On the heels of last weekend's setback in Ann Arbor, the University of Wisconsin football team's war cry throughout the week has been to not let the disappointing loss to Michigan directly lead to an 0-2 start. When the Badgers (3-1, 0-1) hit the road to face Indiana (2-2, 0-0), this weekend's resiliency will be the order of the day.
"We can't let this loss affect us against Indiana," safety Joe Stellmacher said following UW's 27-13 loss to Michigan. "We have to bounce back."
While seeing how Wisconsin will respond to its first loss of the season is intriguing, it would be folly to call it the main storyline heading into the contest. Nay, the most fascinating aspect surrounding the Badgers' first trip to Memorial Stadium since 2002 is the return of Indiana head coach Terry Hoeppner to the sideline two weeks after undergoing brain surgery.
Having Hoeppner back coaching the team again will almost surely motivate the Hoosiers to raise their game past the level they have currently been playing at so far this season.
"My guess is they're going to be able to put a four-quarter game in because of the respect they have for Coach Hoeppner," Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said.
"It's huge," Indiana safety Will Meyers said. "With his charisma and the energy that he brings, you can just feel it in the meetings and at practice. I think that's definitely going to be a big boost for us."
Hoeppner missed the previous two Hoosier games after undergoing surgery to investigate a spot that showed up on a brain scan recently, which turned out to be just scar tissue. The surgery was the second operation since the '05 season concluded, as Hoeppner had a tumor removed from his right temple over the summer.
"There was an element of unknown with this surgery," Hoeppner said. "They told me after the first surgery that there might be an element of scar tissue … the surgeons and nurse said they'd never seen anyone heal so quick. There's a reason for it, and it's not me."
While the coach is the most ballyhooed Hoosier returning to the team this weekend, he certainly won't be the one who keeps Bielema and his staff up at night. Instead, the Badgers staff will have to worry about the return of star wide receiver James Hardy to the IU squad, following a two-game suspension for "personal issues."
"My problems were minor compared to [Hoeppner's]," Hardy said regarding comparisons of his coach's absence to his own. "I just wanted to see how he was doing and see if he was all right, I really didn't want the focus on me … he's the leader, so everyone is going to follow him. Now that we're both back, I'm just looking forward to Wisconsin on Saturday."
Hardy could well be the most dangerous pass catcher in the conference, but playing on Indiana has certainly muffled the hype surrounding the electric player. No one should know that more than the Wisconsin secondary who was torched by Hardy last season, to the tune of 157 yards and two touchdowns, in Wisconsin's 41-24 victory at Camp Randall.
"I'm just excited to be back," said Hardy, a 6-foot-7 sophomore. "The two weeks are over, I've dealt with the personal issues, and we're going into the Big Ten, and hopefully we can get these victories to go to a bowl game."
Indiana will welcome Hardy back with open arms, not just because of how talented he is, but because the IU offense struggled last week against UConn in a 14-7 loss. One of the major factors in the usually high-powered Hoeppner offense faltering was the inconsistent quarterback play brought on by injuries.
Now the Hoosiers are in a two-way — and possibly even a three-way — quarterback controversy with Blake Powers, Kellen Lewis and Graeme McFarland.
"I also don't think you want to box yourself in and say we're going to play this [or that] quarterback forever," Hoeppner said.
As of Thursday night, Hoeppner still hadn't named a starter for Saturday's game.
"I've challenged them both. Blake (Powers) is 100 percent, Kellen (Lewis) is talented," said Heoppner, who added that he believes that while the quarterback situation is very high-profile, the problems that have plagued the Indiana offense in recent weeks extend past the signal-caller. "There have been a lot of instances in the last two games where it wasn't the quarterback's fault. There are 10 other guys out there, and we need to get them all playing with confidence. It's a team game, and we've all got to get clicking and on the same page."
Defensively, the Hoosiers have struggled at times, giving up at least 20 points to such lightweights as Western Michigan, Ball State and Southern Illinois. The IU defense did seem to make strides against UConn, however.
"I thought we gained a level of confidence and execution on defense," Hoeppner said. "Two weeks ago, we probably played well enough on offense to win games, but we didn't play very well on defense. We reversed it this past week. I think that it is something that is fixable.
"We've got to do some things better than we've been doing, no doubt about that."
Hoeppner, a fiery, bouncing ball on the sidelines, has only mentioned one goal for his team, one that Wisconsin hopes will not be realized.
"Pretty simple goal this week," Hoeppner stated. "We need to defend the Rock."