Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying, \I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."" Einstein, however, was conveniently unavailable for comment when asked, ""But what if you're favorite college football team is undefeated halfway through its season, and they have only one truly formidable opponent standing in the way of their first-ever Orange Bowl berth?""
The supposed genius, had he been a Badger-booster from Waukesha, would most likely have had a change of heart, humbly dismounted his high horse, and conceded that indeed, it feels as if the future just could not come soon enough.
This upcoming week feels like an eternity-for the fans anyway-as UW stares ahead to this Saturday's showdown with quarterback Kyle Orton and the No. 5 Purdue Boilermakers, who promise to give Wisconsin's vaunted defense its toughest test yet.
UW started a quiet 5-0-winning with defense, special teams and an offense that could be mistaken for Nyquil-but could no longer be ignored after beating Ohio State last weekend 24-13, as they jumped five spots in the Associated Press Poll to become No. 10 in the nation with five games to play.
Excluding 5-0 Purdue, the Badgers final four opponents are currently a combined 14-9-a mediocre record at best, which might only get worse as conference foes continue to beat each other into the ground and out of title contention. That leaves the mighty Boilermakers, who boast the Heisman front-runner and fourth-best scoring offense in the country.
The Badgers have broken through the first and second wave of tacklers. They have one man to beat. If they find that extra burst of speed, catch a key block or juke the last defender, it is all open field from there. That tackler-looking to grab anything from a shoulder pad to a shoestring-is wearing black and gold and hosting the Badgers this Saturday.
If the defense can take the air out of the Boilermakers' aerial assault, UW can focus on controlling the ball, handing it to senior running back Anthony Davis and perhaps even allowing sophomore quarterback John Stocco to continue to improve and open up the offense.
So in spite of a certain know-it-all's attempt at dissuasion, imagine that UW upsets Purdue and in the process cracks the top seven in the rankings. It will take a Herculean effort on the part of Davis, Stocco and the team's true emerging star, senior defensive end Erasmus James.
If the Badgers can topple the Boilermakers, then James will likely be the major factor pressuring Orton and forcing him to make bad throws and poor decisions, or better yet, making the former Heisman pace-setter more familiar with the turf than a kid majoring in horticulture.
After a win against the Boilers, Davis could conceivabley be a Heisman hopeful. Davis is averaging over 190.5 yards per game in his two full starts which would lead the nation, and has cracked the top 50 in total rushing yards despite missing more than half of the season thus far.
If the Badgers continue to roll and keep their perfect record in tact deep into the fall, Davis will start to stockpile as many national acknowledgments as yards. When people think Wisconsin football, they think running backs, and Davis is as good a figurehead for the program's success as any player, and the team's success depends on his explosive ability which-as long as he is healthy-is never dormant.
Stocco also breathed life into the passing game last week as he completed 15 of 24 passes and threw for two touchdowns while totalling zero picks. Until last week, the defensive and offensive lines were responsible for keeping the Cardinal and White out of the loss column, but Stocco gave Badger fans a glimpse of a dimension that could send UW into the pantheon of the nation's elite. There may be several teams in the country that can derail Davis, but not one can do so with the threat of even a respectable passing game--something Stocco, junior tight end/wide out Owen Daniels and the rest of the receiving core have begun to provide.
Most importantly, Wisconsin has Erasmus James to anchor the defense. He is a conundrum in cleats-he is already drawing comparisons to the former Florida Gator great and now Philadelphia Eagle Jevon Kearse, and his draft day stock is rising amazingly fast. Scouts can not help but love his speed, quickness, power and production.
It is hard to argue with six sacks in as many games, 18 solo tackles, 9.5 of those for loss, and 25 total tackles as well as six quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. He has done it all, and the rest of the defense along with the entire team has benefited from his huge season-on the heels of a disappointing 2003 season which he missed due to injury.
As far as the national landscape in which the Badgers could be prominently involved with a perfect Big Ten season, No. 1 USC has looked mortal not once, but twice this season and clearly miss the defensive players they lost in the first round of last year's NFL draft and receiver Mike Williams, who was ruled-questionably so-ineligible to participate in NCAA football.
No. 2 Oklahoma is poised for its late season collapse, but they have yet to decide which under-matched team they will lose to in embarrassing fashion. The rest of the teams in on the national title hunt-mainly the ones that are ranked ahead of Wisconsin-all play each other before season's end. No. 3 Miami plays No. 6 Virginia, Virginia travels to Tallahassee to face No. 7 Florida State this weekend, and No. 4 Auburn still has several tough games left in the SEC including one against No. 8 Georgia. If Purdue falls at the hands of Bucky and company, it is entirely possible that teams in the Top 10 could beat up on each other and the Badgers-barring a giant letdown against the likes of a Northwestern or Michigan State-could carefully navigate their way through the Big Ten foes that remain and emerge Orange Bowl-bound.
Alas, we must return from the land of the delectably undetermined known as the future and hope that the players themselves do not count their eggs before they hatch. Nevertheless, looking ahead a is worthwhile exercise, at the very least because using imagination expands the mind, and at the very best, it gives the Badger faithful some time to clear their schedule for a trip to South Florida on Jan. 4 for the national championship game.
Apparently the mathematician-extraordinaire did not see the point of the dabbling in the prospect of a fruitful future-and he might be best off sticking to just telling us all what ""E"" equals.
