First and Ten
September 01, 2006 | Football
The Wisconsin football team and first-year head coach Bret Bielema kick off the 2006 season at 6 p.m. Saturday against Bowling Green in Cleveland Browns Stadium. Here are the 10 most interesting game notes for the first matchup of the year. To read the full game notes packet, click on "News Releases and Archives" found under the links column on the right-hand side of the page.
1: Wisconsin has named its team captains for the 2006 season. They are, by vote of the players: LB Mark Zalewski (second year in a row), OL Joe Thomas and QB John Stocco. All three are seniors. A fourth captain will be
named on a game-to-game basis.
2: The Badgers will be playing in a National Football League stadium for the fifth time in four seasons. Wisconsin faced Auburn in the Tennessee Titans ' home facility, now called LP Field, in the 2003 Music City Bowl. A year later, UW took on Georgia in the 2005 Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium (Tampa Bay Buccaneers). The Badgers faced Big Ten-rival Minnesota in the Metrodome (Minnesota Vikings) in both 2003 and 2005.
3: Wisconsin enters the 2006 campaign with several of its players on preseason 'watch lists' for major national awards, including ...
OT Joe Thomas
Lombardi Award
Outland Trophy
DB Roderick Rogers
Lott Trophy
Thorpe Award
DL Matt Shaughnessy
Hendricks Award
Lombardi Award
DL Nick Hayden
Lombardi Award
QB John Stocco
Maxwell Award
LB Mark Zalewski
Butkus Award
PK Taylor Mehlhaff
Lou Groza Award
4: Wisconsin is 16-1 in its last 17 regular-season non-conference games. That includes wins in the last eight straight against non-Big Ten
foes. UW's only loss during that 17-game stretch was a 23-5 setback to UNLV in Madison on Sept. 13, 2003. The Badgers
have won their last five regular-season non-conference games away from Camp Randall Stadium.
5: The Badgers are 25-2 all-time against opponents from the Mid-American Conference. UW's last loss to a member of the MAC was a 24-14 setback against Western Michigan on Sept. 3, 1988. Since that game, UW has won 14 straight against MAC adversaries. This season marks the eighth time in the past nine campaigns that Wisconsin is facing a MAC school.
6: Wisconsin appeared in the preseason coaches and A.P. polls every season from 1997-2004. The pollsters left the Badgers out of the
preseason rankings last year, but Wisconsin went on to a 10-3 mark and Capital One Bowl win. UW is again outside the preseason top 25, but is receiving votes in both polls.
7: The last time Wisconsin played in the state of Ohio against a school other than Ohio State was in 1999. UW lost at Cincinnati, but eventually won the Big Ten championship behind Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne.
8: P.J. Hill could be the Badgers' first redshirt freshman tailback to start a season-opener since Anthony Davis did so against Virginia in
2001. Davis rushed for 147 yards that day and went on to accumulate 1,466 yards that season on the way to Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors.
9: The Sporting News has rated Wisconsin's defensive line as the best in the Big Ten entering the 2006 campaign. The unit includes eight players with starting experience and just one senior (Joe Monty). Two players on the unit (Nick Hayden and Matt Shaughnessy) are on the Lombardi Award's 2006 preseason watch list. Wisconsin was third in the Big Ten with 31 QB sacks last season. Twenty-seven of those 31 sacks were by players who return in 2006.
10: Bret Bielema is the 28th different person to hold the position of head football coach at Wisconsin. He makes his debut against Bowling Green on Saturday. Here are results of the previous 27 head coaching debuts in UW history (see below).
