Ranked Again? Uh oh.

The UW football Badgers have re-entered the rankings. That is, a ranking, specifically, the coaches poll. The team is 25th. I find this annoying and undeserved. UW played it's first solid game of the season last Saturday, in pounding a completely injury-riddled Northern Illinois squad 44-3. That's one solid game in eight tries, and only the second game where UW's defense has looked solid-- the other, arguably, being the Iowa game. Plus, it wasn't an all-facets butt-kicking either, as Donovan threw an interception and the team hardly had any passing yards. I guess I just I feel better about this team when it's fighting for respect. It's had too much respect given to it this season, as best shown by the #5 ranking going into the Illinois game.

Also, I do not want this team to be overconfident going into the Indiana game. Indiana's QB is Randle El, the Older, esque, and that team had a good shot to beat Penn State, if their punt returner hadn't totally blown it. (Indiana was down six, and they forced PSU to punt with about 90 seconds left. Their punter returner called for a fair catch around the 35, but then let the punt go over his head where it bounced to around the 5. This is not the NFL-- game over.) And a reminder, PSU beat the Badgers by 31 points.
I also saw some ranking of wide receiver prospects for next year's NFL draft and it had James Hardy, IU's enormous touchdown machine (31 career TD receptions), rated as the 5th best prospect, behind Michigan's Mario Manningham. Let me think about that. Ummm . . . . no. Hardy is freaking awesome. I would take him over Manningham in a heartbeat. He looks like Calvin Johnson or Terrell Owens. He schooled PSU's Justin King repeatedly on Saturday; even though King is also a probable first day draft pick. This will likely be Jackie I's toughest match-up all year.
Thus, I expect the Badger defense to "regress" to Sparty-like form next Saturday. The badass performance against NIU will have been a blip on the radar screen. The offense will have to outscore them. Thank goodness Lance can play home games, and Hubbard is back.

Oh, and if you don't have the Big Ten Network, the only channel that's carrying the Indiana game, you're welcome to watch the game at my place. I would normally use this as an excuse to push Dish Network, but they just charged us for a package that I called about and canceled, twice. Even the guys who give you good deals are evil. Argh.