Wisconsin Football 2023

[adambr2]

Can the Packers draft this Iowa punter? He is insane. 

[endaround]

So what is the record for combined punts in a single game? 

[adambr2]

Tough to get much going offensively when you're starting every drive inside your own 10. 

[nate82]

Offensive line still feels extremely weak.  No push on run plays and the center has to be the worst in a long time.  They need someone else at center.  So many poor snaps.

[young guns]

Well its now or never.

[HarryDoyle]

How do you fumble that ball in that situation? Absolutely inexcusable!

[young guns]

That ones even worse.

[HarryDoyle]

3 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

How do you fumble that ball in that situation? Absolutely inexcusable!

x2

[nate82]

This O-line sucks.  Not a single starter on the whole line.  

[HarryDoyle]

What a pitiful offensive showing.

[adambr2]

Two things we learned today:

 

1) The B10 West is still atrocious. 

2) We aren't even the best team in it. 

[yourout]

At least we won't be embarrassed in Indy.

 

For probably the rest of my lifetime with all the new additions.

[HarryDoyle]

It seems to me that Allen's stock has been slowly but surely dropping. He's getting a reputation for being a fumbler. And how sad is it that Mordecai is our best quarterback?

[Jimbo]

Is this like the most lop-sided nine-point game I've ever seen?  Badgers or Packers?

 

[jjgott]

3 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

It seems to me that Allen's stock has been slowly but surely dropping. He's getting a reputation for being a fumbler. And how sad is it that Mordecai is our best quarterback?

He doesn't seem to be hitting the hole as aggressively as he's done in years past, or at least not as consistently.  Like AJ Dillon on the Pack, a lot of runs that used to go for 6-7 yards are now going for 0-2.

[nate82]

Just now, HarryDoyle said:

It seems to me that Allen's stock has been slowly but surely dropping. He's getting a reputation for being a fumbler. And how sad is it that Mordecai is our best quarterback?

Locke looked good when he wasn't being pressured before he could get to his 1st read.  Still needs some development but the arm strength is there but he is going to be a statue in the backfield. 

Allen looked hurt all throughout the game like he injured something around his shoulder or chest area.  He took a very violent hit on the fumble even NFL RB's are going to fumble on that play.  The helmet was on the ball and that is a fumble 95% of the time.  The other 5% is when the runner goes down before the ball pops out.  Not sure why you think that was a bad fumble or it was something Allen could have avoided. 

I am more worried about the O-Line basically getting no push at all on run plays.  The O-Line was getting pushed back on nearly every single run play and this has been true since the first game of the season.  This O-Line is like a JV HS O-Line absolutely no strength at all.  They need to hit the weights because they look like JV HS O-Line who just hit puberty. 

[nate82]

1 minute ago, jjgott said:

He doesn't seem to be hitting the hole as aggressively as he's done in years past, or at least not as consistently.  Like AJ Dillon on the Pack, a lot of runs that used to go for 6-7 yards are now going for 0-2.

What hole?  The offensive line only creates a hole when they are blatantly holding.  There haven't been many holes created by this offensive line as they constantly get beat to spots and get pushed back fairly easily.  Even in the game against Buffalo the offensive line was going backwards more than they were going forward. 

[jjgott]

12 minutes ago, nate82 said:

What hole?  The offensive line only creates a hole when they are blatantly holding.  There haven't been many holes created by this offensive line as they constantly get beat to spots and get pushed back fairly easily.  Even in the game against Buffalo the offensive line was going backwards more than they were going forward. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Obviously you needed Mordecai in this game b/c they weren't running the ball consistently all day & he gives you the added dimension with his feet. Locke looked like he could be effective, but against this team he needs some semblance of a run game & there was none outside of 2-3 drives in the 3rd quarter.

Bad matchup today. The offensive line has been avg to mediocre to poor/mistake prone all season & this isn't a team where you can get away with that. Very assignment-sure, physical, and they make very few mistakes. Ferentz & his staff didn't wow anybody, they just won. Deacon Hill isn't going to beat people on his own, and their wideouts vs our secondary is a pretty big mismatch in our favor. Ferentz made sure neither of those things were factors. And I don't know if I can remember a punter being as effective against us as theirs was.

Seven penalties, and almost every one was a killer.

Before the season Braelon Allen was excited that there would be one less defender "in the box". No one mentioned he'd have no lead blocker, the blocking from the TEs would be mediocre at best, and he'd be the recipient of swing passes out in the flat, a yard or two behind the line of scrimmage w/either no blocking or the aforementioned TE.

We were out-physicaled. But Iowa does that to people, and I thought the D-line had some good moments. Rodas Johnson was active, and Curt Neal injected himself into the fray pretty well. Getting pretty frustrating that Isaiah Mullens STILL can't see the field (not to mention Jake Renfroe at C).

At the end of the day, if you're a longtime Badger football fan, today Iowa was us. Don't know how many times in the last 30 years we played a team that was "athletic", "up-tempo", or played "wide open" & we won because we controlled the ball, made fewer mistakes & were more physical. Certainly you have to let Fickell get 2-3 recruiting classes under his belt before passing judgement. But it's a big break from what folks here are used to.                                                    

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

Offensive line still feels extremely weak.  No push on run plays and the center has to be the worst in a long time.  They need someone else at center.  So many poor snaps.

Jake Renfroe, it was hoped, would be the starter. He was Fickells' C at Cincy. Has had injury issues & still hasn't seen the field. Bortolinis' best role IMO is as a swing man in the line (or replacing one of the current starters at guard) while also being the backup center. 

I think this offensive line has enough talent that the returning guys should be a year better, a year more consistent. Unfortunately they're being asked to learn a new way of doing things by a new staff, which I'm sure is cancelling out any improvement that could/should be expected. Add in the fact that they were kinda so-so last year to begin with, and here we are.

[LouisEly]

22 hours ago, nate82 said:

Allen looked hurt all throughout the game like he injured something around his shoulder or chest area. 

He was.  He went into the locker room several minutes before halftime.  I think that also made him tentative; on the 4th down play where he fumbled that was overturned, he easily had the 1st down if he had just cut up and bull-rushed the defense.  He instead tried stretching it out to avoid contact.

What I haven't seen Allen able to do is stick a foot in the ground and change direction.  Maybe that's because of the ankle injuries he's sustained, but the really good RBs can change direction on a dime.  Allen is more like turning a school bus.

 

23 hours ago, adambr2 said:

Tough to get much going offensively when you're starting every drive inside your own 10. 

Say what you want about a conservative offense, but punting from midfield makes it really hard for the other team to score.  The Badgers would have had four consecutive possessions starting inside their 10 yard line had it not been for the kick catch interference call.  Two of those, however, were a direct result of blocking penalties on the kick returns.  One of those penalties cost them the safety as that play would have started from at least the 20 yard line.

Iowa's punter was good, but on most of his punts he had the strong north wind at his back.

The offensive line was OK.  The only sack given up was a result of a corner blitz that wasn't picked up.  The DL got credit for it because Locke avoided the CB and the DL got him.  The Badgers had three drives go over 60 yards, but they resulted in only 6 points.  They had 330 yards of total offense, which is not bad against Iowa.  They just got killed in field position and the special teams penalties.

[LouisEly]

Also, I believe James Thompson, Jr., went out late in the 1st half and didn't come back in.  He was riding the stationary bike most of the rest of the game, looked like he had a slight limp when walking.  He's perhaps their best DL.

IIRC they had one play where they went five wide, and Pauling was wide open for a big gain.  Then, back to four WR and Allen in the backfield.  Why not stick with 5-wide?

[BrewerFan]

On 10/14/2023 at 6:35 PM, nate82 said:

Locke looked good when he wasn't being pressured before he could get to his 1st read.  Still needs some development but the arm strength is there but he is going to be a statue in the backfield. 

Allen looked hurt all throughout the game like he injured something around his shoulder or chest area.  He took a very violent hit on the fumble even NFL RB's are going to fumble on that play.  The helmet was on the ball and that is a fumble 95% of the time.  The other 5% is when the runner goes down before the ball pops out.  Not sure why you think that was a bad fumble or it was something Allen could have avoided. 

I am more worried about the O-Line basically getting no push at all on run plays.  The O-Line was getting pushed back on nearly every single run play and this has been true since the first game of the season.  This O-Line is like a JV HS O-Line absolutely no strength at all.  They need to hit the weights because they look like JV HS O-Line who just hit puberty. 

Allen got absolutely ROCKED on that play...and if he got hit right, I could see that being one of those hits where you're arm goes numb. 

I don't think Allen's stock is being helped by this season, but through no fault of his own.

I would not compare him to Dillon. He's a more decisive runner, he hits the hole harder, he's also so much lighter on his feet. He just doesn't have much room, but there was one 4 yard run behind the LG, two jump cuts, kept his feet under him, his balance, picked up 4-5 when it was blocked for 1-2 maybe.

He's a good back. I wouldn't spend a 2nd on him because...I really think Wilson is a good back and he's more of a power back and I'd prefer 2-3 smaller backs. Guys like Irvin from Oregon or Corum from Michgan looked like a great fit.

 

But the only similarity I see between Dillon and Allen is they're big. Allen has much quicker feet and more patience so far as I can tell. 

[BrewerFan]

10 hours ago, LouisEly said:

What I haven't seen Allen able to do is stick a foot in the ground and change direction.  Maybe that's because of the ankle injuries he's sustained, but the really good RBs can change direction on a dime.  Allen is more like turning a school bus.

I don't agree. I've been more impressed with him. He's not putting a foot in the ground like...again, a Blake Corum, but he uses that jump cut very effectively and it keeps his shoulders out in front of him, running behind his pads and he's as quick as more 200 LB backs. 

I just don't love how we run this offense yet. It's an ugly transition and whatever we end up doing transitioning from a more 2 TE type of offense, the old I formation or single back to a more spread, it still starts with a dominant OL and we're still just not there yet. 

It's still waay too early to make any larger declarations on the direction of the program. We're just in a weird spot and this isn't going to be an immediate turnaround. Even Colorado which got a ton of transfers is 4-3 and lost to a mediocre Stanford team(after being up 29-0). 

[yourout]

Not optimistic about this one. New quarterback with 40 mile an hour winds means the passing game is a no-go and the offensive line is nowhere near good enough to handle a heavy box and Bert is no idiot.