Author: jplucas

The University of Wisconsin football team is still looking up at Ohio State. The Badgers beat the Buckeyes, earned a share of their first Big Ten Conference title in 11 years and advanced to the Rose Bowl this past season. Still, Ohio State was the top-ranked Big Ten team when the final polls were released on Tuesday. The Badgers 11-2 finished seventh in the Associated Press media poll and tied for eighth with LSU in the USA Today coaches? poll. The Buckeyes 12-1 ? whose only loss was to UW 31-18 on Oct. 16 ? were fifth in both polls.

Sharif Chambliss valued his one season on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville men?s basketball coaching staff. But to return to Madison and work with Wisconsin Badgers coach Bo Ryan was an opportunity Chambliss could not pass up.

For the UW Badgers, who endured a heartbreaking loss to TCU, most certainly the “it might have been” path is still a painful one to tread. A dropped pass here, a missed kick there, and, ultimately, a pass batted down late in the game left UW on the losing end, wondering about what might have been in Pasadena on Jan. 1. And so it goes with many of the good folks who put together your favorite daily newspaper right here in Madison. Cartoonist Phil Hands created a Rose Bowl-related cartoon, intended to be used in last Sunday?s paper, but only if the Badgers won the game. After all, there?s not much celebrating after a loss, and nobody wants to see a Badger cry.

How costly was Wisconsin?s two-point loss to Texas Christian in the Rose Bowl? UW missed an opportunity to finish No. 2 in both national polls and ultimately fell four spots in the final USA Today coaches? poll and three spots in The Associated Press media poll.

John Clay?s signing with the University of Wisconsin football team created a stir and almost unrealistic expectations for one of the most accomplished prep running backs in state history. The departure of Clay, which appeared to be almost a foregone conclusion given his reduced role late in the season, will not create nearly the fanfare. Clay, a junior, announced Friday he is leaving school early to make himself eligible for the NFL draft, joining junior defensive end J.J. Watt, who announced he was leaving Thursday.

Wisconsin tailback John Clay appears poised to follow the path of teammate J.J. Watt. According to a source, the fourth-year junior has decided to skip his final season of eligibility and enter the 2011 National Football League draft.

The festivities surrounding the Rose Bowl college football game ? in particular, the Wisconsin pep rally that brought out more than 25,000 Badger fans ? helped drive business up 30 percent for at least one local business, according to an employee.

There?s an impressive aerial photo of the Rose Bowl, during the F-18 flyover just before the game, in this week?s edition of Sports Illustrated. The shot is taken from above the jets as they fly over the stadium, but one of the most interesting things from the SI shot is the stark division of red and purple in the stadium. It?s an awesome shot, but the thing that stood out to me from the SI photo is the size of the Texas Christian fan section. I thought at most the crowd was two-thirds Badgers fans. In the game story, I only felt comfortable saying more than 50,000 Badgers fans were at the game. UW?s official estimate of Badgers fans at the game is 65,000, which would be roughly two-thirds.