American college football season
2008 Wisconsin Badgers football Conference Big Ten Conference 2008 record 7–6 (3–5 Big Ten) Head coach Bret Bielema (3rd season)Offensive coordinator Paul Chryst Offensive scheme Pro Style Defensive coordinator Dave Doeren Base defense 4-3 Home stadium Camp Randall Stadium (80,321, Field Turf)Seasons
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 [ ] 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 [ ] Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance August 30 11:00 a.m.[1] Akron * No. 13 Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI 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 Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI 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 Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI ESPN L 24–2575,121[2] November 8 11:00 a.m. at Indiana Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN 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 Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time
[6]
Game summaries [ ] Akron [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Zips
0
10
0
7
17
Badgers
14
3
14
7
38
Marshall [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Thundering Herd
7
7
0
0
14
Badgers
0
17
21
13
51
Fresno State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Badgers
7
3
3
0
13
Bulldogs
0
0
10
0
10
Michigan [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Badgers
6
13
0
6
25
Wolverines
0
0
7
20
27
Ohio State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Buckeyes
7
0
3
10
20
Badgers
0
10
0
7
17
Penn State [ ] See also: 2008 Penn State Nittany Lions football team
1
2
3
4
Total
Nittany Lions
3
21
17
7
48
Badgers
0
7
0
0
7
Iowa [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Badgers
0
3
6
7
16
Hawkeyes
7
7
14
10
38
Illinois [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Fighting Illini
0
10
7
0
17
Badgers
3
7
7
10
27
Michigan State [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Badgers
7
3 7 7
24
• Spartans
0
6 7 12
25
Date: November 1Location: Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI Game start: 11:02 a.m. CST Elapsed time: 3:34Game attendance: 75,121Game weather: 48F, Wind: NE 10 MPH, Mostly SunnyReferee: Bill LeMonninerTV announcers (ESPN): Pam Ward (Play-by-play) & Ray Bentley (Color)
Indiana [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Badgers
14
10
17
14
55
Hoosiers
13
7
0
0
20
Minnesota [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Golden Gophers
0
21 3 8
32
• Badgers
7
0 10 18
35
Date: November 15Location: Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI Game start: 2:35 p.m. CST Elapsed time: 3:40Game attendance: 81,228Game weather: 36F, Wind: NW 10 MPH, CloudyReferee: Bill LeMonnierTV announcers (ABC/ESPN): Terry Gannon (Play-by-play) & David Norrie (Color) show 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 [ ]
1
2
3
4 OT
Total
Mustangs
7
13
3
6 6
35
Badgers
0
14
7
8 7
36
Rankings [ ]
Ranking Movement
Poll
Pre
Wk 1
Wk 2
Wk 3
Wk 4
Wk 5
Wk 6
Wk 7
Wk 8
Wk 9
Wk 10
Wk 11
Wk 12
Wk 13
Wk 14
Final
AP
13
11
10
8
9
18
Coaches
12
11
10
8
8
17
24
Harris
Not released
16
BCS
Not released
Roster [ ] Statistics [ ] Offense [ ] Passing [ ]
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 [ ]
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 [ ]
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 [ ] 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 [ ] Team players selected in the 2009 NFL Draft [ ] See also: 2009 NFL Draft
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References [ ]
^ Jump up to: 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 ^ Jump up to: 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 2011-09-09. Retrieved October 12, 2011 .^ Jump up to: a b "More night ball for Badgers" . University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. May 31, 2008. Retrieved May 31, 2008 .[dead link ^ Jump up to: 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 .^ Jump up to: 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 . 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 .^ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/2009.htm
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