Bart Miller took over as offensive line coach after Mike Markuson was fired after Week 2. Credit: Joe Koshollek

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Los Angeles - A few days after Wisconsin set a school record for rushing yards in a 62-14 victory over Indiana, offensive line coach Bart Miller received an unexpected gift.

Waiting on the desk in his UW office was a homemade T-shirt.

Miller lifted the shirt up to examine it and knew he was in big trouble with the rest of the staff.

"Oh man, I'm going to get a lot of (expletive) for this one," Miller explained when asked to share his immediate reaction to the shirt. "I didn't know who made them. They just showed up in my office."

The T-shirts, courtesy of a UW lineman who wishes to remain anonymous, are black. On the front of the shirts is a likeness of Miller, wearing a UW cap, and glancing over his left shoulder, with the words, "It's Miller Time!"

"I brought it home and my wife wanted one," Miller said.

Ask and ye shall receive. Amy Miller has a shirt, too.

"I don't know who made them," redshirt junior lineman Ryan Groy said, grinning from ear to ear. "But we acquired them, and the linemen are wearing them often.

"It's something cool we did for him to show we have pride in him."

On the surface the T-shirts appear to be little more than a cute gesture concocted by a bunch of 300-pound college athletes.

Don't be fooled.

Miller and the members of the UW offensive line have endured a trying but rewarding season that has forged an unbreakable bond between coach and players who are preparing to face No. 8 Stanford Tuesday in the Rose Bowl.

That season began with a failed marriage between the line and Mike Markuson, who was fired after Week 2; continued with the subsequent promotion of Miller to interim line coach; and grew with several impressive outings, including the 70-31 victory over Nebraska in the Big Ten title game.

"I think it is a way for us to show him how much he means to us," redshirt junior center Travis Frederick said of the T-shirts, "and to show everyone else how much that he has helped us.

"We wouldn't be where we are today without him. He has done a tremendous job. It was a matter of us putting our boots behind him and saying this is the guy who is going to help us get where we need to be."

There were signs of progress throughout the season: 467 rushing yards at Purdue; 337 rushing yards the next week against visiting Minnesota; and the 564-yard performance, with seven touchdowns, at Indiana.

There were setbacks: 56 rushing yards in a loss at Nebraska; 19 rushing yards in an overtime loss to Michigan State; and 38 rushing yards after a strong first half in an overtime loss at Penn State.

One week after the Penn State game, however, came the stunning performance in the rematch with Nebraska: 290 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in the first half and 539 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns by the end of the rout.

As a graduate assistant last season under line coach Bob Bostad and for the first two weeks of this season under Markuson, Miller was more friend than coach to the players.

"Now I'm the guy they can't have that same relationship with," he said. "I've been elevated through rank.

"That was the biggest part, becoming a leader of that unit. I told them from the get-go I was going to be honest. I would be hard and fair and all those kinds of things. I demand a lot from myself so I demand a lot from them as well.

"There were things I didn't know as a new position coach. We were going to have to go through growing pains together. We did that. And you saw the unit get better and better.

"Obviously the culmination happened against Nebraska."

The T-shirts were ready for delivery two weeks before the victory over Indiana.

After getting manhandled by Michigan State's front seven in a 16-13 overtime loss, the players realized the timing wasn't right.

"We had lost to Michigan State and we didn't want to bring them out then," Groy said. "After the Indiana game it was finally Miller time."

Frederick knows Miller endured some friendly ribbing from the other assistants, but he also knows his position coach didn't mind one bit.

"I think he understands what it means to us," Frederick said. "When he first took over, that was the theme of our resurgence. It is Miller Time."

Miller could be retained by new coach Gary Andersen to coach the UW tight ends in 2013. Andersen is bringing T.J. Woods, his offensive line coach at Utah State, to UW.

Whether Miller is coaching tight ends in 2013, or on another staff altogether, the bond between Miller and the linemen will not be broken.

"I'm immensely proud of them," Miller said. "I love them to death.

"I think they have grown to respect and trust me. It is a great relationship now. I don't know if it is the kind of relationship that 'Bo' had with them, but we are very tight across the board."