Wisconsin Football 2024

[Playing Catch]

On 11/14/2024 at 9:28 AM, LouisEly said:

I don't know if there's one offensive skill position player on the current team who will go on to the NFL, much less eight.

This has been an issue for awhile now. The developmental program stopped developing.

My pet theory as to the loss of dominant OL play is recruiting. I think that in the last say, 6 seasons or so, the Badgers have pulled in better recruits. But my uneducated guess is that many of those recruits get more stars because they can project as athletic pass-blockers -- not a bad thing, but perhaps a different body-type/skillset.

It is baffling to me that say, 6 years ago, or so, The Badgers OL could be counted on to convert a 4th and inches nearly every time. That dried up completely, so much so that in recent seasons, I find myself hoping for an end-around or pass in those situations.

[nate82]

Some Badgers fans would hate this but I wish PC was fired and Deion Sanders was his replacement after the 2022 season.  Maybe Fickell will be better over the long term but what Sanders has done for Colorado is a bit of a miracle so far.

Basically I would like to see what Colorado is doing right now at Wisconsin.  Defensively they look like the Badgers before PC took over.  Hiring PC as the HC was one of the worst decisions the Badgers have done in a while especially on the recruiting side of things.

[LouisEly]

Colorado has played one ranked team so far and lost at home.  They also lost to Nebraska, who is 5-4.  Strength of schedule is 56th in the nation.  Utah today was playing their 3rd or 4th string QB.

Give UW their schedule this year and a healthy Van Dyke and they'd be at least 7-2 if not better.

I hope Sanders gets hired away by either Florida State or the Cowboys.

[yourout]

Wonder what the offseason will look like if they lose out. Having Minnesota win the ax again at home while simultaneously killing any bowl chances would probably be the worst possible outcome for Fickell.

[Recovering Chicagoan]

It would be nice if the program improves to where Wisconsin could be at least a top-20 team.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 11/16/2024 at 8:05 AM, Playing Catch said:

This has been an issue for awhile now. The developmental program stopped developing.

My pet theory as to the loss of dominant OL play is recruiting. I think that in the last say, 6 seasons or so, the Badgers have pulled in better recruits. But my uneducated guess is that many of those recruits get more stars because they can project as athletic pass-blockers -- not a bad thing, but perhaps a different body-type/skillset.

It is baffling to me that say, 6 years ago, or so, The Badgers OL could be counted on to convert a 4th and inches nearly every time. That dried up completely, so much so that in recent seasons, I find myself hoping for an end-around or pass in those situations.

As to the bolded---Amen. And I suspect many believe in the portal era that should no longer be a thing. And it absolutely should.

If I'm a road-grader OL looking for a school, I'm not sure UW looks as appealing to me as it once did. I have a good feeling about the new OL coach & hope I'm wrong. The ability to pass block, while a good skill to have, can be greatly mitigated if you can run the ball. Staying out of 2nd or 3rd & longs is usually the best pass protection you can have. Throwing when you WANT to, rather than because you HAVE to.

Last night vs Oregon when we scored the TD, we had a 1st & goal at the two. Not only did we throw on the next two plays, but I kinda expected that we HAD to, in order to score. Kinda sad.

[Jim French Stepstool]

15 hours ago, yourout said:

Wonder what the offseason will look like if they lose out. Having Minnesota win the ax again at home while simultaneously killing any bowl chances would probably be the worst possible outcome for Fickell.

It would. But if anyone is thinking about him getting axed after two seasons, no way. I COULD see a scenario where he's 'encouraged' to make a change from Longo. I don't advocate an AD overstepping his bounds like that but it wouldn't shock me.

[yfinn6]

3 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

It would. But if anyone is thinking about him getting axed after two seasons, no way. I COULD see a scenario where he's 'encouraged' to make a change from Longo. I don't advocate an AD overstepping his bounds like that but it wouldn't shock me.

I don't think it would be wise for Mac to weigh-in on who Fickell hires/fires. Mac has enough goodwill issues within the athletic department he should be worried about. 

[yfinn6]

And Longo is out at UW. 

[RedStickBrew]

2 minutes ago, yfinn6 said:

And Longo is out at UW. 

Not surprising. Interested to see who takes over next year

[yourout]

3 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Not surprising. Interested to see who takes over next year

Will be interesting to see who finishes the year as OC

[RedStickBrew]

Just now, yourout said:

Will be interesting to see who finishes the year as OC

Yeah. There are some pretty young guys on the offensive staff. Letton maybe?

[yourout]

5 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Yeah. There are some pretty young guys on the offensive staff. Letton maybe?

At this point you don't have much to lose because they really can't get any worse.

[LouisEly]

A few weeks ago Braelon Allen made some cryptic comments alluding to some type of dysfunction there and people not being held accountable. 

Methinks that and this are not unrelated.

[yfinn6]

Potrykus tweeted something last week or the week before, too. Cryptic stuff.

I figured Longo was gone at the end of the year so a little surprised by the timing but I assume Fickell was just so pissed at what happened last night it was the last straw. Locke never improved at all in any of his starts, even against bad teams when he padded stats he would have some mind-bogglingly stupid turnover(s). 

I was extremely discouraged about 2025 and while I still am a bit, it's a little less now with Longo gone. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

On 11/16/2024 at 2:43 PM, nate82 said:

Some Badgers fans would hate this but I wish PC was fired and Deion Sanders was his replacement after the 2022 season.  Maybe Fickell will be better over the long term but what Sanders has done for Colorado is a bit of a miracle so far.

Basically I would like to see what Colorado is doing right now at Wisconsin.  Defensively they look like the Badgers before PC took over.  Hiring PC as the HC was one of the worst decisions the Badgers have done in a while especially on the recruiting side of things.

Doubt that would work. UW has not been willing to bend its academic rules for football. Deion has been saying the right things in that regard but there are players on the team struggling academically who probably never get through the doors at UW.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 11/16/2024 at 2:43 PM, nate82 said:

Some Badgers fans would hate this but I wish PC was fired and Deion Sanders was his replacement after the 2022 season.  Maybe Fickell will be better over the long term but what Sanders has done for Colorado is a bit of a miracle so far.

Basically I would like to see what Colorado is doing right now at Wisconsin.  Defensively they look like the Badgers before PC took over.  Hiring PC as the HC was one of the worst decisions the Badgers have done in a while especially on the recruiting side of things.

They've never been real big on hiring someone who you know would have no intention of staying long term. And I'm fine with that. And @OldSchoolSnapperraised the point of academics. Best case scenario, it would've given you a 2-3 year shot in the arm due mainly to his bringing his kid with him, then you're right back where you were.

[Jim French Stepstool]

If it happened, I thought it would be after the season so this is a bit of an eye-opener but I'm OK with it. No one on the staff really stands out to me AFA filling the spot temporarily so I expect Fickell to call the plays the next two weeks.

I also expect Gino Guidugli to be pressed by Fickell to replace Longo. He's the QB coach at Notre Dame & worked with Fickell at Cincy.

[JosephC]

Bad look for Fickell.  Longo was undoubtedly the big "get" of Fickell's first Wisconsin coaching staff, and doesn't even make it through 2 seasons.

[LouisEly]

14 hours ago, yfinn6 said:

Potrykus tweeted something last week or the week before, too. Cryptic stuff.

I figured Longo was gone at the end of the year so a little surprised by the timing but I assume Fickell was just so pissed at what happened last night it was the last straw.

Yeah, this has been brewing for some time.  I think it's more about getting a head start on finding the right guy and "advertising the opening" than anything that happened last night.

I don't think that anybody gets fired for scoring only 13 points against the #1 team in the nation with their backup QB.

[homer]

12 hours ago, JosephC said:

Bad look for Fickell.  Longo was undoubtedly the big "get" of Fickell's first Wisconsin coaching staff, and doesn't even make it through 2 seasons.

I give him credit for avoiding sunk cost fallacy.

[Underachiever]

15 hours ago, JosephC said:

Bad look for Fickell.  Longo was undoubtedly the big "get" of Fickell's first Wisconsin coaching staff, and doesn't even make it through 2 seasons.

Is it a worse look than that offense?

[CheezWizHed]

So I wonder if Longo's firing was more about offensive philosophy, failed execution, or lack of improvement? 

Failed Execution: This would be an easy one to point to, but he started with zero WRs, TEs, an average OL, and had to play most of the two seasons with a backup QB. WR and TE talent was improved this year.  Perhaps a bit more talent on the OL, but not outstanding either. 

Philosophy: Air Raid was certainly departure from the Alvarez, Bielema, Chryst RB heavy offense for decades. But the execution of it looked different than expected.  Perhaps the backup QB constantly shunted those plans?  Not sure who the next OC might be, but I wouldn't expect us to go back to the ground-n-pound offense necessarily. 

Lack of Improvement: My main guess here is that the team simply didn't improve.  Felt like we were in neutral most of the time.  Never getting better, making the same mistakes... We've had improvement from year 1 to year 2 by bringing in better players but I can't think of too many guys on the offensive side that have improved much from year 1 to year 2. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Yeah, this has been brewing for some time.  I think it's more about getting a head start on finding the right guy and "advertising the opening" than anything that happened last night.

I don't think that anybody gets fired for scoring only 13 points against the #1 team in the nation with their backup QB.

I agree with this. At the same time, had they been just as inept offensively & won 17-16 or 13-10 or something it  would've made it dicey to do it at this time.

[tmwiese55]

18 hours ago, yfinn6 said:

Potrykus tweeted something last week or the week before, too. Cryptic stuff.

I figured Longo was gone at the end of the year so a little surprised by the timing but I assume Fickell was just so pissed at what happened last night it was the last straw. Locke never improved at all in any of his starts, even against bad teams when he padded stats he would have some mind-bogglingly stupid turnover(s). 

I was extremely discouraged about 2025 and while I still am a bit, it's a little less now with Longo gone. 

I'd still be pretty discouraged for next year. If you or anyone haven't looked at the schedule yet, its brutal again and it will be a surprise to make a bowl.   

As much as it is impossible to not think things have been going about as bad as possible since the coaching change, you basically have to give him through '26 before making a decision. The schedules this year and next are hopeless so can't freak out and fire due to it, but if progress isn't clear in '26 that should be it.  Also, it wouldn't surprise me knowing that schedule next year if Fickell pulls an Anderson and pre-emptively leaves for a lower level school if the right opportunity presents itself this offseason. I don't think he will because if he waits and gets fired he still gets the money and can take a new job then, but it wouldn't surprise me

Still too early to fully judge, but the 'fire everyone and blow it up' camp of a few years ago are somewhat seeing the risk firsthand right now.   IMO, the hindsight move would probably have been to keep Leonhard as HC so that you maintained that awesome D they had the PC era, but tell him he has to shake things up on O with his OC hire to modernize things a bit.