the starting line up of the game this Saturday. Even without Burkhead, the Huskers boasted the most powerful running game in the Big Ten with players like Ameer Abdullah and his 1000+ rushing yards. 

That being said, the Huskers’ will be without their starting Center as well as their starting defensive tackle. The Huskers offense is really going to have to make up for that loss on the defense and an inexperienced Center, but that shouldn’t be as big of a concern with a strong, well-rounded quarterback in Taylor Martinez. 

As far as quarterbacks’ go for Wisconsin, they’ll be starting a not as experienced Curt Phillips, the Badgers 3^rd quarterback of the season due to injuries. Phillips has started the past 3 games. The Badgers offense does catch a break getting back All-Big Ten wide receiver Jared Abbrederis AND the Badgers still have 2011 Heisman Trophy finalist, Montee Ball. The senior running back has accumulated over 1,500 yards rushing and scored 39 touchdowns this season, scoring his 79^th career touchdown in last week’s loss to Penn State to set an NCAA record. Ball will be a MAJOR KEY to the Badgers having a chance at a victory. 

Montee Ball plans on adding onto his NCAA record
of rushing TDs in a career this Saturday.

Wisconsin also has a lot to prove coming into this game considering that if Ohio State and/or Penn State had been eligible for post-season play the Badgers wouldn’t have had a chance at representing the Leaders division. The Cornhuskers are also playing for their 3^rd conference title in a row, which would be the longest streak in their school history. Not to mention the fact that the Badgers lost to the Huskers already this season at Nebraska’s homecoming game, which makes me wonder whether that outcome may have been different if the game had been played in Wisconsin.

Based on statistic alone, Nebraska seems to be pretty comfortably stronger than the Badgers even considering injuries. But with Wisconsin in the same situation as last years conference championship game, losing to Michigan State in the regular season 37-31 and then beating them 42-39, and their 3^rd conference title in a row on the line, I could definitely see Wisconsin coming out with a win. Though based on my picks last week it seems I have a thing for picking underdogs - mainly because I do really believe home turf advantage is one of THE biggest factors. So I guess we’ll see how that works out for me statistically…

Kick-off is set for 8:17pm ET and will be shown on FOX.

- Kelsey Billings

@kelseybillings

Ohio State Buckeyes at Wisconsin Badgers Preview

One of this week’s “must-see” games features the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes traveling to meet the Wisconsin Badgers. Over the last several years this game has turned into a heated rivalry as both teams are usually competing for the B1G conference title. Although this year, the implications are slightly different with Ohio State not being in contention for any BCS spot (due to bans by the NCAA), it will more than likely place more pressure on the Badgers. Wisconsin comes into this game riding high after last week’s massacre of the Indiana Hoosiers and will hope for more of the same against the Buckeyes.

Ohio State travels to Madison, WI as the underdogs Saturday.

The Buckeyes on the other hand will be well rested after the bye week and will have had plenty of time to review game tape of the Badgers. As history has shown us, Urban Meyer never fails to have his team ready to play…give him an extra week, and they will be even more ready to play. The Buckeyes are 10-0 this season and have lacked the motivation of the BCS or any other postseason accolades so it only causes my mind to wonder, just how good this team really could be with a little extra motivation.

What I’ll be looking for in this game, is how well the Badgers can run the football. The Ohio State defense is tough up front and will challenge the Badger offensive line to create holes for the tailbacks. If Wisconsin cannot find a way to effectively run the football, then this game will only be close for a few minutes. On the other hand, although the Buckeyes are 10-0, the road has not been as easy as it may look. Having escaped several contests with narrow victories, I don’t expect this game to be a blowout by any stretch of the imagination. With an extra week to prepare, I just don’t see the Buckeyes laying down against the Badgers unless they are simply looking forward to next week vs. Michigan which could be a possibility. Vegas currently has Wisconsin as the favorite at -3, which I think is a little generous. If Wisconsin is to win this game, it will be by a field goal or less so this game looks to be an easy bet for those interested.

The Sports Messiah’s Pick: Ohio State +3

- The Sports Messiah