MADISON, Wis. — For the first time all season, Wisconsin's football players will get to spend a Saturday watching other teams take the field on TV -- or doing whatever else they see fit. After nine weeks of action, the Badgers will finally receive a bye week.
They certainly have earned it.
Wisconsin began its season with a 26-21 victory on Sept. 1 against Northern Iowa and played every week through last Saturday's 16-13 overtime loss to Michigan State. Eight Big Ten teams already have taken a bye week. Northwestern is also off this Saturday, and Ohio State and Michigan State are off after Week 10.
Badgers players weren't made available to the media this week, but coaches said the bye comes at the right moment.
"Nine straight weeks for anybody is time to take a break," Badgers co-defensive coordinator Charlie Partridge said. "The kids played their hearts out Saturday. It came down to the last play against a football team that we all know is better than their record coming into that game. I think this is a good time."
Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said the practice plan this week differed greatly from other weeks.
On Tuesday, many of the starters did weightlifting and conditioning work, while the majority of practice repetitions went to second- and third-string players. Practices on Wednesday and Thursday were full-padded and featured significant repetitions with the first-team offense against the first-team defense. On Friday, players were to have an early-morning conditioning session before being given the rest of Friday and all of Saturday off. They will return Sunday to begin preparations for their Nov. 10 game at Indiana.
"In this bye week, I think it's very important to take this week as smart as we can, get our guys healthy," Bielema said. "Of our top 70 guys, the guys that are going to determine the results of these next three guaranteed games, we've got to get guys back to being healthy."
This week is particularly important because it will determine which quarterback starts against Indiana. Redshirt freshman Joel Stave broke his left collarbone against Michigan State and is out for eight weeks. Bielema said coaches would evaluate both Danny O'Brien and Curt Phillips in practice to decide on a starter moving forward.
O'Brien, a transfer from Maryland, started the team's first three games before Stave took his job. Phillips is a respected leader on the team but hasn't thrown a pass in a game since 2009 because he has undergone three ACL surgeries on his right knee. He played one series against Illinois earlier this season and entered in mop-up duty against Minnesota.
"Curt's a smart guy that likes the game," Badgers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. "He works at it. He's continued to grind at it. Curt obviously had a challenge physically with his situation. It's an opportunity for him to go play, compete, and it wasn't like he was way out of the mix in (fall) camp.
"You can only play one guy. We've just found a way to play a lot of them here this year."
While players take some time off this week, coaches haven't rested. Most of the team's assistants are spending the week on the recruiting trail.
Partridge, for example, took a flight last Sunday to recruit in Florida. He returned Tuesday morning in time for team meetings and practice. On Thursday night, he was to leave once again to recruit high school players in Florida.
"It's critical," Partridge said. "You go evaluate kids that you had on your radar as potential offers and follow up on kids that you've already offered. And the way recruiting is now, you're also going to see where juniors are at this point, too. Any chance you have to get ahead without affecting your roster on campus, you have to take advantage of it."
Bielema said recruiting plans on the east coast were adjusted because of Hurricane Sandy, but coaches already had found other areas of the country to recruit. Bielema will hit the recruiting trail Friday as well.
"Coaches, you never have a day (off) really," Bielema said. "From the time you start until signing day, there aren't very many days in there. . . . Friday I'll get up and be able to get on the road a little bit. It's a little different time in recruiting right now. You can't talk to them. You can observe them, see them, correspond with their coaches and be standing there while they're playing or practicing, but you can't physically talk to them. It's a good evaluation period, and for us it's a critical time."
Badgers coaches agreed players would be eager to return after the short break. Despite losing to Michigan State, Wisconsin can still advance out of the Leaders Division and play for the Big Ten championship Dec. 1 in Indianapolis.
"Everyone likes to go into a bye week with a victory," Partridge said. "It's kind of like if you don't win your bowl game, it's something you're feeling during that whole time. It's something we'll feel this whole week. We just need to coach them the same, take them one day at a time."
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