I can’t take too much faith into the hype college-football pundits and pollsters are building for the 2003 Badgers. I was led astray three years ago as the Badgers started the season nationally ranked in the top five, only to see a lack of execution and a bunch of free shoes send the team to El Paso and the depths of the bowl pool.

Since the disappointing 2000 season, Barry and his boys put together an equally disappointing 5-7 season in 2001 and followed that with a 2-6 conference record in 2002. Expectations and the promise of contention have not delivered, at least in my tenure in Madison.

But don’t get me wrong — there should be optimism going into the 2003 season. After all, the last time we saw the Badgers, they put together one of the greatest games in the history of the program, rallying for an 80-yard touchdown drive in the game’s closing minutes and capping it off with an overtime field goal, catapulting Wisconsin past the No. 14 Colorado Buffalos in the Alamo Bowl.

And the 2003 Badgers are more than capable of carrying over this success with a strong nucleus of talent, including a bevy of experienced tailbacks and wideouts. The defense only loses two starters and has the fortune of experience and depth on its side. Jim Sorgi steps into the starting lineup and needs only to be efficient and curtail any mistakes to be effective. The pieces really do seem to be there, and barring any injury, I could see the Badgers possibly contending for a bid in the Rose Bowl or beyond.

Despite my optimism, I haven’t jumped on the bandwagon just yet. I need to see something first. I need some confirmation to the validity that these Badgers can be Big Ten contenders. I need to see the Badgers win their conference games at home.

For three straight seasons, the Badgers have only managed to find one conference win at Camp Randall: Minnesota in 2000 and 2002 and Iowa in 2001.

For a university that boasts one of the loudest and most raucous student sections in the country, the fact that the Badgers have failed to take advantage of such support is nearing the absurd.

Why can’t they win at home?

“I can’t put my finger on it,” Alvarez told me. “We weren’t a very good team two years ago. Last year we lost some real tight, tough games to some real good teams. We didn’t make plays. That’s the bottom line. They were good teams, and they made plays down the stretch and we didn’t.”

I can agree with that. Penn State and Ohio State were extremely talented teams in 2002, and the Badgers just were not a good team in 2001. But the 2002 loss to Illinois at home stands out in my mind. Losing in close games to very talented teams is excusable, but Illinois? Come on.

“Is home-field advantage something you try to promote?” I asked.

“We’ve tried to emphasize [home-field advantage],” Alvarez said. “It hasn’t seemed to work these last two years.”

But why hasn’t it worked? The student section, in my mind, has produced nothing but the best that fandom has to offer. Take a tour of the Big Ten and Camp Randall is no doubt the loudest. The almost century-old stadium channels sound around the horseshoe like a megaphone, and the foundation shakes after every third quarter.

“I couldn’t really tell you what’s going on there,” team captain Jim Leonhard said. “It’s kind of disappointing with all the backing and fan support that we have been losing some of those games at home. It just came down to little things where we haven’t done the things in the fourth quarter that we needed to win.”

And that, time and time again, separates the contenders from the pretenders; the little things. If Wisconsin wants to turn that corner and be the contenders they can be, it starts with the Oct. 11 home opener against Ohio State. The Badgers are an experienced bunch who should be able to get past a bad bounce of the ball here and find a way to win. But it starts with the Camp.

“This year, one of our main goals is to get the Camp back to where the Camp was,” junior defensive end Darius Jones said. “We want the Camp back being the rowdy Camp that opponents are scared to come into. We want [the opposition] to cover their heads because they know something might be coming after them. We just want the old rowdy Camp Randall to be back.”