全国冠军和威斯康辛州这两个词很少出现在同一个句子中。威斯康辛从来没有赢得过全国冠军，从1963年到巴里·阿尔瓦雷斯(Barry Alvarez) 1990年担任主教练，獾队一直是十大强队之一。但是98年和99年连续两次获得十强和玫瑰碗冠军缩小了獾队和大学橄榄球精英队之间的差距。增加了大量的天才球员，包括16位回归的先发球员，所以对进入2000赛季的期望很高也就不足为奇了。“我们正在考虑全国冠军，”少年角后卫哈马尔·弗莱彻说。“我们有团队来做这件事。”许多足球专家也认为2000年可能是獾队的一年。在上个赛季取得10胜2负的战绩后，威斯康辛在几乎所有的季前赛民调中都排在前五名。老年人中心的凯西·拉巴赫说:“如果我说我没想过要赢得全国冠军，那一定是在撒谎。”“在任何一个大学橄榄球运动员的脑海里，只要他们的排名和我们一样高，就能赢得冠军。”威斯康辛州要想赢得冠军，就必须取代1999年海斯曼奖杯的跑卫罗恩·戴恩。戴恩是纽约巨人队的第一轮新秀，他在四个赛季里都是獾队进攻的催化剂，让麦迪逊队成为了大学橄榄球史上领先的进攻者，他的进攻距离为6397码。阿尔瓦雷斯说，接替戴恩的将是小迈克尔·贝内特。班尼特在春季的十大户外田径锦标赛上赢得了100- 200米短跑的冠军。\n"It's going to be hard to replace a Heisman Trophy winner, but it's business as usual," Rabach said. "Michael Bennett should work out nicely for us. He's a speed guy."\nWisconsin led the conference with 3,283 yards rushing, but attempted a conference low 219 passes last season. Without Dayne, Wisconsin's passing attack, led by sophomore quarterback Brooks Bollinger, will play an increased role.\n"Our biggest job is to take the abilities of our players, especially those who make big plays, and take advantage of them," Alvarez said. "We need to use our quarterback a little bit more and maybe not put as much stock in our tailback as we have in the past."\nBollinger registered a perfect 8-0 record after taking over as the Badgers' starting quarterback midway through 1999. Bollinger's consistent play as a starter earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors from the coaches and media.\nRabach, a 1999 first-team all-Big Ten selection, anchors an offensive line that must replace both tackles. Three-year starter Bill Ferrario and two-year starter Dave Costa give the Badgers experience at guard.\nA pair of juniors from St Louis, Fletcher and defensive tackle Wendell Bryant, will lead the defense. \nFletcher, a candidate to win the Jim Thorpe Award, given to college football's best defensive back, led the Big Ten with seven interceptions in both 1998 and 1999. In his short career, Fletcher has already returned five interceptions for touchdowns.\n"Jamar is the most effective corner I've been around as far as breaking up and making plays," said Alvarez, who also coached 1991 Thorpe Award winner Troy Vincent.\nThe 6-foot-4, 293-pound Bryant is one of the Big Ten's top pass-rushers and led the Badgers with seven sacks in 1999.\nWisconsin's biggest defensive concern is replacing inside linebackers Chris Ghidorzi and Donnel Thompson. Junior Bryson Thompson, Donnel's younger brother, and Nick Greisen will likely start the season at inside linebacker.\nWisconsin's special teams should once again be solid. Senior kicker Vitaly Pisetsky connected on 16 of 20 field goal attempts in 1999 and is a candidate for the Lou Groza Award, given to college football's top place-kicker. Senior Kevin Stemke has handled the punting duties for three years, and his 43.1-yard career average is eighth best in conference history.
