We all overreacted. “We,” meaning the fans, columnists, beat writers, armchair coaches, couch coordinators, critics, students and alumni alike. That tends to happen.

To quote one of my favorite movies, “Blow:” “Sometimes you’re flush, and sometimes you’re bust. And when you’re up, it’s never as good as it seems, and when you’re down, you never think you’ll be up again. But life goes on.”

That’s exactly what’s happened here.

Three months ago, the term “rebuilding season” applied to Rich Rodriguez’s Wolverines, not Bret Bielema’s Badgers. With six senior starters on defense, a senior quarterback in Allan Evridge, a possible first-round draft pick in tight end Travis Beckum and an offensive line with as much experience and talent as any in the land, this Wisconsin team’s preseason goals were at an all-time high. A trip to Pasadena seemed attainable; a national championship wasn’t entirely outrageous, either.

But after three fourth-quarter collapses coupled with a pair of conference blowouts, the wheels on Bielema’s bandwagon fell off faster than David Gilreath’s 40 time. Somewhere during the wreckage, www.firebretbielema.com emerged, evidence of the overwhelming (over)reaction that spread across Badger Nation.

This year’s monumental disappointment of a season got the outcry it deserved, but what I failed to recognize until recently is that this wasn’t a rebuilding season for those wearing shoulder pads and helmets on Madison Saturdays; this was a rebuilding season for Bielema.

I’ll be the first to admit my impulsiveness. I too thought a head-coaching change was needed for this team to succeed. In the middle of the meltdown, it seemed necessary. Now, I’m rescinding my vote.

For weeks Bielema could do nothing right. The team committed countless penalties of the mental variety. They couldn’t line up correctly. They couldn’t substitute properly. They had no organization, no discipline. He was flip with the media and had no answer for the fans. Chaos lingered around Camp Randall Stadium.

But after two wins in as many weeks, the dust is finally starting to settle. Alas, we can be rational once again. The Badgers are now 6-5, and much of that is because of Bielema’s inexperience, immaturity and inability to stop the bleeding during in-game breakdowns. But to take perhaps the most popular “Bielema-ism” of the season: “It’s not what happens during the course of the game, but how you react to it.”

For him, this applies to the 2008 season in its entirety rather than a single game.

The truth is, despite all Bielema’s aforementioned blunders, UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez won’t fire him at this season’s end. And just like starting freshman Curt Phillips at quarterback instead of Dustin Sherer (which many fans were calling for to avoid another senior starter next year) wasn’t the answer this fall, giving Bielema the ax isn’t going to solve anything either; it would simply create more growing pains a year from now, which no one wants to see. Sherer will be exponentially better next season because of his seven starts (assuming they make a bowl game) this year. Perhaps Bielema’s learning curve will pay similar dividends.

This was supposed to be The Year. Guess what, it wasn’t. But the Badgers don’t need to adopt Illinois’ spread offense, and they don’t need a new head coach just yet.

Next season Sherer will lead an offense with John Clay, P.J. Hill, Garrett Graham, Gilreath, Nick Toon and Isaac Anderson. Sounds a lot better than it did six weeks ago, doesn’t it?

The defense will lose five of its front seven, but a kid named Tyler Westphal is poised to succeed at defensive end, and the secondary will only lose Allen Langford but regain Aaron Henry. Plus, there’s a pair of freshman kickers who have vastly exceeded expectation. No one wanted to talk about them during the gloomy days of two weeks ago.

Wins over lowly Indiana and rival Minnesota at home haven’t transformed Bielema into Pete Carroll; they’ve merely put things into perspective — it isn’t time to hit the eject button quite yet.

Much like recent President-elect Barack Obama, Bielema has a big hole to dig himself out of. Should the Badgers stumble out of the gate in 2009, his seat will surely become reheated almost instantly. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; we’ve had a life supply of doing that over the past eight weeks.

This isn’t about Motor City, Paul Bunyan, roses or Big Ten standings. It’s about dealing with adversity and learning from one’s mistakes — things Bielema sermonizes on a more than weekly basis. Next year will be his chance to practice what he preaches. He deserves the chance to prove it.

Derek is a junior majoring in economics. Has back-to-back victories saved Bielema’s job? Should he still be fired for what unfolded this season? Let Derek know at [email protected].