It has not been a good 24 hours for the Wisconsin Badgers.
Barely an hour after Pittsburgh officially announced it had hired Paul Chryst as its new head coach, former Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist announced on Twitter that he is headed to Kansas instead of Wisconsin.
In a normal year, this would probably not be that big of a deal as Crist is no Russell Wilson, but the Badgers' quarterback situation is very uncertain as Jon Budmayr and Curt Phillips are both recovering from serious injuries. At this point, it doesn't appear either will be with the team in the spring.
After a long & difficult decision making process, I'm incredibly excited to join the Kansas football team. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
— Dayne Crist (@dcrist10) December 22, 2011
Wisconsin also loses Nick Toon and probably Montee Ball as well. And then, of course, there's the biggest loss of all: Paul Chryst.
The addition of Crist would have at least given Wisconsin a Scott Tolzien-like starter with experience. The Badgers will still have talent running backs and a good offensive line, so they just need a quarterback that won't lose them games.
Except for 2008, Wisconsin has always had those guys with Chryst running the offense.
Things are going to be different in 2012. I'd savor every second of watching Russell Wilson in the Rose Bowl if I were you.