BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — It's unusual, but not unprecedented, to have a former Wisconsin head coach resurface at another school and come back to face the Badgers.
Bret Bielema will be the latest and the most prominent. He was the UW football coach from 2006 to '12, compiling the second-most victories in program history (68-24) on the way to guiding the Badgers to Big Ten Conference titles in 2010, '11 and '12.
Bielema startled the college football world in December of 2012 when he left Madison to take over at Arkansas. He went 29-34 with the Razorbacks from 2013 to '17 before he was fired and moved on to the NFL where he was an assistant coach with New England for two years and the New York Giants for one season.
In December of 2020, on the recommendation of former UW football coach and athletic director Barry Alvarez, Bielema took over at league rival Illinois, which will host Wisconsin (1-3 overall, 0-2 in the Big Ten) on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.
Bielema is the sixth modern-day head coach to leave UW and come back to face the Badgers with another school.
In 2009, Todd Yeagley left after one season as men's soccer coach to return to his alma mater, Indiana.
In 2005, Peter Tegen came out of retirement as women's track and cross country coach at UW to oversee men's and women's distance runners and the women's track and cross country teams at Stanford.
In 1999, Martin Smith left after 16 seasons as men's cross country coach to take over at Oregon and, subsequently, Oklahoma and Iowa State.
In 1998, John Cook left after seven seasons as volleyball coach to assume the reins at Nebraska.
In 1986, Russ Hellickson departed after four seasons as wrestling coach to take over at Ohio State.
Yeagley, Tegen and Cook wound up leading their new programs to NCAA championships. In fact, Cook won his first with the Cornhuskers by knocking off UW in the national title match in 2000. Tegen, meanwhile, won two national cross country titles with the Badgers (1984, '85) as did Smith (1985, '88).
Here are five more things to know:
In Excellent Company
With one reception versus Illinois, senior tight end Jake Ferguson will pass Lee Evans and take sole possession of the program record for most consecutive games with at least one catch (39). A quick sentence or two in appreciation of Evans, a 2001 All-American and the all-time receiving leader in UW history with 3,468 yards and 27 touchdowns. His reception streak covered the 2000, '01 and '03 seasons and, amazingly, included 17 games in which he caught at least one touchdown pass. On two occasions the only pass he caught went for a touchdown, including the 79-yarder from quarterback Matt Schabert that gave way to a 17-10 win over No. 3 Ohio State in 2003. Evans missed the 2002 season with a knee injury sustained in the spring game. He's the only wideout to play at Wisconsin who produced two 1,000-yard seasons. The Badgers have had three players top 200 receiving yards in a game. Evans did it three times, the only one with multiple efforts.
Put a Stop to It
A relatively new piece of data, compiled by The Athletic, shows the UW defense ranks 37th nationally in stop rate. That's the percentage of a defense's drives that end in punts, turnovers or turnovers on downs. The Badgers rank first in rushing defense and third in total defense among the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, but their stop rate of 72.5 percent on 51 drives puts them seventh in the Big Ten behind Iowa (85.7), Nebraska (81.9), Penn State (81.2), Michigan (79.3), Purdue (75.8), Ohio State (73) and Rutgers (72.6).
Minimal Damage
The Badgers have allowed 26 plays of 10-plus yards this season, the fewest among FBS programs. Only one of those plays has come via the rush.
Island of the Obscure
Here are some out-of-the-way statistical developments from the Wisconsin-Illinois series, which began in 1895. Bielema is the fourth Illinois coach during the Paul Chryst coaching era at Wisconsin, which began in 2015 (Bill Cubit, Lovie Smith and Rod Smith). … UW has had multiple 100-yard rushers against the Illini on six occasions, including Alan Ameche and Harland Carl in 1952 and '53; Terrell Fletcher and Brent Moss in 1993; Melvin Gordon and Corey Clement in in 2014; Clement and Dare Ogunbowale in 2016; and Jonathan Taylor and Taiwan Deal in 2018. … The most penalties in a game by a UW opponent is 15 for 151 yards by Illinois in 1981. … The list of career touchdowns responsible for versus Illinois: RB Ron Dayne nine (four in 1996, two in 1997, 3 in 1998); RB Melvin Gordon seven (three in 2013, four in 2014); RB Brian Calhoun five (five in 2005); QB Graham Mertz five (five in 2020).
The Color Yellow
The Badgers currently rank seventh nationally in fewest penalties per game at 5.0 (20 infractions in four outings). For now, it's the best showing for UW since 2016, when the team finished the season fourth at 3.4 penalties per game.
