There is something that's going to irritate Mike Newkirk the rest of his senior season with the University of Wisconsin football team, perhaps longer.

Every time he looks at a statistical chart posted in one of the team's meetings room, Newkirk sees a "1" next to his name under the "loafs" category.

"That's not something that can get erased," said Newkirk, a defensive tackle and co-captain for the Badgers. "Every time I see that chart, whether it was last game or 10 games ago, it still makes me mad."

What that "1" means is that Newkirk's coaches caught him on film not giving maximum effort during a play. Charting loafs is the coaches' way of calling out players for laziness.

"There's a lot of things that can happen, but that's something that you can control," said Newkirk, who is expected to make his 20th career start Saturday when No. 10 UW (2-0) plays at No. 21 Fresno State (1-0). "To me, it's the worst mark you can have. It's something that you should really be disappointed in yourself if you see."

UW defensive coordinator Dave Doeren certainly is disappointed when he sees his players loafing during a play. He has a simple checklist he uses for his definition of a loaf.

"If you see a guy changing speed during a play, so he's jogging and then all of a sudden he's sprinting after the ball because he thought somebody else was going to (make the tackle). Or if a guy is sprinting and slows down," Doeren said. "Or if a guy gets knocked down and doesn't get back up."

Doeren was pleased to report the Badgers didn't register a single loaf last week during a 51-14 victory over Marshall. They did have a handful the week before against Akron, including one by Newkirk.

Newkirk said he received a loaf for pausing and not chasing after a play. "I basically froze," he said.

Some loafs might be viewed as picky on the coaches' part, especially if they don't lead to bad results on a play. But Newkirk doesn't see it that way.

"Coach grades you hard, but that's what you want to see," Newkirk said. "It's just something that's always a reminder. Even as an older guy, I want that coaching. Maybe some guys are like, 'Ah, that's not really a loaf.' I'm like, 'Good, give it to me, I'll take it,' because I'll come out and work harder."

Doeren, who took over as defensive coordinator when Mike Hankwitz was fired after last season, believes there's a direct correlation between loafs and the yards gained by an opponent after a missed tackle. That was a huge problem for the Badgers last season. (Click photo at right to see chart images.)

He also believes a hustling defense forces more turnovers, another area that caused the Badgers problems in 2007. While he chose his words carefully, presumably because he didn't want it to appear like has ripping Hankwitz's performance, Doeren made it clear he believed UW lacked in the hustle department last season.

"I'm not going to say we were a loafing defense last year," said Doeren, who served as co-defensive coordinator the past two seasons before being promoted, "but we weren't playing as hard as we can."