Rough day for Badgers football

Probably not the best day in Wisconsin football history.

This morning, Badgers fans had to cope with saying goodbye to the historically good Melvin Gordon, the junior running back who has decided to skip his senior season and run for Sunday money.

A few hours later, Twitter caught fire with reports, since confirmed by both schools, that head coach Gary Andersen had accepted Oregon State's offer to coach the Beavers.

Gordon you could see coming. Andersen? No one had been guessing that. Shocking is a fair word.

Gordon, in fact, tweeted (@Melvingordon25): "WOW !!!"

Four days after the Badgers were shredded in the Big Ten Championship Game (Ohio State 59, Wisconsin 0), Andersen apparently had enough of Madison.

Andersen is a West Coaster, having been hired from Utah State, the state in which he was born.

Barry Alvarez told reporters he was prepared to make the next move.

"This is why I always keep a short list," Alvarez said. "Things don't always go smoothly."

On moving forward, he said: "I won't flinch."

The name of Alvarez's book, by the way: "Don't Flinch."

Alvarez said he was surprised by the move and didn't see it coming. "I had no idea this was in the works," he said.

Later, Alvarez added: "I think Gary did a good job."

Twitter was already speculating (shocking, right?) that Pitt coach Paul Chryst, a former Wisconsin offensive coordinator, will be at the top of Barry Alvarez's wish list. We'll see.