Wisconsin faces first adversity under Bielema
MADISON, Wis. - Bret Bielema had a priest give him a ride home after losing to Iowa. Too bad the third-year coach isn't Catholic.
"He felt he needed to console me," Bielema said. "I'm the only non-Catholic head coach that has a priest that's worried about me."
There's a lot of worry in Madison these days with Wisconsin losing four straight games in the Big Ten for the first time in 12 years. They next play against Illinois.
The players' nearly four-hour bus ride back from Iowa City wasn't much better. Center John Moffitt pulled out his laptop and tried to watch a sitcom on DVD.
"I couldn't even pay attention, still thinking about things in the game, what went wrong," Moffitt said.
The short answer: everything.
Wisconsin (3-4, 0-4 Big Ten) no longer has a weekly 100-yard rusher, can't rely on the pass despite the return of playmaking tight end Travis Beckum for his senior season and has only four sacks and four interceptions in the past four weeks.
It's led Badgers fans to question Bielema, who grew up in Illinois and has deep ties to the Hawkeyes. Even the red windbreaker he wears on game day is suddenly suspect.
"I thought back to my (first) year when I was told by the merchandising people that they couldn't keep enough windbreakers in stock," Bielema said. "It goes to show when you're winning, everybody agrees with what you're doing. When you're losing, everybody's got all the answers, because the right answer isn't out there."
Bielema is the hand-picked successor to Barry Alvarez, who took the program from the ashes and led the Badgers to three Big Ten and Rose Bowl titles during 16 seasons.
Alvarez, who remains the athletic director, has yet to talk about Bielema's struggles although he watches nearly all the coach's press conferences from the back of the room.
"I have conversations with Coach Alvarez on a daily basis, I would say," Bielema said. "There's a reason I call him Coach Alvarez. He had a lot of success obviously coaching defensive football, first as a coordinator, as a head coach, about the things that make this program go the way they have."
Alvarez declined an interview request from The Associated Press this week. But he surely has an opinion, even if he won't express it publicly.
"Coach wants to win and I want to win," Bielema said. I feel disappointed when we don't win, because obviously I know his name is going to be tied in with mine and vice versa."
Has Alvarez been stern or sympathetic to Bielema's plight?
"I don't know if I got a formula on how much is stern versus sympathetic," Bielema said. "I don't think Coach is a very sympathetic guy in any situation."
And Wisconsin's situation just seems to get worse.
Alvarez left after a 10-3 season in 2005, and Bielema's first season was a rousing success. The team went 12-1 and missed the BCS only because Ohio State and Michigan got invitations instead.
But John Stocco, a three-year starter at quarterback who went 29-7 in his career, exhausted his eligibility after a 17-14 win over Arkansas in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1, 2007.
Last year, fifth-year senior Tyler Donovan helped Wisconsin rise to No. 5, but back-to-back losses to Illinois and Penn State knocked the Badgers down to a 9-4 finish.
This season, Allan Evridge, another senior, was yanked from the starter's role after three straight losses, beginning when the ninth-ranked Badgers squandered a 19-0 lead at Michigan, before a 20-17 loss to Ohio State and a 41-point rout by Penn State.
Junior Dustin Sherer looked overwhelmed Saturday as he threw two interceptions in a 38-16 loss to the Hawkeyes. Still, he earned another chance this week against Illinois.
If Bielema has felt any pressure, he's not letting it show. Guard Andy Kemp said the staff's approach has remained constant.
"Nothing's really changed, all we're trying to do is focus on the little things and make those corrections that have been hurting us," Kemp said. "The big thing is just to stick together. We're all a family, coaches included. Stay close and just get through this."
Offensive coordinator Paul Chryst said Beckum hasn't hung his head at his decision to skip the NFL for his senior year, but no one expected the Badgers to be in the Big Ten's cellar with Purdue (0-3) and Indiana (0-4).
Bielema said that's the hardest part of his job right now.
"The part that I always deal with and struggle with is just the disappointment that I see," he said. "This is what I chose to do. So I kind of built the path that I walk upon, I know that. But, you know, these guys that are seniors, it's their last go-around."