American college football season
The 2008 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season . The Badgers were coached by Bret Bielema and played their home games at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin .
Previous season [ edit ] The 2007 Wisconsin Badgers football team was not expected to win the Big 10, but with a close loss to Michigan and a 38-7 blowout loss to Penn State, expectations were much lower. However, they finished with only one more loss to Big 10 champ Ohio State and managed to get an Outback Bowl bid, only to lose 21-17 to the Tennessee Volunteers, who lost the previous Outback Bowl 20-10 to the Nittany Lions.
Schedule [ edit ] Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance August 30 11:00 a.m.[1] Akron * No. 13 BTN [1] W 38–1780,910[2] September 6 11:00 a.m.[1] Marshall * No. 11 Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI BTN[1] W 51–1480,396[2] September 13 9:30 p.m.[3] at No. 21 Fresno State * No. 10 ESPN2 [3] W 13–1042,387[2] September 27 2:30 p.m. at Michigan No. 9 ABC/ESPN L 25–27109,833[2] October 4 7:00 p.m.[4] No. 12 Ohio State No. 18 Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ABC[4] L 17–2081,608[2] October 11 7:00 p.m.[4] No. 6 Penn State Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ESPN[4] L 7–4881,524[2] October 18 11:00 a.m. at Iowa BTN L 16–3870,585[2] October 25 11:00 a.m.[5] Illinois Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ESPN2[5] W 27–1781,241[2] November 1 11:00 a.m. at No. 22 Michigan State ESPN L 24–2575,121[2] November 8 11:00 a.m. at Indiana BTN W 55–2030,618[2] November 15 2:30 p.m. Minnesota ABC W 35–3281,228[2] November 22 2:30 p.m. Cal Poly * Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI BTN W 36–35 OT 80,709[2] December 27 3:30 p.m. vs. Florida State * ESPN L 13–4252,692[2] *Non-conference game HomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time
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Game summaries [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Zips 0 10 0 7 17 Badgers 14 3 14 7 38
Marshall [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Thundering Herd 7 7 0 0 14 Badgers 0 17 21 13 51
Fresno State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Badgers 7 3 3 0 13 Bulldogs 0 0 10 0 10
Michigan [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Badgers 6 13 0 6 25 Wolverines 0 0 7 20 27
Ohio State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Buckeyes 7 0 3 10 20 Badgers 0 10 0 7 17
Penn State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Nittany Lions 3 21 17 7 48 Badgers 0 7 0 0 7
1 2 3 4 Total Badgers 0 3 6 7 16 Hawkeyes 7 7 14 10 38
Illinois [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Illini 0 10 7 0 17 Badgers 3 7 7 10 27
Michigan State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Badgers 7 3 7 7 24 • Spartans 0 6 7 12 25
Indiana [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Badgers 14 10 17 14 55 Hoosiers 13 7 0 0 20
Minnesota [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Golden Gophers 0 21 3 8 32 • Badgers 7 0 10 18 35
Scoring summary 1 12:38 WIS Garrett Graham 2-yard pass from Dustin Sherer (Philip Welch kick)Wisconsin 7-0 2 13:30 MINN Brandon Green 4-yard pass from Adam Weber (Joel Monroe kick) Tie 7-7 2 11:14 MINN Brodrick Smith 43-yard pass from Adam Weber (Joel Monroe kick) Minnesota 14-7 2 8:17 MINN Adam Weber 6-yard run (Joel Monroe kick) Minnesota 21-7 3 10:14 WIS Philip Welch 47-yard field goal Minnesota 21-10 3 4:17 WIS P.J. Hill 1-yard run (Philip Welch kick)Minnesota 21-17 3 1:37 MINN Joel Monroe 30-yard field goal Minnesota 24-17 4 13:25 WIS P.J. Hill 1-yard run (Philip Welch kick) Tie 24-24 4 13:16 WIS Safety, ball fumbled out of end zone Wisconsin 26-24 4 10:47 WIS Safety, Adam Weber tackled by Mike Newkirk in end zone Wisconsin 28-24 4 6:59 WIS John Clay 5-yard run (Philip Welch kick)Wisconsin 35-24 4 4:15 MINN Shady Salamon 13-yard pass from Adam Weber (Shady Salamon run) Wisconsin 35-32
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Cal Poly [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 OT Total Mustangs 7 13 3 6 6 35 Badgers 0 14 7 8 7 36
Rankings [ edit ] Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking Week Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final AP 13 11 10 8 9 18 Coaches 12 11 10 8 8 17 24 Harris Not released 16 Not released BCS Not released Not released
Coaching staff [ edit ] Statistics [ edit ] Offense [ edit ] Passing [ edit ] Name GP-GS Year Att-Cmp-Int Pct Yds TD Avg/G Allan Evridge 6-6 Sr (R) 132-71-5 53.8% 949 5 126.3 Dustin Sherer 11-7 Jr (R) 191-104-5 54.5% 1389 6 158.2 Scott Tolzien 3-0 So (R) 5-8-1 62.5% 107 0 35.7 Total 13-13 N/A 333-180-11 54.1% 2445 11 188.2 Opponents 13-13 N/A 404-212-12 52.5% 2545 15 195.8
Rushing [ edit ] Name Att Yards Avg Long TD P.J. Hill 226 1161 5.1 13 John Clay 155 844 5.7 46 9 Zach Brown 55 305 5.5 23 3 David Gilreath 25 285 11.4 90 (TD) 2 Bill Rentmeester 11 50 4.5 9 0 Isaac Anderson 3 21 7.0 19 0 Dustin Sherer 49 19 0.4 30 1 Bradie Ewing 4 14 3.5 8 1 Scott Tolzien 4 13 3.3 8 1 Chris Pressley 3 6 2.0 3 0 Allan Evridge 23 4 0.2 19 1 Total 567 2,745 4.8 90 31 Opponents 450 1,733 3.8 23
Receiving [ edit ] Name GP No. Yds Avg TD Long Avg/G Garrett Graham 11 40 540 13.5 5 49.1 David Gilreath 13 31 520 16.7 3 40.0 Isaac Anderson 13 21 286 13.6 0 22.0 Travis Beckum 6 23 264 11.4 0 44.0 Nick Toon 12 17 257 15.1 1 21.4 Kyle Jefferson 11 14 189 13.5 0 17.2 Lance Kendricks 7 6 141 23.5 0 20.1 P.J. Hill 13 7 72 10.3 0 5.5 Maurice Moore 6 5 61 12.2 0 10.2 Zach Brown 12 8 47 5.9 0 3.9 Mickey Turner 13 4 46 11.5 0 3.5 Elijah Theus 5 2 17 8.5 1 3.4
Season Summary [ edit ] Wisconsin once again got off to a fast start at 3-0. However, a horrible loss to Michigan and awful games against Ohio State, Penn State, and Iowa derailed the Badgers and sent them plunging down to 3-4 overall. An upset over ranked Illinois at home evened Wisconsin's record at 4-4, but an awful loss to Michigan State followed and the Badgers fell to 1-5 in the Big Ten almost before they could blink. Wisconsin won the remainder of its conference slate against Indiana and Minnesota, but the Badgers followed that up with a decidedly below average effort and wild win over Cal Poly the next week. At the end of the season, Wisconsin was destroyed 42-13 in the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl by Florida State.
Overall, this was the worst Wisconsin team since the 2001 Badgers, who missed the postseason entirely after a 5-7 season. The failure of the team to live up to lofty expectations (Wisconsin was ranked 8th in the nation before a terrible loss to Michigan) fueled fan discontent, and Bret Bielema would need a much, much better 2009 season; he could not afford to coast on goodwill from his 2006 and 2007 teams.
Regular starters [ edit ] Team players selected in the 2009 NFL Draft [ edit ] [9]
References [ edit ] ^ a b c d "Badgers open the season on BTN" . University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. July 2, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2008 . [dead link ] ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Game-by-Game Statistics" . University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on September 9, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2011 . ^ a b "More night ball for Badgers" . University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. May 31, 2008. Retrieved May 31, 2008 . [dead link ] ^ a b c d "Big Ten Announces Five Prime-Time Football Games to Appear on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 During 2008 Season" . Big Ten Conference . April 16, 2008. Archived from the original on April 20, 2008. Retrieved April 16, 2008 . ^ a b "Welcome home:Badgers, Illini kickoff set" . University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. May 10, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2008 .[dead link ] ^ 2008 Schedule Archived February 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine ^ "Two Safeties Highlight Badgers' Comeback Over Rival Gophers" . ESPN . November 15, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2014 . ^ "Football Roster" . University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on November 12, 2006. Retrieved August 12, 2008 . ^ "2009 NFL Draft Listing | Pro-Football-Reference.com" . Archived from the original on September 19, 2009.
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