Wisconsin Football 2024

[yourout]

Still don't feel good about this game.

[yourout]

That could come back to haunt them.

[RedStickBrew]

2 minutes ago, yourout said:

Still don't feel good about this game.

I think it’s a law of the universe that we always play like crap against the Nerds

[nate82]

Defense has been bailing out Locke.

[yourout]

21 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

I think it’s a law of the universe that we always play like crap against the Nerds

Cosmic overlords hate Wisconsin.

[yourout]

Nice response.

[yourout]

Defense seems to have turned the corner the last couple of weeks

[adambr2]

I realize this game is pretty much in hand, but punting on 4th and 3 from your opponent's 36 is such a lame move. Lol. 

[yourout]

Nice win. 

Nice stretch of football to lead up to PSU.

[LouisEly]

3 hours ago, adambr2 said:

I realize this game is pretty much in hand, but punting on 4th and 3 from your opponent's 36 is such a lame move. Lol. 

With the game in hand and no real offensive threat from NW, I think they deliberately played conservative so as not to put anything more on film for Penn State to see.

[Samurai Bucky]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

With the game in hand and no real offensive threat from NW, I think they deliberately played conservative so as not to put anything more on film for Penn State to see.

I am trying to be a realist when it comes to next week.  I see Penn State opens -6.5.  Consensus seems to lean towards -10 before long.

[HarryDoyle]

3 hours ago, LouisEly said:

With the game in hand and no real offensive threat from NW, I think they deliberately played conservative so as not to put anything more on film for Penn State to see.

Like that'll do them any good.

[Jim French Stepstool]

12 hours ago, yourout said:

Defense seems to have turned the corner the last couple of weeks

The opposition hasn't been good the last three weeks, but allowing 16 points-and one TD- in three games is impressive regardless. The trick next week IMO will be to continue to be sound defensively, make PSU earn whatever yards/points they accumulate (no short fields), and at the same time find a way to create 2-3 takeaways (something we haven't done much of this year). They can give people fits defensively when they get even a little production out of the D-line & surprisingly that's been happening. I'm close to saying that Elijah Hills is becoming a revelation, and Ben Barten & Curt Neal seem to be getting more solid each week.

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I am trying to be a realist when it comes to next week.  I see Penn State opens -6.5.  Consensus seems to lean towards -10 before long.

The home field & the fact that it's a night game may factor in, but -10 more or less sounds like a good guess.

It would be nice if the Lions get caught looking ahead to OSU, but we catch them after a bye week so I doubt it.

[Jim French Stepstool]

9 hours ago, LouisEly said:

With the game in hand and no real offensive threat from NW, I think they deliberately played conservative so as not to put anything more on film for Penn State to see.

And generally speaking, when you're defending as well as we were today I have zero issue with pinning a team back. It worked to perfection late in the 1st half when they punted rather than roll the dice on the 4th & 1. Plus, Bertrams had a terrific day with the situational punting.

[Playing Catch]

All phases clicking in the last 3 games. Special teams, aside from fielding punts has been good. Defense has those of us that have been pining for Leonhard relax a little bit. Those of us that felt that Chryst could conduct an offense just as poorly as Longo, are feeling better.

I didn't disagree with the decision to fire Chryst/hire Fickell, but I also felt that Fickell didn't need a long leash. He was brought in to maximize the program quickly. He kind of came into this season on my own personal hot seat that was just waiting to get plugged in. These last three weeks have looked so much better, that I may even give him till 2026.

It's not results, per se, that I've been judging on, but on all the little things that make a program hum. Identity, consistency, discipline. The identity of this coaching staff seems to be finally coming around to results on the field. The trenches have grown leaps and bounds. Their recruits are beginning to bear fruit. They can run the ball and stop the run. They're one of the least penalized teams in football.

Things seem to have stabilized, anyway. Now Fickell has a foundation to keep growing.

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

All phases clicking in the last 3 games. Special teams, aside from fielding punts has been good. Defense has those of us that have been pining for Leonhard relax a little bit. Those of us that felt that Chryst could conduct an offense just as poorly as Longo, are feeling better.

I didn't disagree with the decision to fire Chryst/hire Fickell, but I also felt that Fickell didn't need a long leash. He was brought in to maximize the program quickly. He kind of came into this season on my own personal hot seat that was just waiting to get plugged in. These last three weeks have looked so much better, that I may even give him till 2026.

It's not results, per se, that I've been judging on, but on all the little things that make a program hum. Identity, consistency, discipline. The identity of this coaching staff seems to be finally coming around to results on the field. The trenches have grown leaps and bounds. Their recruits are beginning to bear fruit. They can run the ball and stop the run. They're one of the least penalized teams in football.

Things seem to have stabilized, anyway. Now Fickell has a foundation to keep growing.

Great post. 

Identity, consistency, discipline to be sure. There was an 'all over the map' look to this team in the '23 season & first 3-4 games of this year & I really didn't know if the change to a different way of doing things was a legit reason for it. It now appears like maybe it was. I'm not sure how they'll fare in the next three games but at least you get the sense that they now understand what needs to be done & how to best accomplish it.

[nate82]

I think the biggest reason the team has turned around is that the offensive line is finally producing.  The run and pass blocking has improved dramatically since the beginning of the season.

QB play is still below average and at times just absolutely awful.  Locke needs to be smarter with his decision making.  I keep on hearing how smart he is at QB but he continues to make the same stupid mistakes over and over again.

At RB it looks like the Badgers have found their two main backs.  They have looked like Badgers RB in the last few games.

Defensively the team has turned it around also.  Still the defensive line is the teams weak point but the linebackers have gotten some help the last few games.  It is no longer resting on the linebackers to cover for the d-line on every play.

Play calling has also improved immensely.  I would still like to see a reverse and get Kekauna more involved in the game.  I was so excited when they did the toss to him.

I don’t expect them to beat PSU but I think they have a chance if Locke doesn’t turn the ball over.

[Jimbo]

I'm a sliver surprised about not sniffing the Top 25 after three nice wins in the B1G.

 

[Samurai Bucky]

5 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I'm a sliver surprised about not sniffing the Top 25 after three nice wins in the B1G.

I'm not surprised.

<Insert the "we get no respect" card here>

I'll bet if Alabama loses again this week and has three losses, they will still be in the top 25.

[tmwiese55]

I did expect they'd sneak into the 25 this week.   Though I'm still very skeptical they're actually legit and truly deserve it.   NW and Rutgers don't suck though, they're just not anything special, but those are fine wins.      Generally speaking I still don't think UW is actually good, but 3 good weeks in a row helps with some cautious optimism they can be competitive this weekend.   Guess we'll see, either way its much better to be in the spot than if they'd lost 2 of the last 3. Solid progress from how it looked after USC collapse.

Actually running the ball again helps, who would've thought.   And of course, the D looking similar to pre coaching change has been huge, we'll see if it holds up the next few weeks. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

 

 And of course, the D looking similar to pre coaching change has been huge, we'll see if it holds up the next few weeks. 

It's like a light has come on for some of the LBs. People like Thomas, Pius & Chaney, it was almost laughable how badly they were over-pursuing, being out of position & not filling gaps earlier in the year. It's looked night-and-day better recently; Alliegro has looked great & now you have Sebastian Cheeks stepping up & making plays too.

The lineman have done a better job of getting a push & occupying people too, which helps the LBs immensely. Barten has always been a plugger; now Curt Neal has taken some baby steps & Dillan Johnson is starting to provide some quality relief. Hills has just been a playmaker pretty much all season. A great find from the FCS level.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

It's like a light has come on for some of the LBs.

I think it is just them trusting what they are seeing and not relying only on their athleticism to make the play.  They are definitely in better positions to make plays than they were earlier in the year.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, nate82 said:

I think it is just them trusting what they are seeing and not relying only on their athleticism to make the play.  They are definitely in better positions to make plays than they were earlier in the year.  

Yeah. It seems to me the front seven even going back to last year was oftentimes about "we're athletic, we're going to fly around & make plays", w/not nearly enough concern to being in the right spot, then reading and as you said, trusting the read.

[Playing Catch]

The Badgers might end up being a top 25 team, but any prognosticator or ranker of teams saw their schedule in July and wrote them off for the rest of the season. The team will need to beat a team they are the underdog to, to get any notice nationally.

So how 'bout they go and beat Penn State on national television Saturday night at Camp Randall?