2008 Wisconsin Badgers football team

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.

2008 Wisconsin Badgers football
Champs Sports Bowl, L 13–42 vs. Florida State
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)

2008 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 8 Penn State $+		7	–	1					11	–	2
No. 9 Ohio State %+		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 24 Michigan State		6	–	2					9	–	4
Northwestern		5	–	3					9	–	4
No. 20 Iowa		5	–	3					9	–	4
Wisconsin		3	–	5					7	–	6
Minnesota		3	–	5					7	–	6
Illinois		3	–	5					5	–	7
Purdue		2	–	6					4	–	8
Michigan		2	–	6					3	–	9
Indiana		1	–	7					3	–	9
$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

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 38–17	80,910[2]
September 6	11:00 a.m.[1]	Marshall*	No. 11	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	BTN[1]	W 51–14	80,396[2]
September 13	9:30 p.m.[3]	at No. 21 Fresno State*	No. 10	Bulldog Stadium Fresno, CA	ESPN2[3]	W 13–10	42,387[2]
September 27	2:30 p.m.	at Michigan	No. 9	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	ABC/ESPN	L 25–27	109,833[2]
October 4	7:00 p.m.[4]	No. 12 Ohio State	No. 18	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ABC[4]	L 17–20	81,608[2]
October 11	7:00 p.m.[4]	No. 6 Penn State		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN[4]	L 7–48	81,524[2]
October 18	11:00 a.m.	at Iowa		Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA (Battle for the Heartland Trophy)	BTN	L 16–38	70,585[2]
October 25	11:00 a.m.[5]	Illinois		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN2[5]	W 27–17	81,241[2]
November 1	11:00 a.m.	at No. 22 Michigan State		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	ESPN	L 24–25	75,121[2]
November 8	11:00 a.m.	at Indiana		Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	BTN	W 55–20	30,618[2]
November 15	2:30 p.m.	Minnesota		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe)	ABC	W 35–32	81,228[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*		Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Champs Sports Bowl)	ESPN	L 13–42	52,692[2]
*Non-conference game Homecoming 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

See also: 2008 Fresno State Bulldogs football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Badgers	7	3	3	0	13
Bulldogs	0	0	10	0	10

Michigan

See also: 2008 Michigan Wolverines football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Badgers	6	13	0	6	25
Wolverines	0	0	7	20	27

Ohio State

See also: 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

	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

See also: 2008 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Badgers	0	3	6	7	16
Hawkeyes	7	7	14	10	38

Illinois

See also: 2008 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	0	10	7	0	17
Badgers	3	7	7	10	27

Michigan State

See also: 2008 Michigan State Spartans football team

1 2 3 4 Total Badgers 7 3 7 7 24 • Spartans 0 6 7 12 25 Date: November 1 Location: Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI Game start: 11:02 a.m. CST Elapsed time: 3:34 Game attendance: 75,121 Game weather: 48F, Wind: NE 10 MPH, Mostly Sunny Referee: Bill LeMonniner TV announcers (ESPN): Pam Ward (Play-by-play) & Ray Bentley (Color)

Indiana

See also: 2008 Indiana Hoosiers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Badgers	14	10	17	14	55
Hoosiers	13	7	0	0	20

Minnesota

See also: 2008 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team and Paul Bunyan's Axe

1 2 3 4 Total Golden Gophers 0 21 3 8 32 • Badgers 7 0 10 18 35 Date: November 15 Location: Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI Game start: 2:35 p.m. CST Elapsed time: 3:40 Game attendance: 81,228 Game weather: 36F, Wind: NW 10 MPH, Cloudy Referee: Bill LeMonnier TV announcers (ABC/ESPN): Terry Gannon (Play-by-play) & David Norrie (Color)

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

[7]

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Mustangs	7	13	3	6	6	35
Badgers	0	14	7	8	7	36

Rankings

See also: 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football 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

(as of August 12, 2008)[8]
Quarterback Allan Evridge - Senior Curt Phillips - Freshman Dustin Sherer - Junior James Stallons - Freshman Scott Tolzien - Sophomore Wide Receiver Isaac Anderson - Sophomore Nate Emanuel - Sophomore David Gilreath - Sophomore Xavier Harris - Junior Kyle Jefferson - Sophomore Daven Jones - Sophomore Richard Kirtley - Junior Eric Kossoris - Freshman Maurice Moore - Sophomore Cody Rose - Freshman Elijah (T.J.) Theus - Junior Nick Toon - Freshman T.J. Williams - Freshman Offensive Lineman Jordan Bergmann - Freshman Jake Bscherer - Junior Robert Burge - Freshman Gabe Carimi - Sophomore Chris Cromwell - Freshman Jake Current - Freshman Andy Kemp - Senior John Moffitt - Sophomore Bill Nagy - Sophomore Josh Oglesby - Freshman Joe Schafer - Freshman Kraig Urbik - Senior Eric Vandenheuvel - Senior Kevin Zeitler - Freshman		Fullback Chris Pressley - Senior Bill Rentmeester - Senior Sam Spitz - Freshman Running Back Zach Brown - Sophomore John Clay - Freshman Bradie Ewing - Freshman P.J. Hill - Junior Tyler Holland - Junior Dex Jones - Freshman Mike Preisler - Freshman Erik Smith - Freshman Tight End Travis Beckum - Senior Jake Byrne - Freshman Zach Davison - Freshman Garrett Graham - Junior Lance Kendricks - Sophomore Rob Korslin - Freshman Mickey Turner - Junior Ricky Wagner - Freshman		Defensive Lineman Eriks Briedis - Freshman Patrick Butrym - Freshman Dan Cascone - Junior Jason Chapman - Senior Kirk DeCremer - Sophomore Ricky Garner - Sophomore Jasper Grimes - Freshman Jordan Hein - Junior Brandon Hoey - Sophomore Kenny Jones - Sophomore Brendan Kelly - Freshman Peter Konz - Freshman Anthony Mains - Freshman Dan Moore - Junior Mike Newkirk - Senior Louis Nzegwu - Freshman O'Brien Schofield - Junior Matt Shaughnessy - Senior Jeff Stehle - Junior J. J. Watt - Freshman Tyler Westphal - Freshman Linebacker Jonathan Casillas - Senior Ryan Flasch - Senior Elijah Hodge - Junior Leonhard Hubbard - Freshman DeAndre Levy - Senior Jaevery McFadden - Junior Tony Megna - Freshman Joshua Neal - Senior Erik Prather - Junior Tyrell Rosemeyer - Freshman Kevin Rouse - Freshman Blake Sorensen - Sophomore Culver St. Jean - Sophomore Mike Taylor - Freshman		Defensive Back Niles Brinkley - Sophomore Shane Carter - Junior Kevin Claxton - Freshman Marcus Cromartie - Freshman Antonio Fenelus - Freshman Mario Goins - Freshman Adam Hampton - Freshman William Hartmann - Junior Aaron Henry - Sophomore Shelton Johnson - Freshman Allen Langford - Senior Andrew Lukasko - Freshman Chris Maragos - Junior Otis Merrill - Freshman Prince Moody - Junior Josh Nettles - Junior Chukwuma Offor - Freshman Aubrey Pleasant - Junior Devin Smith - Freshman Jay Valai-Soph Long Snapper Zach Opsal - Sophomore Dave Peck - Senior Kyle Wojta - Freshman Drew Woodward - Junior Punter Brad Debauche - Freshman Brad Nortman - Freshman Place Kicker Matt Fischer - Junior Philip Welch - Freshman

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

Position Player Quarterback Dustin Sherer Running Back P.J. Hill Fullback Chris Pressley Wide Receiver Isaac Anderson Wide Receiver David Gilreath Tight End Garrett Graham Left Tackle Gabe Carimi Left Guard Andy Kemp Center John Moffitt Right Guard Kraig Urbik Right Tackle Eric Vanden Heuvel Kicker Philip Welch

Position Player Defensive End O'Brien Schofield Defensive Tackle Jason Chapman Defensive Tackle Mike Newkirk Defensive End Matt Shaughnessy Outside Linebacker DeAndre Levy Middle Linebacker Jaevery McFadden Outside Linebacker Jonathan Casillas Cornerback Allen Langford Strong Safety Jay Valai Free Safety Shane Carter Cornerback Niles Brinkley Punter Brad Nortman

Team players selected in the 2009 NFL Draft

See also: 2009 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Overall Selection	NFL Team
Matt Shaughnessy	Defensive End	3	71	Oakland Raiders
DeAndre Levy	Linebacker	3	76	Detroit Lions
Kraig Urbik	Guard	3	79	Pittsburgh Steelers
Travis Beckum	Tight End	3	100	New York Giants

[9]

References

1. "Badgers open the season on BTN". University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. July 2, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
2. "Game-by-Game Statistics". University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on 2011-09-09. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
3. "More night ball for Badgers". University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. May 31, 2008. Retrieved May 31, 2008.
4. "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.
5. "Welcome home:Badgers, Illini kickoff set". University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. May 10, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
6. 2008 Schedule Archived February 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
7. "Two Safeties Highlight Badgers' Comeback Over Rival Gophers". ESPN. November 15, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
8. "Football Roster". University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on November 12, 2006. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
9. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/2009.htm