Wisconsin Football 2023

[adambr2]

Can't go backwards at this area of the field.  Gotta come up with something. 

[adambr2]

They have nothing to hang their heads about today, they've stayed in this game longer than I expected, but it just doesn't feel like this is realistically going to go their way. The talent differential is just too great and the defense is wearing down. The offense just doesn't have enough firepower to hang in a game like this. The defense has done well enough. 

[wildcat83]

Kind of frustrating Locke looked really good on the TD drive, and now we’ve run the ball 5 straight times since.

[adambr2]

I cannot believe that they converted that 3rd and 15.

[wildcat83]

Just now, adambr2 said:

I cannot believe that they converted that 3rd and 15.

Even if they don’t score this drive, these are huge first downs to flip the field.  Punting from the end zone would’ve been brutal.

[adambr2]

Bell's gotta come up with that. If he does, we're probably going for it. 

[adambr2]

Smith got destroyed by Harrison on that route. 

[adambr2]

I know it's a huge, huge ask, but if you want a chance to pull off the shocker, this drive needs to end in a TD.

[nate82]

Just now, adambr2 said:

I know it's a huge, huge ask, but if you want a chance to pull off the shocker, this drive needs to end in a TD.

Do you go for two if you score a TD?  Depending on the time left of course.

[SomewhereInTime]

Hell of a fight today!  I had a feeling this would be closer than people thought.

[adambr2]

That 3rd down play ain't it. 

[nate82]

That was a bad punt.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Welp. Barring a 3 and out, that's about it. Defense really came to play today, can't be upset about that. Offense just continues to be devoid of any imagination at all, and it doesn't help that they're down to scraps at RB. 

[adambr2]

That's the dagger. Was a matter of time. 

[yourout]

This was their best chance in the last decade.

Might be another decade before they get it done.

[adambr2]

Locke gives up on plays too quickly. 

[adambr2]

Just now, yourout said:

This was their best chance in the last decade.

Might be another decade before they get it done.

Meh, they never had a shot to win today. Today was about being competitive and they were that for that for 3+ quarters. 

Their arrow is pointing up. The offense still needs to be pretty much rebuilt. I think they'll get it done before 2033.

[yourout]

As a group the WRs have the worst hands in the b10

 

Skyler Bell is Clifford Franklin s love child

[CheezWizHed]

Nice to see Locke continue to improve.  Poor start today, but started looking better as we went.  Sort of knew that we were short on talent on this team, but have a good season to build upon.  Add a bit more talent and they play with Ohio St today.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

As I was watching, I had the same feeling I had when watching the Alvarez teams from his first couple years. Not in style of play or anything like that, but in effort & ability to stay in a game longer than many thought they could, against a team with more talent. I saw a stat on the screen that said that besides Henderson & Harrison, the rest of their team had something like 100 yds of offense. That's the way the game felt to me, a big talent edge in a couple spots & a chess match to try to keep that from being the difference for as long as possible.

Tressel did about what I wanted regarding trying to confuse McCord, make him hesitate. But for the most part the kid dealt with it well. IMO neither of the picks he threw were "OMG, he threw it right to him!!", but rather really good plays by Zachman & Hallmann. Looking at the current level of play & the recruiting strategy, I think this team is going to be really tough to pass on as this regime unfolds, provided you add some pass rush presence.

The O-line performed pretty well considering the talent level just isn't there like past seasons, and it appears virtually NO ONE has stepped up to provide quality depth. Hard to deal with that front-seven w/o being able to rotate anyone in. I swear, sometimes I feel like it's going to be 2028 & I'll still hear Fickell saying Renfroe "is getting closer".

Bortolini took some heat for not snapping the ball on the obvious offsides & not getting a free 5 yards. But ideally you want Locke to demand the ball there, he has a lot wider range of vision. Another week of starting out with several mistakes, then becoming much cleaner. The 1st fumble by Allen really hurt. Neither team had settled into a tendency routine yet. After the initial 1st down, mayyyybeeee that could've been a scoring drive.

Looks like Tucker Ashcraft, after a nice start to his career, has hit a proverbial wall. True freshmen playing a physical position tend to do that.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

Locke is the better QB of bad QB’s.

 Considering their lack of experience I think both of these guys are pretty talented college QBs. McCord was given a lot of different looks from Tressel & for the most part handled it well. If you're comparing him to the last 15 years of QBs at OSU, yeah he's not able to beat you by himself like Pryor or guys of that ilk.

Locke started for the 2nd time ever, was victimized by a few drops, and then lost Dike & Allen just before the half.

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, yourout said:

One has real Wrs to throw to.

What I think is more important is one has a tailback to hand the ball to, that the defense has to honor.

The other guy, when Acker needed a break, was handing the ball to Cade Yacamelli.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, adambr2 said:

Locke gives up on plays too quickly. 

Kinda by design if you're remembering he same plays I am. He had a few short outs/sideline patterns where the receiver was jumped & he immediately threw the ball at the turf. What sucked about that was there was no safety valve or 2nd option, probably due to the RB/TE having to pass pro so often.

[Samurai Bucky]

I will call myself out -- I thought the Badgers were going to get trounced.  Up to this point, the offense did nothing to show they could stay on the field and the defense was very suspect.

I was very impressed with the defense.  Earlier in the year, it didn't seem like the defensive backfield knew when to hand off receivers to somebody else.  They did that much better, although handing off Harrison, Jr. to anybody but a "Richard Sherman" would not have helped 😉

Although Todd Blackledge kept talking about how great the OSU defense was, a lot of the OSU defense success was due to Wisconsin not executing.  When Allen went down, I had a really bad feeling.

My takeaways:

I am excited at what Locke will continue to bring to the table.  The TD pass "flick" was reminiscent of what a Mahomes would do.  I think he will learn the ins and outs of the Longo system.

The offensive line is banged up.  However, they did a good job holding off the OSU defense.  Much better than I expected.

While they lost, I'm still encouraged.  That may sound weird, but it wasn't a terrible loss.

[nate82]

14 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

My takeaways:

I am excited at what Locke will continue to bring to the table.  The TD pass "flick" was reminiscent of what a Mahomes would do.  I think he will learn the ins and outs of the Longo system.

The offensive line is banged up.  However, they did a good job holding off the OSU defense.  Much better than I expected.

While they lost, I'm still encouraged.  That may sound weird, but it wasn't a terrible loss.

I agree for the most part.  Locke looks good and then looks bad at times.  I think it is just a repetition issue right now.  There are some things he needs to cleanup but that will come with time.

Defensively against the pass they were great.  Some of this was because of the opposing teams QB.  They covered the #1 WR in all of college football exceptionally well.  It was the running game where the Badgers defense didn’t do all that well against.  Ohio State’s RB looked like an NFL RB.  So I am not going to knock them all that much for giving up the yards they did.  It is very difficult to shutdown both the run and pass when you have exceptional players at both spots.

Ohio State’s TE also was a non factor all game another impressive feat by the defensive unit.

Center is still an issue for the offensive line.  A lot of poor snaps still.  Though it seems there weren’t as many in this game.

This was a good loss.  They weren’t absolutely destroyed like usual in the first half and didn’t give up after the first half like in the past.  Even though they were never in a position to win they still never gave up and tried to get back into the game.  Hopefully this is something they can build on going forward.