"The tradition of winning here is unbelievable, es- pecially the last 10 to 15 years,'' O'Brien said. "You can really see it in the players, too. There's a lot of confidence. But they're hungry to get back to the Rose Bowl and do it again and it's awesome to be a part of it."
and finished 2-10. Crowton was fired and is now the offensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
O'Brien tried to make the best of the situation
last winter. Part of that entailed taking a three- credit course "Doing Business in Australia'' which was sponsored through the Maryland business school. O'Brien and about 50 of his classmates spent more than half of their time in Sydney, the largest city in the country. Besides classwork, there were plenty of opportunities for recreation, including scuba diving. By then, O'Brien was already contemplating his next opportunity to play college football. And when he showed up in Madison on his recruit- ing trip, he couldn't keep his eyes off the Big Ten championship trophies in the waiting area outside of Bret Bielema's office in Camp Randall Stadium. "The tradition of winning here is unbelievable, especially the last 10 to 15 years,'' O'Brien said. "You can really see it in the players, too. There's a lot of confidence. But they're hungry to get back to the Rose Bowl and do it again and it's awesome to be a part of it. Every day I'm out there (Camp Ran- dall) for practice, I can't help but look around and imagine what it's going to be like on Saturday.'' O'Brien will have more time to adjust to his new surroundings: two years of eligibility. "The way I see it,'' he said, "the transition was going to be the
transition either way. You're the new guy. You're almost a freshman all over again and you have to prove yourself. The cool thing is this place will feel more like a home because you can form those bonds with the guys over two complete seasons.'' Looking out the eighth floor window, scanning
the empty rows of empty seats that will be filled for Saturday's opener against Northern Iowa, he confided, "It's home. I feel like I'm at home right now.''
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