Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez has a message for disgruntled fans: get a grip.
The Badgers have lost three straight to fall to 6-4 overall. And they've slipped to 19-17 since 2001 after having won three Rose Bowls in the 1990s.
But Alvarez said it could be worse.
"All you have to do is take a look around the country," Alvarez said. "It's cyclical how programs go. Look at Penn State. There is no better, no more fertile recruiting ground than Penn State and no one has done more for football than Joe Paterno, and they're going to have their third losing season in four years. Oklahoma, as good as they are right now, went through a 10-year drought."
Wisconsin "didn't have much tradition until we got here ... Yet we're competitive every week and we're in bowl games," he said.
The Badgers have qualified for their ninth bowl in 11 years. Only two Big Ten teams have done better: Michigan, which will be making its 28th straight post-season trip, and Ohio State, which is bowl-bound for the 14th time in 15 years.
But Alvarez admits he hasn't been infallible. The program has paid for recruiting failures following Rose Bowl wins in 1998 and 1999.
The Badgers found themselves in the running for many premier prospects, only to be jilted on signing day.
"We went after the top kids in the country," Alvarez said. "We came in second and third. Consequently, we lost a group of kids that we would normally recruit, and that hurt us. We made a lot of mistakes over those years."
This isn't the first time Alvarez has faced criticism. Even while Ron Dayne was winning the Heisman Trophy in 1999, fans grumbled that the Badgers didn't pass enough.
Alvarez knows he can't please everyone. And he hasn't met a coach who could.
"I've been in the stands watching a [Green Bay] Packer game, and guys are complaining every time a play doesn't work," he said. "Well, they all don't work. So I don't pay much attention to it because I have to worry about the things that really do matter, and that's being realistic and trying to get our team to play the best."
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