I probably wasn?t the only college-aged kid with a stomachache New Year’s morning, but I think mine was for a different reason than most.

It started soon after 11 a.m. and didn?t stop until well after 2 p.m.

Actually, it hasn?t fully gone away.

After a long night of celebrating the birth of ?08 in Rhode Island, I had a long drive back to Massachusetts, a ride during which I tried to comprehend how the Badger football team could have come out so flat, so lackluster, so unprepared.

Don?t get me wrong. There were some positives to take away from the 2008 Outback Bowl. Tyler Donovan ended his collegiate career with one of the gutsiest performances I?ve ever seen. After missing two-plus games with a lower leg injury, P.J. Hill looked like the premier back we got so accustomed to witnessing last season, which gives us hope for the 2008 campaign. Redshirt sophomore tight end Garrett Graham showed up big in crunch time and the UW secondary ? one that had been ridiculed all season for being soft ? virtually shut down a very good senior quarterback in Erik Ainge and the Volunteer offense in the second half.

Then what was the problem, you ask? It seemed to me like a lack of preparation and organization, two elements that can only stem from one thing: coaching.

Bret Bielema is 21-5 since becoming Wisconsin?s head football coach. The numbers don?t lie. He?s done a heck of a job in his first two seasons; no one can take that away from him. But four timeouts taken because of formation confusion on offense, complemented by a handful of ?illegal formation? and ?illegal shift? penalties after having 44 days off to prepare for a game on national television is simply unacceptable. And downright embarrassing.

So the season?s over. Yeah, maybe it was disappointing. But let?s face it, the Badgers were not the fifth-best team in the country, and a BCS bowl bid was also a pretty big stretch, despite all of our preseason aspirations.

I don?t believe in crying over spilt milk. I only bring up this issue for one reason: the future, especially next season.

Since the emergence of Ron Dayne, the Badgers have been a smash-mouth, blue collar, powerback team. It may not be pretty, but they?re going to beat you in the trenches. Needless to say, the Volunteers dominated both the UW offensive and defensive lines on New Year?s Day. Maybe they were simply overmatched, I?m not sure. What I do know is that a Donovan bootleg on fourth-and-2 on the UT 20-yard line, down four points with plenty of time remaining in the fourth quarter, is not the Badgers’ style.

Offensive coordinator Paul Chryst called a similar play in Columbus during the regular season on third down and short, in a Travis Beckum end-around against the Buckeyes. Beckum was tackled for a loss and the Badgers subsequently got manhandled in the remainder of the game.

Michigan just brought in former West Virginia head coach and spread offense specialist Rich Rodriguez to take over for Lloyd Carr. Ron Zook?s Illini ran the spread to perfection against UW and Ohio State this season, both of which resulted in key victories that ultimately led to a Rose Bowl berth. We also saw Oregon?s Dennis Dixon completely dismantle the Wolverine defense with the spread in the Big House in September. We?re witnessing a transformation among college football offenses. Like it or not, the spread works, especially in the Big Ten.

So do I think the Badgers should switch to the spread as well? I must admit it would be fun to watch Allan Evridge fake inside to P.J. Hill, fake the option to Lance Smith, then drop back and throw a bomb to Beckum down the middle with Kyle Jefferson streaking down the sideline.

But the answer is no. With Hill, Smith, Zach Brown (who showed glimmers of greatness down the stretch), and newcomer John Clay, Wisconsin should continue to jam it down opponents? throats. In other words, finesse and trickery are not ? and should not be ? in its arsenal. However, the Badgers do need to reestablish that well-earned, hard-nosed identity because the above-mentioned teams have already established theirs; they know they?re going to spread the field and run the triple option. (Michigan will be ready to run the spread by Week One).

The Badgers, on the other hand, seem confused as to what their identity truly is.

Bielema?s boys have too much talent returning next season to settle for mediocrity, like they did at times on the road this season. They need to look themselves in the mirror and realize what wearing cardinal and white really means, because they certainly have the personnel to do bigger and better things next season.

Derek Zetlin is a sophomore majoring in economics. If you’d like to discuss the future of the Badger football team further, you can e-mail him at [email protected].