Wisconsin Football 2023

[wallus]

The Badgers are not good right now

[nate82]

10 minutes ago, wallus said:

The Badgers are not good right now

Defense needs a lot of work but offensively they are starting to click a bit.

[valpocrewsader]

Favored by 6.5 on the road, won by 21. Didn't look great, but they're fine. Defense is a concern. 

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

That looked real bad for Mellusi.  Probably out for the year.  Sucks because he was finally healthy and showing what he could do.

I was surprised he was just 21 years old. I wonder if there's any chance he'll be back next year. 

This is his 5 years, extra year due to covid, but unless the rules are different for graduate students, he could still RS this year and come back next year. 

Feels like his NFL aspirations would be much stronger coming off a full year being the #1 back in a system in which he is asked to catch the ball quite a bit. Otherwise he's going into the off-season coming off an injury and maybe trying to make a team as an UDFA?

Whatever he does, I hope he gets to play Football again. That's an awful way to go out.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I think the jury is still out on Tressels' defense. Certainly the tackling is ugly & needs to get much better. What I believe is a pretty good LB corps did not look good at all today. Purdue changed the spacing in the 2nd half, attacked well, and it took us a little over a quarter to figure it out. I do see some play-making ability among the paucity of fundamentals. Hallmans' INT was admittedly on a pretty bad ball, but he broke off his man & read the play really well. Darien Varner finally saw the field & made an impact in the D-line. Once Mullens returns there may actually be a little bit of depth, which would be much welcomed.

The offensive line mistakes just want you to tear your hair out.

So sad what happened to Mellusi. I think Jackson Acker can be adequate in relief of Allen, but obviously you take a big hit there. And there's a big dropoff after Acker. Maybe when Nowakowski returns he flips back over to the offensive backfield.

Not sure if Purdue got screwed on 1 or 2 of the interference non-calls, but all I know is it was refreshing to watch a college football game where flags weren't thrown every time a DB breathed heavy.

I was curious to see what would happen with this offense when protecting a one-or-two score lead in the 4th quarter of a game. Finally found out today. I'd give them an F, but only because there is no lower grade to give them. Even if we insist on mixing in the throws, to snap the ball with 15-25 seconds left on the play clock is just idiotic. I would say we gave Purdue an extra 1:30 to 2 minutes, at least. 

Kicking game looks to be in good hands. But Mr Van Dyke, please just aim for the middle of the damn end zone when the wind is at your back.

After getting better each week, I didn't think Mordecai could continue the uptick, in a B10 road game. I was wrong.

[NeedMoreFans]

Pre-snap penalties need to stop; there were way too many of them last night.  The game was not as close as the final score indicated.  A few dropped balls on passes that would have been big plays and some red zone issues in the second half "limited" us to 38 points.  If you watched most of last season, you knew the defensive problems were going to be there.  They lost two of their three best players to the NFL and really didn't have anyone coming up the pipeline to replace them, and it's not like they were great against better teams last year.  

It's nice to have a good place kicker for once.  We've had ok ones in the past, but I always cringed any time there was a FG attempt past 35 yards.  There is so much more talent at WR than in the past, they just need to catch the ball.  Mordecai was fantastic, and I put the INT more on Dike than Mordecai.  Losing Mellusi will hurt. 

[LouisEly]

I understand the pre-snap penalties because most of their players have never played in a tempo style offense.  They've spent years playing in a huddle offense and they have a new QB.  That's going to take an adjustment.

It's clear they don't have the talent on defense that they've had in the past.  It think they have some talent in the secondary (Wohler, Smith, Hallman), but the lack of pass rush will make any secondary look bad.

But they're 3-1 with the lone loss being on the road to a ranked team that, arguably, was taken away by the refs.  They're in a good - not great, but good - spot.

[yourout]

I'll be shocked if anyone in the B10 west beats OSU or Michigan or PSU.

 

[Samurai Bucky]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

I'll be shocked if anyone in the B10 west beats OSU or Michigan or PSU.

 

I still think OSU will put 60+ on Bucky.

[yourout]

3 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I still think OSU will put 60+ on Bucky.

Only if the pull the starters after they hit 50. They might drop 70.

It's going to be Ugggglllyy.

B10 west is rancid putrid bad.

[LouisEly]

OSU about to lose to Notre Dame with only 10 points on the board.

OSU also only scored 35 on Youngstown State and 23 on Indiana.

Meanwhile, Washington State (currently ranked #21) about to beat #14 Oregon State.

[yourout]

While I can't root for OSU I can certainly root against ND.

[LouisEly]

ND up four with two minutes left and let OSU go 65 yards for the TD.

[yourout]

3 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

ND up four with two minutes left and let OSU go 65 yards for the TD.

Quite a post game rant by Day.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, yourout said:

Only if the pull the starters after they hit 50. They might drop 70.

It's going to be Ugggglllyy.

B10 west is rancid putrid bad.

The East is overall better than the West. That's no surprise. But one of the hallmarks of OSU, when they put up video game numbers on opponents over the years, was talented QBs who could also beat you with their legs. The kid they have now isn't bad given his inexperience but not at that level.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, LouisEly said:

ND up four with two minutes left and let OSU go 65 yards for the TD.

One 1st down away from winning.

I think OSU is pretty clearly behind Michigan, and I could see them losing to Penn State, even in Columbus.

[LouisEly]

11 hours ago, LouisEly said:

ND up four with two minutes left and let OSU go 65 yards for the TD.

Aaaannnd ND only had 10 defenders on the field for the final two plays.

[Samurai Bucky]

12 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Aaaannnd ND only had 10 defenders on the field for the final two plays.

I guess I wasn't paying attention to the guys on TV.  I didn't know that.

[homer]

it's early but that loss to WSU might not look so bad by the end of the year 

[Fear The Chorizo]

Would be nice if the Badgers found a way to get receivers in their program that could catch the football...and a quarterback that had any sort of accuracy, too.

[yourout]

Bucky ain't going to win this one. They might get shut out

[adambr2]

Boy that was a terrible 1st half offensive performance.

[adambr2]

If you're going to call the timeouts to get the ball back which you should, don't wait 5 damn seconds to call it. 

[wildcat83]

Locke has a strong arm, more zip on his throws than Mordecai.  He looks very stationary though.

[nate82]

18 minutes ago, wildcat83 said:

Locke has a strong arm, more zip on his throws than Mordecai.  He looks very stationary though.

He is as stationary as Peyton Manning is today.