2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team

The 2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin in the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season.

2002 Wisconsin Badgers football
Alamo Bowl champion
Alamo Bowl, W 31–28 ^OT vs. Colorado
Conference	Big Ten Conference
2002 record	8–6 (2–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Barry Alvarez (13th season)
Offensive coordinator	Brian White
Defensive coordinator	Kevin Cosgrove
Home stadium	Camp Randall Stadium (Capacity: 76,634,[1] Astroturf)

2002 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 Ohio State $#+		8	–	0					14	–	0
No. 8 Iowa %+		8	–	0					11	–	2
No. 9 Michigan		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 16 Penn State		5	–	3					9	–	4
Purdue		4	–	4					7	–	6
Illinois		4	–	4					5	–	7
Minnesota		3	–	5					8	–	5
Wisconsin		2	–	6					8	–	6
Michigan State		2	–	6					4	–	8
Northwestern		1	–	7					3	–	9
Indiana		1	–	7					3	–	9
– BCS National Champion $ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll[2]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 23	7:00 p.m.	Fresno State*	No. 25	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (John Thompson Foundation Classic[3])	ESPN	W 23–21	75,136[4]
August 31	6:45 p.m.	at UNLV*		Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, NV	ESPN2	W 27–7	42,075[4]
September 7	11:00 a.m.	West Virginia*	No. 25	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN+	W 34–17	76,320[4]
September 14	11:00 a.m.	Northern Illinois*	No. 22	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN+	W 24–21	77,460[4]
September 21	11:00 a.m.	Arizona*	No. 22	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN2	W 31–10	78,582[4]
October 5	2:30 p.m.	No. 20 Penn State	No. 19	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ABC	L 31–34	79,403[4]
October 12	11:00 p.m.	at Indiana	No. 23	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	ESPN+	L 29–32	31,156[4]
October 19	2:30 p.m.	No. 4 Ohio State		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ABC	L 14–19	79,729[4]
October 26	6:00 p.m.	at Michigan State		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	ESPN2	W 42–24	74,507[4]
November 2	11:00 a.m.	at No. 9 Iowa		Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA (rivalry)	ESPN	L 3–20	70,397[4]
November 9	11:00 a.m.	Illinois		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN+	L 20–37	78,709[4]
November 16	11:00 p.m.	at No. 12 Michigan		Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	ESPN2	L 14–21	110,412[4]
November 23	11:00 a.m.	Minnesota		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (Paul Bunyan's Axe)	ESPN	W 49–31	78,843[4]
December 28	7:00 p.m.	vs. No. 14 Colorado*		Alamodome San Antonio, TX (Alamo Bowl)	ESPN	W 31–28 ^OT	50,690[4]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Roster

2002 Wisconsin Badgers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 88 Mark Bell Jr FB 45 Matt Bernstein Fr FB 39 Erik Bickerstaff Sr QB 5 Brooks Bollinger Sr G 67 Dan Buenning So QB 11 Owen Daniels So RB 28 Anthony Davis So WR 3 Lee Evans Jr C 72 Al Johnson Sr T 64 Ben Johnson Sr OL 56 Jason Jowers Sr TE 38 Jason Pociask So WR 9 Jonathan Orr Fr C 53 Donovan Raiola Fr QB 19 Jim Sorgi Jr OL 66 Andy Ulrich Jr WR 25 Brandon Williams Fr OL 78 Jake Wood So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 7 Ryan Aiello Jr DB 8 Michael Broussard Jr LB 53 Craig Cummings So DT 77 Anttaj Hawthorne So DE 90 Erasmus James So DT 74 Jason Jefferson So S 18 Jim Leonhard So LB 12 Alex Lewis Jr LB 46 Jeff Mack Sr DE 95 Joe Monty Fr DB 21 Levonne Rowan Fr DE 99 Jake Sprague Sr CB 2 Scott Starks So CB 23 B. J. Tucker Sr DE 92 Jonathan Welsh So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 97 Matt Allen So K 16 Scott Campbell Jr LS 86 Matt Katula Jr	Head coach Barry Alvarez Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Regular starters

Position Player Quarterback Brooks Bollinger Running Back Anthony Davis Fullback Matt Bernstein Wide Receiver Darrin Charles Wide Receiver Jonathan Orr Tight End Tony Paciotti Left Tackle Ben Johnson Left Guard Dan Buenning Center Al Johnson Right Guard Jonathan Clinkscale Right Tackle Jason Jowers

Position Player Defensive End Jake Sprague Defensive Tackle Anttaj Hawthorne Defensive Tackle Jason Jefferson Defensive End Erasmus James Outside Linebacker Alex Lewis Inside Linebacker Jeff Mack Outside Linebacker Kareem Timbers Cornerback Scott Starks Strong Safety Jim Leonhard Free Safety Ryan Aiello Cornerback B.J. Tucker

Season summary

Coming off a disappointing 5–7 2001 season, the Badgers of 2002 wanted improvement. Despite amazing statistics from WR Lee Evans and RB Anthony Davis, the Badgers had issues closing out games, and an overworked defense managed lackluster efforts when the team could hardly afford them.

In the spring game, Wisconsin's offense suffered a devastating blow when top receiver Lee Evans was lost for the season with a torn ACL. Evan's loss was a significant blow, but despite it, Wisconsin managed to start off the season by winning all five of their nonconference games. From there, though, things did not go Wisconsin's way; the Badgers lost their first three Big Ten games by less than 7 points. Among those was a near-upset of eventual National Champion Ohio State, a 19–14 Ohio State win that was Jim Tressel's first over the Badgers (having lost 20–17 to Wisconsin the previous year). After going 0–3 to open their Big Ten slate, Wisconsin defeated Michigan State in Spartan Stadium 42–24 for their first conference win of the season. After that game, Wisconsin would lose their next 3 games against Big Ten opponents, including a 20–3 loss to Big Ten co-champion Iowa, and yet another close game against a Lloyd Carr-coached Michigan team. The loss to Michigan dropped Wisconsin to 1–6 in Big Ten play.

To close out the regular season, Wisconsin finally put together a complete game in a 49–31 blowout of rival Minnesota, taking back Paul Bunyan's Axe and keeping Minnesota's losing streak in Camp Randall alive. The Badgers improved to 7–6 on the season.

Wisconsin was awarded a berth in the Alamo Bowl, having gotten the required 6 wins in the regular season, and faced Colorado, a Big Twelve opponent that had won the Big Twelve North outright and lost the Big Twelve Championship Game 29–7 to Oklahoma. At 9-4, Colorado entered the game ranked 14th in the nation, and hoping for a ten-win season. But Wisconsin managed to keep up with Colorado, and won the game 31–28 in overtime for their 8th win of the season, knocking Colorado to 9–5 on the year.

For Wisconsin, Freshman WR Jonathan Orr put together a good season in the absence of Lee Evans, catching 47 passes for 842 yards, with 8 receiving touchdowns. RB Anthony Davis ran for 1,555 yards on 300 carries, with 13 touchdowns.[5] QB Brooks Bollinger, in his senior season, completed 131 passes on 245 attempts for 1,758 yards and 14 touchdowns, with just 4 interceptions.[5]

Game summaries

Fresno State

1 2 3 4 Total Fresno St 7 0 7 7 21 • Wisconsin 0 10 7 6 23 Date: August 23 Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin Game start: 8:00 p.m. EST

Scoring summary 1 FRES Bernard Berrian 22 yard pass from Jeff Grady (Asen Asparuhov kick) Fresno St 7–0 2 WIS Matt Bernstein 1 yard run (Mike Allen kick) Tie 7–7 2 WIS Mike Allen 27 yard field goal Wisconsin 10–7 3 FRES Adam Jennings 8 yard pass from Jeff Grady (Asen Asparuhov kick) Fresno St 14–10 3 WIS Matt Bernstein 3 yard run (Mike Allen kick) Wisconsin 17–14 4 WIS Mike Allen 35 yard field goal Wisconsin 20–14 4 FRES Alec Greco 23 yard pass from Jeff Grady (Asen Asparuhov kick) Fresno St 21–20 4 WIS Mike Allen 34 yard field goal Wisconsin 23–21

[6]

UNLV

1 2 3 4 Total • Wisconsin 0 24 0 3 27 UNLV 0 7 0 0 7 Date: August 31 Location: Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada Game start: 8:45 p.m. EST

[7]

West Virginia

1 2 3 4 Total West Virginia 0 3 7 7 17 • Wisconsin 7 27 0 0 34 Date: September 7 Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin Game start: 12:10 p.m. EST

[8]

Northern Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total N Illinois 3 3 3 12 21 • Wisconsin 0 10 7 7 24 Date: September 14 Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin Game start: 12:10 p.m. EST

[9]

Arizona

1 2 3 4 Total Arizona 0 0 7 3 10 • Wisconsin 0 24 7 0 31 Date: September 21 Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin Game start: 12:10 p.m. EST

[10]

Penn State

1 2 3 4 Total • Penn St 10 11 7 6 34 Wisconsin 0 14 6 11 31 Date: October 5 Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin Game start: 3:30 p.m. EST

[11]

Indiana

1 2 3 4 Total Wisconsin 6 10 13 0 29 • Indiana 3 7 7 15 32 Date: October 12 Location: Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana Game start: 12:10 p.m. EST

[12]

Ohio State

1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 10 3 0 6 19 Wisconsin 7 7 0 0 14 Date: October 19 Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin Game start: 3:30 p.m. EST

[13]

Michigan State

1 2 3 4 Total • Wisconsin 21 7 7 7 42 Michigan St 0 3 14 7 24 Date: October 26 Location: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan Game start: 7:05 p.m. EST

[14]

Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total Wisconsin 0 3 0 0 3 • Iowa 0 10 10 0 20 Date: November 2 Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa Game start: 12:05 p.m. EST Game attendance: 70,397 Television network: ESPN

[15]

Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total • Illinois 10 14 3 10 37 Wisconsin 3 10 7 0 20 Date: November 9 Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin Game start: 12:10 p.m. EST

[16]

Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total Wisconsin 7 7 0 0 14 • Michigan 14 0 7 0 21 Date: November 16 Location: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan Game start: 12:05 p.m. EST

[17]

Minnesota

1 2 3 4 Total Minnesota 3 11 10 7 31 • Wisconsin 7 14 7 21 49 Date: November 23 Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin Game start: 12:05 p.m. EST

[18]

Alamo Bowl

1 2 3 4 OT Total Colorado 14 0 14 0 0 28 • Wisconsin 7 14 0 7 3 31 Date: December 28 Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas Game start: 9:00 p.m. EST

[19]

Team players selected in the 2003 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Overall Selection	NFL Team
Al Johnson	Center	2	38	Dallas Cowboys
B.J. Tucker	Cornerback	6	178	New York Jets
Brooks Bollinger	Quarterback	6	200	Miami Dolphins
Ben Johnson	Offensive Tackle	7	216	Detroit Lions

[20]

References

1. http://www.nationalchamps.net/NCAA/college_football_2002_schedules/wisconsin.htm
2. "2002 NCAA Football Rankings - AP Top 25 Postseason (Jan. 5)". ESPN. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
3. Stapleton, Arnie (August 24, 2002). "Late FG Lifts Wisconsin". The Beaufort Gazette. Associated Press. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
4. "The Automated ScoreBook For Football" (PDF). University of Wisconsin Department of Athletics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-12. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-06-22. Retrieved 2010-12-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. ESPN
7. ESPN
8. ESPN
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10. ESPN
11. ESPN
12. ESPN
13. ESPN
14. ESPN
15. ESPN
16. ESPN
17. ESPN
18. ESPN
19. ESPN
20. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/2003.htm