Wisconsin Football 2022- The Jim Leonhard Show ends, the Luke Fickell era begins

[nate82]

Garbage O-line strikes again!!! 25 yards in penalties in the last few plays.  Going from 1st and goal at the 5 to the 30 yard line with no chance.  All on the O-line again.

This has to be the worst OL in a long time.  

[wildcat83]

Pretty good drive by Wolf at the end until the OL went backwards 25 yards in penalties.  Wisconsin needs an upgrade at QB in the transfer portal, and preferably one that’s a little mobile.

[homer]

that last sequence perfectly encapsulated the Badger offense this year. 

 

[homer]

it seemed like Wolf was panicking... the last few plays were really disorganized 

[MrTPlush]

Leonard didn’t help them at all. He made Wolf try and chuck a TD from the 30 yard line. Should have been two straight attempts to chip it down to something realistic. Honestly that was a bit of a fail on his part. They could have gotten it down to 20 yards or maybe even 15 yards with little effort.

[SomewhereInTime]

21 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Garbage O-line strikes again!!! 25 yards in penalties in the last few plays.  Going from 1st and goal at the 5 to the 30 yard line with no chance.  All on the O-line again.

This has to be the worst OL in a long time.  

That's not all on the O-line.  A false start with a backup QB in is likely due to the cadence and on one of them not being able to get a play call in.

[homer]

4 minutes ago, SomewhereInTime said:

That's not all on the O-line.  A false start with a backup QB in is likely due to the cadence and on one of them not being able to get a play call in.

he looked pretty frazzled down there. Eschenbach was screaming at him. 

[SomewhereInTime]

2 minutes ago, homer said:

he looked pretty frazzled down there. Eschenbach was screaming at him. 

It's just so tough for a backup to come into a spot like that.  The amount of practice reps he's getting are already minimal and he's been on the bench all game.  The little things are so overlooked like getting the play in, getting everyone set, the cadence, etc.

[HarryDoyle]

That was a pretty pathetic last 25 seconds or so, but lost in that is the fact that Mertz threw another mind numbingly stupid interception on the possession before. I can't think of another quarterback that consistently throws some of the most terrible interceptions I've ever seen. Luckily he got away with it, but in the end they still came up short.

[DuWayne Steurer]

mertz can hit the transfer portal the very second the furnitureretailbowl dot com is over and not look back. 

time for a new look.

[yourout]

They need to be targeting a lot of things in the portal.

QB obviously but they really have to find a tight end as well.

[Samurai Bucky]

Tomorrow (Sunday), Leonhard gets announced as the head coach.  Then, he needs to get his recruiting staff together.  Chryst didn't spend nearly enough time or money on recruiting.  QB, OL, TE are all HUGE needs.

It will be interesting to see (if Leonhard is the coach), whom he gets to make up his staff.

[SomewhereInTime]

1 hour ago, DuWayne Steurer said:

mertz can hit the transfer portal the very second the furnitureretailbowl dot com is over and not look back. 

time for a new look.

God I hope so.  He absolutely can not be the starter heading into next season.

[JosephC]

Pretty much knew they were toast with Allen out of the ballgame.  The only thing the Mertz/Mellusi combo can be relied on is not enough points.  Then there is the Wolf debacle at the end of the game, everyone in the entire midwest figured out years ago that this guy isn't Big 10 backup material, but there he is yet again.

 

[yourout]

The next two seasons will probably be lean ones.

Unless they hit the portal lottery its going to take that long to turn around the recruiting and I expect JL to take some lumps learning the job,

It's really hard to see this first recruiting class being particularly strong. Have to hope they are able to find some hidden 2 and 3 star gems.

[MrTPlush]

5 minutes ago, JosephC said:

Pretty much knew they were toast with Allen out of the ballgame.  The only thing the Mertz/Mellusi combo can be relied on is not enough points.  Then there is the Wolf debacle at the end of the game, everyone in the entire midwest figured out years ago that this guy isn't Big 10 backup material, but there he is yet again.

 

If your starter isn't Big Ten starter quality, why would the back up be Big Ten backup quality?

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, yourout said:

They need to be targeting a lot of things in the portal.

QB obviously but they really have to find a tight end as well.

The first thing they need to find is an offensive coordinator who knows how to scheme to get receivers open and create some holes in the running game. 

This was not the year for a rookie offensive coordinator learning on the job.

[yourout]

4 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

The first thing they need to find is an offensive coordinator who knows how to scheme to get receivers open and create some holes in the running game. 

This was not the year for a rookie offensive coordinator learning on the job.

Agreed. Engram is not the guy.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Someone mentioned finding a TE in the portal. Cundiff is more than good enough. He got hurt. Cam Large is an intriguing prospect. He also got hurt. Most of the game-minutes return on the O-line, plus some younger guys who have barely or never seen the field yet. They likely won't say no to an experienced lineman who wants to transfer, but I think anyone looking for them to completely overhaul rather than develop is going to be disappointed. Give Bostad December & next spring with this group.

 

[yourout]

3 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Someone mentioned finding a TE in the portal. Cundiff is more than good enough. He got hurt. Cam Large is an intriguing prospect. He also got hurt.

 

This is Cundiffs second major injury and I'm a little worried that might be more than he can come back from. I did hear they were high on Cam Large but I didn't really know anything about him.

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, homer said:

it seemed like Wolf was panicking... the last few plays were really disorganized 

I imagine the huddles in the last minute were really painful. Wolf being thrust out there didn't help, and in case no one else noticed Brady Schipper was the tailback, so I assume neither Guerendo nor Mellusi were available. Then Eschenbach, who people need to remember was slated to be their 3rd TE. It was ugly, but maybe it would've been just short of a miracle if it wasn't.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

 

It will be interesting to see (if Leonhard is the coach), whom he gets to make up his staff.

Starting the day after the bowl, that becomes the most important part of the off-season. I only see two spots I'm confident will remain.

[Jim French Stepstool]

10 minutes ago, yourout said:

This is Cundiffs second major injury and I'm a little worried that might be more than he can come back from. I did hear they were high on Cam Large but I didn't really know anything about him.

That's true; I think it was the ND game where he hurt it last year. If it's an issue Rucci & Cole Dakovich would be next up. Maybe Jaylyn Franklin takes another year but pretty sure he's limited as a blocker.

[UpandIn]

38 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

The first thing they need to find is an offensive coordinator who knows how to scheme to get receivers open and create some holes in the running game. 

This was not the year for a rookie offensive coordinator learning on the job.

Kinda tough to scheme open holes in the running game when you don't have much of a passing threat and you're OL just isn't that good. I guess if you've got Melvin Gordon as your #3 running back and you can use him on Jet Sweeps with Monte Ball and James White pounding the ball, you can spread the defense out a bit, but we don't have the personnel for that. 

I didn't think Engram had really been bad this year, but it's so difficult to tell with the OL struggles...which were almost funny at the end of the game. It was like the...keystone cops of OL play. 

Without dominant OL play, most CFB teams struggle. That's obviously particularly true of the Badgers. Dike is a nice WRer. I doubt he'd get many snaps at Mich, OSU, or most top 10 programs. 

I would like to see Burkett get at least some snaps at the...Mayo Bowl or the Pinstripes Bowl, wherever they end up. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

The defense made plays, but looking at the entire game I think this was their worst performance since Leonhard took over. They bottled Ibrahim up pretty well but it looked obvious he wasn't 100%. Giving up a first down on a 3rd-and-twelve run in the second quarter, that cost them 3pts & a possession at the end of the half. Goetz with the roughing call on 3rd & 10, 3 more points & a possession. and the last TD given up was two incredibly easy pitch & catch slants. Njongmeta was a warrior on the run all day but he or Turner--somebody--needs to be a presence in the middle of the field there.