The problem is people who think there is only one staircase to success.
Wisconsin and Iowa and people with lesser athletes play ball control and rely on defense rarely beat teams with better athletes. After all these years of "success" at Wisconsin, why aren't they getting more talented recruits? I'll answer. They don't try. They recruit like Pelini and coach a little better. Teams that dont recruit at the elite level, never reach that level of success. They plateau, just like Mark did. It's just like Nebraska of the 70's and 80's, lots of wins against bad, mediocre and decent teams, and losses to the teams with more talented.
It is what it is. 9 wins was determined by the powers that be and the fan base to not be enough.