Wisconsin Football 2023

[yourout]

1 hour ago, LouisEly said:

Bit of an overreaction, don't you think?  You don't think that they can get eight wins from Western Michigan, South Dakota, Purdue, Rutgers, Northwestern, Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota?  If you watched USC towards the end of the season you would know that they are nothing to fear - they gave up 41 to Colorado, 41 to Arizona, 48 to Notre Dame, 34 to Utah, 49 to Cal(!), 52 to Washington, 36 to Oregon, and 38 to UCLA and lost 5 of their last 6.  They're losing Williams to the NFL and at last check had 15 players in the transfer portal including a 5-star freshman QB.

The remaining three are really tough but they are all at home.  Last time they played Oregon they should have beat them in the 2019 Rose Bowl if it wasn't for a botched punt and a bad pass interference call.

Probably... Still not sold on Fickell being the right fit for Wisconsin.

And quarterback is going to be a massive question mark Going into next year. And while you need a good quarterback no matter what system you run to be effective with the spread you need one that's a notch higher athletically.

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 hours ago, homer said:

I think they will figure out the D. I'm more concerned about the red zone play calling (which was a problem for Longo at UNC) and Fickell's unwillingness to go for it on 4th down. 

As to your 1st point, I agree but I'm hoping it's more a byproduct of not being able to run effectively enough. You certainly need to be able own the point of attack once you get to the red zone & the pass routes are contracted. We'll see how (if) it evolves.

[BrewerFan]

12 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Bit of an overreaction, don't you think?  You don't think that they can get eight wins from Western Michigan, South Dakota, Purdue, Rutgers, Northwestern, Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota?  If you watched USC towards the end of the season you would know that they are nothing to fear - they gave up 41 to Colorado, 41 to Arizona, 48 to Notre Dame, 34 to Utah, 49 to Cal(!), 52 to Washington, 36 to Oregon, and 38 to UCLA and lost 5 of their last 6.  They're losing Williams to the NFL and at last check had 15 players in the transfer portal including a 5-star freshman QB.

The remaining three are really tough but they are all at home.  Last time they played Oregon they should have beat them in the 2019 Rose Bowl if it wasn't for a botched punt and a bad pass interference call.

LOL...the overreactionary responses are a little funny to me. This was Fickell's first year, he's got a good recruiting class, his players coming in and we're already talking about how they'll NEVER get back to a B1G Title game, Fickell(the guy who went to the playoffs at Cincy, he may not be the answer...

I think the playcalling is being a bit over-analyzed a bit as well. We played aggressively. If Allen is in there, or if it's the regular season, run it a bit more, but this is more of an exhibition game for teams to trot out the young guys who have stood out and give them some run. I thought they played well. They showed an explosive passing game, they have some players who should take a jump next year...but I'm really looking toward '25.

You have to have some patience with a new HC looking to change a program. 

And we have Van-Dyke coming in along with a very talented young QB from Texas. Van Dyke was in some first rd mocks coming into this year. We have talented RBs, some exciting young WR, and some DBs. Positions we normally don't thrive at.

Would have liked to have won...I don't see this as a huge harbinger of things to come, or doom on the horizon. If anything, I thought it was encouraging.

[RedStickBrew]

17 hours ago, yourout said:

Probably... Still not sold on Fickell being the right fit for Wisconsin.

And quarterback is going to be a massive question mark Going into next year. And while you need a good quarterback no matter what system you run to be effective with the spread you need one that's a notch higher athletically.

I'm fairly optimistic about the QB situation next year, Van Dyke is an experienced leader and throws the ball well down the field. He knows the air raid concepts so hopefully it will be a similar situation to last year. 

I also think with the additions made in the RB room they will be able to run more of the power spread concepts and involve RB's more into the overall offense.

[CheezWizHed]

If I hadn't watched the game, I'd be pleasantly surprised at the outcome and closeness of the score.  I figured those two LSU WRs were going to run us out of the building.

But watching the game it was frustrating to play so well the first half and so poorly the second.  As others said, lack of QB pressure seemed to be the main culprit.  But stopping the run seemed to be an issue too.

But alas, I remind myself that we were major underdogs and did better than expected.  I'm happy for Mordecai to put a nice game on the books as he goes into his NFL draft prep.  He really has a nice arm and good scrambling. 

As for Fickle, I think he will be good for the program.  All you can really ask of him in year 1 is that the team continues to improve.  And the team did that.  As he continues to get "his guys" into key spots, we should be able to easily bounce back to our normal #10-20 range... (and do I dare to dream)... perhaps compete higher than that?  I think he has good potential to be a top-end coach.... more so than we've had for a long time.  

Once we got out big yesterday, I think he got caught trying not to lose and became too conservative; both on the 4th down punts (especially the last one) but also simply too many run calls in the second half (3 run plays from 1st and goal without a big RB?).  But you also need to give him credit for the 1st half game-plan that worked well. 

[Underachiever]

4 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

If I hadn't watched the game, I'd be pleasantly surprised at the outcome and closeness of the score. 

I know the Badgers have a good bowl record, but since the FSU blowout (42-13) in 2008, their losses have been heartbreakingly close. Yesterday, the 2020 Rose Bowl (28-27), 2013 Rose Bowl (20-14), 2012 Rose Bowl (45-38), 2011 Rose Bowl (21-19), just a play or two away.

[AKCheesehead]

31 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

If I hadn't watched the game, I'd be pleasantly surprised at the outcome and closeness of the score.  I figured those two LSU WRs were going to run us out of the building.

But watching the game it was frustrating to play so well the first half and so poorly the second.  As others said, lack of QB pressure seemed to be the main culprit.  But stopping the run seemed to be an issue too.

But alas, I remind myself that we were major underdogs and did better than expected.  I'm happy for Mordecai to put a nice game on the books as he goes into his NFL draft prep.  He really has a nice arm and good scrambling. 

As for Fickle, I think he will be good for the program.  All you can really ask of him in year 1 is that the team continues to improve.  And the team did that.  As he continues to get "his guys" into key spots, we should be able to easily bounce back to our normal #10-20 range... (and do I dare to dream)... perhaps compete higher than that?  I think he has good potential to be a top-end coach.... more so than we've had for a long time.  

Once we got out big yesterday, I think he got caught trying not to lose and became too conservative; both on the 4th down punts (especially the last one) but also simply too many run calls in the second half (3 run plays from 1st and goal without a big RB?).  But you also need to give him credit for the 1st half game-plan that worked well. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, CheezWizHed said:

 

As for Fickle, I think he will be good for the program.  All you can really ask of him in year 1 is that the team continues to improve.  And the team did that.  As he continues to get "his guys" into key spots, we should be able to easily bounce back to our normal #10-20 range... (and do I dare to dream)... perhaps compete higher than that?  I think he has good potential to be a top-end coach.... more so than we've had for a long time.  

 

After having a full season of watching Fickell coach the team & listening to his pressers, I think he's a guy who relates pretty well to his players (although there may have been an issue after the Indiana & NW games involving some of the holdovers from Chryst/Leonhard), is a pretty effective recruiter and a good promoter of the program regarding media, alumni, etc. As far as in-game coaching, I think the guy is very much a delegator who largely is only going to be as successful as his coordinators. With regards to making the "big" in-game decisions, I feel he was a little spotty. But if he brings in the talent he appears to be able to attract that will (hopefully) cure some of those ills.

[Playing Catch]

I think a lot of the issues we witnessed this season come down to the change in schemes/philosophies, and not having personnel that fit said schemes. The Mordecai/Allen injuries were really problematic, too, as there just was a lack of star power on both sides of the ball. I mean, how many pros were on the roster this season? They simply were not very talented, and many of the players were recruited and developed in order to play in totally opposite styles, the holdover OL and LBs in particular.

I think that fact, too, is why many of us have reservations about Fickell/Longo/Tressel. There is a collective unease, particluarly with the 40+ crowd, going away from the Wisconsin identity.

I still support the decisions that were made, but they also make me really nervous.

I terms of short yardage failures, I'm baffled by any playcall that features a lot of horizontal movement, like yesterday's first-and-goal-from-the-one playcall. Very frustruating. If you are going shotgun, you simply must either pass or run up the gut. You just CAN'T lose yardage in that spot.

With that complaint in mind, I think the game management/playcalling stuff is basically what fans talk about when they are disappointed in the result. Winning cures a lot of mismanagement issues. (I realize that those two things are connected, I'm just saying that teams that win also do stupid things).

[CheezWizHed]

36 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

I think that fact, too, is why many of us have reservations about Fickell/Longo/Tressel. There is a collective unease, particluarly with the 40+ crowd, going away from the Wisconsin identity.

Given that I'm in that target crowd... I fully supported the move.  The old pound the ground with high D philosophy was find to reach the top 10-20, but near impossible to get much higher. 

I loathed the Gary Anderson spread offense.  That wasn't WI FB nor was it even a successful modern approach (unless you can get that one special QB capable of leading it and then keeping him healthy).  Not to mention a  REALLY boring football game to watch. 

But if this offensive balance is what is intended moving forward (having a balance of pass and rush), then yes... I'm fully on board. I think we will have a much better chance of recruiting good QBs and WRs without giving up much on the RB/OL front.

[Jim French Stepstool]

35 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

I think a lot of the issues we witnessed this season come down to the change in schemes/philosophies, and not having personnel that fit said schemes. The Mordecai/Allen injuries were really problematic, too, as there just was a lack of star power on both sides of the ball. I mean, how many pros were on the roster this season? They simply were not very talented, and many of the players were recruited and developed in order to play in totally opposite styles, the holdover OL and LBs in particular.

I think that fact, too, is why many of us have reservations about Fickell/Longo/Tressel. There is a collective unease, particluarly with the 40+ crowd, going away from the Wisconsin identity.

I still support the decisions that were made, but they also make me really nervous.

I terms of short yardage failures, I'm baffled by any playcall that features a lot of horizontal movement, like yesterday's first-and-goal-from-the-one playcall. Very frustruating. If you are going shotgun, you simply must either pass or run up the gut. You just CAN'T lose yardage in that spot.

With that complaint in mind, I think the game management/playcalling stuff is basically what fans talk about when they are disappointed in the result. Winning cures a lot of mismanagement issues. (I realize that those two things are connected, I'm just saying that teams that win also do stupid things).

Lots of great points here, especially the first 3 paragraphs.

As to yesterday, not cashing in on the 1st & goal at the one (save for the FG) went hand-in-hand with not being able to step on their throats defensively after LSU was burdened with a second & ten from their own two. (Lack of) talent, especially across the front, certainly played a part there, as well as depth issues.

Yeah, lots of stupid things in the Texas-Washington game. But SOMEONE had to win.🤷‍♂️

[Jim French Stepstool]

Perhaps this doesn't belong here since it's no longer 2023, but for all the justified debate about Fickell as a gameday coach/decision maker, he seems to attract portal guys like a magnet. The LB group has been almost totally overhauled, including Jaheim Thomas who was the leading tackler for Arkansas last season.

I guess the days of someone entering a program & taking time to absorb a system are going the way of the five-speed stick shift & banana seat.