Finish Minnesota
The end of the Wisconsin 2009 Season
Wisconsin came into the 2009 season facing a crossroads in the Bret Bielema era. Wisconsin had struggled in recent seasons, but facing a favorable schedule they knew they could make some noise in 2009. They did just that, but did not have a signature victory going into the Champs Sports Bowl against Miami. Before that game, Wisconsin had merely beaten the teams it was supposed to beat, but had lost all three games it had played against ranked opponents. A convincing 20-14 win over the Hurricanes, however, gave Wisconsin the name it was looking for all year long. The Badgers will now head into 2010 with renewed optimism and likely top 15 ranking based on the number of returning stars it will have.
One of those stars is running back John Clay. Clay was named the Big Ten’s offensive player of the year in 2009. He rushed for 1,517 yards and 18 touchdowns as Wisconsin’s standard power rushing attack dominated most games. Clay had especially strong games against Minnesota, Purdue, and Hawaii where he rushed for better than 450 total yards and nine total touchdowns. Quarterback Scott Tolzien will also return in 2010 after throwing for 2,700 yards and 16 touchdowns. Wide receiver Nick Toon is another promising young player. The sophomore, who is the son of NFL great Al Toon, had a breakout season of 54 catches for 805 yards and four touchdowns.
Wisconsin began the season with a cozy five game winning streak. Four of the first five games were at home and the Badgers made Camp Randall Stadium a difficult place to play. Wisconsin survived a tough challenge from Northern Illinois in a 28-20 season opening win. They then grabbed 34-31 overtime win over Fresno State before beating Wofford (44-14) and Michigan State (38-30). They kept the winning streak going in their first road trip of the season by beating rival Minnesota for Paul Bunyan’s Axe 31-28 at the new TCF Bank Stadium.
Wisconsin was unable to carry that success over to games against ranked opponents in Big Ten play though. The Badgers dropped a 31-13 game at Ohio State in which they gave up two defensive touchdowns and a kickoff return for a touchdown. The woes against ranked teams continued the following week when #11 Iowa came to town. The Hawkeyes left with a 20-10 win, thus eliminating the Badgers from Big Ten title consideration.
Wisconsin quickly started another winning streak by dominating Purdue 37-0 the following week. A close 31-28 win at Indiana was followed by a 45-24 win over Michigan in the home finale. Northwestern cost the Badgers a New Year’s Day bowl game with a 33-31 upset in the final Big Ten game of the year. Wisconsin then had the rare double warm weather trip to finish the season. The Badgers enjoyed a 51-10 win at Hawaii before knocking off a solid Miami team 20-14 in the Champs Sports Bowl. Clay ran for a pair of touchdowns in the win as the defense dominated the explosive Hurricanes.
Check out Ohio State Belt or his North Carolina State Belt
Belle Plaine couple is first to finish Minnesota State Parks Geocaching Wildlife Safari
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