Preseason
The Badgers were picked to finish in the middle of the Big Ten conference and were not ranked in the preseason for a number of reasons. Early defections to the National Football League by second-team All-Americans Brandon Williams and Brian Calhoun left the Badger offense with only three returning starters. Additionally, with the departure of Barry Alvarez – who had just completed his final season with 10 wins and a Capital One Bowl victory – the head coaching job was taken over by Bret Bielema, then the youngest head coach in Division I-A football.
Bright spots for the Badgers included returning All-American offensive tackle Joe Thomas, who was coming off an ACL injury. John Stocco resumed the starting position at quarterback for his senior season, and P. J. Hill, Jr. won the starting tailback job. The defense was to be led by senior linebacker Mark Zalewski and senior strong safety Joe Stellmacher. The special teams unit was considered strong, with All-American candidate Ken DeBauche punting the ball.
Some sportswriters felt that the non-conference schedule was fairly weak. Early in the season, the team's non-conference schedule was placed on the "waiting list" of ESPN.com's Bottom 10 rankings.
Read more about this topic: 2006 Wisconsin Badgers Football Team