Pack It Up, Pack It In. Let Me Begin.

"Jump Around" is the most well-known thing about Wisconsin football, even more so than anything they've done on the field. At the end of each 3rd quarter the PA system blares House of Pain's 1992 hit and the student section at Camp Randall jumps around. ESPN and the BTN love it, Brent Musberger loves it, and the non-student sections love it; sometimes choosing to join in, looking foolish amongst those seated in their area, or just reminiscing about the glory days of their college youth. Wisconsin away crowds even take Jump Around on the road, adding to its lore in the process.

As a youngster watching on TV, I too was entranced by the sea of red jumping around. It looked like the fun, free, drunken good time college is supposed to represent to the people who either never went, or are buying their time in high school. When it came time to pick a school, Jump Around had no bearing on my choice. It didn't hurt though that before looking into anything academic, Jump Around was the only fully formulated thought I had of the school. Turns out, Jump Around is indicitive of the football program at large.

I didn't win football season tickets my freshman year. Each student had to enter a lottery, and a few thousand were selected. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors were guaranteed tickets if they wanted them. As the ever-so pessimistic 18-year old me expected, I didn't win and was forced to watch from my dorm. My freshman Saturdays usually consisted of waking up at 10:58, sometimes working off a hangover, and watching every game. This was OK until my roommate (who did win tickets) came home and told me about the pregame parties, short skirts, keg stands, and postgame parties. Occasionally he'd mention something about the game. His presence reminded me how low I still was on the totem pole.

Sophomore year rolled around and I finally had those tickets. I received them in July and cobra-clutched those things until school started. This was it, my first game as a season ticket holder, and almost as important, my opportunity to be a part of Jump Around. Wisconsin led Western Illinois 20-3 at the end of the third quarter. Neither team scored in the third quarter.*

*Had to look up these details. Most definitely didn't remember them.

The build-up to Jump Around was incredibly exhilarating for a first-timer. First, they played an animated race between the letter of each student section (apparently they still do, as evidenced by the above video from last year), while each student held up four fingers to signify the start of the fourth quarter. Then the distinct, DOO (pause), DOO, DOO, DOO lead in to the song.

Watching from afar or on television, Jump Around appears to be a coordinated, synchronized effort. I was shocked to notice a few things. First, half the students don't even jump, they just appear to be jumping. They're really bouncing up and down because they either aren't athletic enough or too drunk to jump. Also, there's not much room to land if you do choose to jump, so jumping more than two inches isn't the smartest thing to do anyway. People do fall over, in fact, quite often. They tend to get lost in the sea of red, but falls happen. The only truly safe students are in the front row (meaning they likely bypassed pregaming to get there early), or about twenty rows up where there is a railing to hold on to while jumping.

I left that game feeling kind of cheated. Jump Around was fun, no doubt, but it wasn't nearly as impressive as an insider. This is how I feel about Wisconsin football. Using the year I started college to the present -- 2005-2011 -- as an example, Wisconsin had a pretty good run. Their 2005, 2007, and 2009 teams were good, their 2006 team looked better than it was because of an easy schedule, their 2010 team was really good, and the 2008 team was terrible. Those six teams amassed a regular season record of 57-17 with two Capital One Bowls and a Champs Sports Bowl victory. They lost four home games in this six-year span, and two of those came from the atrocious 2008 team. These are pretty good numbers for a Midwestern college football program not named Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, or Notre Dame.

Listen to the studio analysts, football and basketball, and they'll tell you how underrated the Wisconsin program is. They'll tell you they do nothing but win, but they do it under the radar. Compare Bret Bielema's resume with more well-known coaches and it will stack up nicely. The problem is and always seems to be with a Wisconsin team, is they can't win the big game. Last year would have been Wisconsin's first Rose Bowl win in over a decade. They were a better team than TCU and choked. I don't have enough space to run down the list of men's basketball NCAA tournament failures.

This is why Wisconsin football is like Jump Around. Watching Jump Around from across the stadium looks like the students are impressively jumping a foot in the air in unison. A .770 regular season winning percentage from a team that doesn't attract 5-star talent looks like a great achievement. But once you step foot inside Jump Around or look at the Bowl Games Wisconsin has either lost or failed to qualify for, you'll see neither are as great as they appear.

I attended all fourteen home games in 2006 and 2007. 14-0. I jumped around a the end of the 3rd quarter all fourteen times. Strangely, even after thinking I was "over it" each time, I found myself looking forward to the next Jump Around. Such is the case with every Wisconsin football season, especially this season. Is this the year they finally get it right and win the Rose Bowl? I don't know, but I'm sure they'll look good doing whatever they do.