It isn't the players. Arkansas returned several key starters including what was the SEC's best QB in Tyler Wilson and one the best running backs in Kniles Davis.
Wisconsin on the other hand lost their QB to the draft and a number of their offensive and defensive starters. They did return one key player in Montee Ball, a Heisman finalist.
Both teams were picked to do quite well this year. The Badgers were not only picked to win the Big 10, they were picked to breeze right to the top of their division with Penn State and Ohio State being inelgible. This was supposed to be the year the Hogs finally win the Western Division of the SEC.
But what happened in the off-season is what has effected both of these schools so much.
Coach Turnover!
We talk so much about the 4 year, cyclical nature of college and the loss of talent to graduation and the draft. What's not talked about as much is the importance of a coaching staff.
It was pretty clear and apparent when Arkansas lost their coach. And when a coach is fired or leaves it's a big deal usually. But the effects on a coach leaving can last for years, maybe even a decade sometimes. Bobby Petrino's departure left a big stain on the program, which is why John L. Smith was brought in to sort of clean it up and keep the ship afloat. But even with the whole fiasco, the media still liked Arkansas' chances because so much talent was coming back. They put little stock into the coaching change.
Another story that was reported minorly in the off-season was 6 coaches leaving Wisconsin for other jobs. There didn't seem to be anything weird going on, each coach left for respectable jobs, and the team was on a roll of consistently wining. (Just not in the Rose Bowl.) Now that Wisconsin is struggling, the media has brought up the story again, as a reason for their struggles. But with Wisconsin it was supposed to be the same story as Arkansas; so much talent was coming back and they had the Heisman finalist Ball returning and another transferring senior like Russell Wilson.
The big story is how important chemistry and continuity is towards a team winning, not on the field, but on the sidelines and in the booth. The co-ordinators are the ones working hands on with the players every day. They're the ones with the working, daily relationships with every one on their side of the team. When you lose a co-ordinator, you're oftentimes losing the coach some of the players had the closest relationships with, and the most trust. You also lose the recruiting bond those coaches and players may have had. A new co-ordinator means having to re-build all of that, having to re-build chemistry, having to re-establish recruiting ties; it's bigger than losing a few players to the draft.
One interesting side not is the irony of a winning program. A winning program means people are doing their jobs well. When people do their jobs well, they tend to either move up or move on to bigger things.(Pete Carroll's last year at USC was a big struggle partly because he lost his offensive and defensive coordinators.) So winning forms good chemistry, which should beget more winning....but oftentimes it creates more struggle when the coaching staff has to re-build. An interesting added cycle to the sport that is built on a cyclical nature.
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