TAMPA, Fla. — It was during a routine staff meeting last summer when University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema issued a warning that was more spot-on than any storm forecast a TV weatherman could hope to nail.

"Coach Bielema told us at some point in time we'd have to face some adversity," running backs coach John Settle said. "It would be interesting to see how we handled it."

Bielema's tone was more stern than usual, but he wanted to make sure he got his point across.

"I don't get upset with my staff very often," Bielema said. "But there was a meeting where I kind of got after them a little bit and said, 'Hey, you've got to expect the unexpected. It's not always going to be a bed of roses. Something is going to come on us.' "

Bielema's first season had gone so smoothly, he figured storm clouds had to be building somewhere. He just didn't know how ferocious they would be when they hit.

"It's kind of funny," Settle said. "It was as if he was prepared before it happened."

Bielema is known for his fanatical attention to detail and this was him at his best.

The first gale hit in July, just before the season was to begin, when popular receivers coach Henry Mason suffered a spinal cord injury after a fall in his home, leaving him unable to work this season. He was replaced on an interim basis by DelVaughn Alexander.

When the storms finally subsided, the 18th-ranked Badgers (9-3) had endured an injury-plagued season, but still managed a berth in a fourth straight January bowl game — Tuesday's Outback Bowl against No. 16 Tennessee (9-4).

"Last year was the ups and this year was dealing with the downs," linebackers coach Dave Doeren said. "If you look back, to be at 9-3, it kind of makes you feel good about what you did, because we overcame a lot of stuff a lot of people don't know about."

Injuries take toll

Bielema made the decision to kick senior defensive end Jamal Cooper off the team after a shouting match at practice about a week before the season started. Senior Kurt Ware, the expected replacement, never fully recovered from a knee injury and hardly played.

The injury toll rolled on from there: Senior tight end and co-captain Andy Crooks missed the first three games with a pulled hamstring and never was the same after that; senior receiver Paul Hubbard went down in the second game with a knee injury that forced him to miss five games; senior receiver Luke Swan suffered a season-ending torn hamstring in the sixth game; right tackle Eric Vanden Heuvel missed two starts with an ankle injury late in the season.

Things were even worse on defense, where none of the linebackers could stay healthy in preseason camp and sophomore Elijah Hodge, the starter in the middle, battled knee problems all season. Junior cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu missed almost two full games in the first five weeks.

Then came the kicker: Three starters — junior defensive tackle Jason Chapman, junior cornerback Allen Langford and freshman cornerback Aaron Henry — were lost to ACL injuries in a little more than a month.

"I have never been on a team where you lose three defensive starters to ACL surgeries. That just never happened, especially two corners, and to be able to survive it and have a nine-win season," Bielema said.

Gut-check time

It's one of those coming-of-age moments, when a young coach is hit with his first real adversity.

"That's how you judge a coach," said UW athletic director Barry Alvarez, who tabbed Bielema as his successor after 16 years as the Badgers' coach. "If everything goes smoothly, anyone can do it.

"It's how you hold a team together and how you hold a staff together, when you have injuries and you have issues. This team, really, it was banged up all year; they patched it together. The kids never got down. That's all about leadership. That all comes from the top."

When Bielema went 12-1 in his debut last year, Alvarez had people lining up to tell him what a wonderful choice he'd made. But in many ways, this season could prove to be more indicative about Bielema's chances for long-term success.

The toughest gut-check came after back-to-back losses at Illinois and Penn State left the Badgers reeling and out of the polls after being ranked as high as seventh. While most observers saw a dispirited team in the 38-7 loss to the Nittany Lions, Alvarez saw a tired team.

"We didn't play well (at Penn State)," Alvarez said. "You understand that. Those are easy to get out of your system, easier than a tough loss. (The coaches) got them to bounce back right away because (Bielema) stayed positive with them.

"When he talks about his '1-0 mentality,' the kids buy into it. That's when you go back to what you believe in and what your program is based on and that's why he does it, for times just like that."

Shooting for 10 wins

To be sure, this season is not without significant disappointment and missed opportunity. For the third time in four years, the Badgers were one win away from playing in the Rose Bowl.

If you want to elicit a pained expression from a UW player, mention something about a three-loss Illinois team going to the Rose Bowl.

"I'm not knocking them or anything, but that could have been us, easily, this year, the way things we were going," junior linebacker DeAndre Levy said. "We missed the opportunity. I hope the best for them. I hope they represent the Big Ten."

If the Badgers close this season with a win over Tennessee Tuesday, they will reach some significant milestones. They could reach 10 or more wins for the third straight year and join Michigan as the only Big Ten Conference schools to defeat Southeastern Conference opponents in bowl games in three straight years.

"I tell you what, a nine-win season is pretty good," Alvarez said. "If we can win 10 again, that's impressive. We haven't won 10 in the history of the school that often. For them to win this bowl game would be huge. That talks to the stability of the program and the stability in the leadership Bret has. You have to feel good about it."