The onset of September means three things in the state of Wisconsin: disgruntled 8-to-17 year olds returning to school, Brett Favre ducking under center at Lambeau Field and the Wisconsin Badgers beginning another march to a December or January bowl game.

But conventional wisdom was derailed last autumn. Sure, teens were still surly and No. 4 started 16 games in Green Bay, but Barry Alvarez's Badgers, three-time Rose Bowl champions in the 1990s and bowl attendees for seven of the last eight winters, sprung an Elbe-River-overunning-Dresden-sized leak. The result was a 5-7 season, no bowl game and a lot of grandma's mashed potatoes for UW players at Christmas dinner.

Enthusiasm is tepid as the Cardinal & White prepare to open 2002's 13-game quest this Friday against Fresno State, one that hopefully ends in a 14th game in early January. But the season figures to be as interesting as any other.

The statistically inclined can take heart in the fact that the Badgers return 99 percent of last year's rushing yards, as well every last passing yard and 70 percent of their receiving totals. Of course, a good chunk of the latter were provided by star WR Lee Evans, whose knee injury may allow him to play in game six, which is the first Big Ten contest on the slate (Oct. 5, vs. Penn State).

With QB Brooks Bollinger slated to play full-time this season, the offense should move the ball. Bollinger lacks experience at tight end and his receivers are a tad impish without Evans (until No. 3's return, they are led by sophomore Darrin Charles), but he can still turn around and hand to super-soph Anthony Davis at tailback, one of the most accomplished freshman running backs in NCAA history.

Considering Ron Dayne used to tread around these parts, that's saying something. But Davis set a new NCAA mark by besting 100-yards ten times as a freshman. And to hazard a guess, doing so 14 times as a sophomore would probably earn him another line of agate in NCAA history books.

Davis will sprint into and out of holes generated by perhaps Alvarez's best offensive line ever, anchored by center Al Johnson. And while Davis is fully expected to have another big year, he should get more help from Jerone Pettus and newcomers Booker Stanley and Dwayne Smith, one or both of whom could earn some carries in the first five non-conference games. Davis averaged over 26 carries per game last year, a total Alvarez is intent on decreasing.

But the keys to another bowl trip are fairly simple in Madison: keep Bollinger healthy, and revive a haggard defensive unit that was abused more than Big Five accounting standards last season.

Jim Sorgi, for all his valiant relief efforts, could not engineer a win in as the team's starting QB; Bollinger is 22-7 in the role over three seasons. Consider the first point made. Plus, Brian White's offense will no longer rotate Sorgi in for series while Bollinger is healthy, a trend that seemed to backfire last year even if it produced some nice throws by the backup.

As for the second point, you've likely repressed the worst of last year's memories by now. Suffice to say that Indiana scored 63 points and racked up over 600 yards on the Badgers just two years after UW beat them 59-0, and merely three after the Badgers led the nation in defensive points allowed (10.2 in '98, compared to 28.8 last season).

It was a long, hard and embarrassing fall for a defensive group that -- coupled with a ground-it-out offensive mindset -- has defined Badger football under Alvarez. And the scary part is that Wendell Bryant and Mike Echols, perhaps the D's two best players, are now gone.

The defensive line looks deeper, even sans Bryant, who was drafted No. 12 by Arizona in the NFL Draft in April. End Erasmus James may become the team's big sack man while DT Antajj Hawthorne could blossom into a star in his sophomore year, similar to Bryant's Camp Randall trajectory.

It's the secondary that is most tenuous, however, and new defensive backfield coach Ron Cooper knows it. He doesn't have an Echols or a Jamar Fletcher to lean on, but Scott Starks learned a lot starting as a true freshman in 2001, and senior B.J. Tucker had a solid preseason camp. And watch strong safety Jim Leonhard, who took the job away from incumbent Michael Broussard (who subsequently quit the team) early in camp and seems to bring the fire of Badger defenses of old to the secondary.

The secondary was a mess last fall, and the kicking game was generally a shambles, too. JUCO transfer Scott Campbell looks more like a backup offensive tackle at 6-0, 225, but he supposedly can reach the end zone with kickoffs on occasion. He may split place-kicking duties with returnee Mike Allen, who wasn't that bad last year, but lacked the consistency expected of UW placekickers.

And speaking of JUCOs, good things are also expected of linebacker Alex Lewis, a transfer from the New York-school system who has been blowing up offensive teammates in camp. He and speedy OLB Kareem Timbers allow veteran Jeff Mack to shift inside again this fall, and the trio should shore up an extremely porous run defense.

It's going to be a weird year in Madison. The team opens play on a Friday, plays five times before the Big Ten season opens, doesn't play Northwestern or Purdue, hosts eight games overall at Camp Randall and -- despite winning just five games in 12 tries last year -- comes into the season ranked No. 25 by the AP.

With so many unknowns and a wide-open Big Ten conference, who knows how many games they'll win? But they'll need at least seven for a return bowl engagement, and that number seems like a pretty safe bet.