Badger Football Ranked in Both Polls
August 19, 2002 | Football
Heading into Friday's season-opener against Fresno State, the Wisconsin football team is ranked 23rd in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and 25th in the Associated Press Poll. This is the sixth consecutive season the Badgers have appeared in both preseason polls and the eighth time in the past nine years.
The UW is coming off a 5-7 season but returns eight starters from an explosive offense. Senior quarterback Brooks Bollinger enters his fourth year as a starter just five wins shy of the UW record for a QB. Sophomore running back Anthony Davis set a national freshman record a year ago with 10 100-yard rushing games. Paving the way for Davis and Bollinger will be an offensive line that returns all five starters from last year, including All-American candidates Al and Ben Johnson.
Defensively, just two starters from a year ago are back but six other players have started at least one game in their UW careers. Defensive linemen Darius Jones, Jake Sprague, Jonathan Welsh, Erasmus James and Anttaj Hawthorne, as well as cornerback B.J. Tucker, have all gotten the starting nod in the past. In addition, the Badgers ' linebacking corps appears to be as fast and athletic as any during the Barry Alvarez era.
After facing Fresno State Friday night, Wisconsin plays at UNLV then returns home to finish out the non-conference schedule against West Virginia, Northern Illinois and Arizona. The Big Ten season kicks off with Penn State playing in Madison on Oct. 5, followed by a trip to Indiana, a home game vs. Ohio State and trips to Michigan State and Iowa. Defending conference champ Illinois invades Camp Randall on Nov. 9 followed by a road contest at Michigan and the regular season finale vs. Minnesota at home. It is the first 13-game regular-season schedule in Wisconsin history.
