Wisconsin vs. Oregon, Saturday 11/16/24, 6:30pm CT

[LouisEly]

10 hours ago, HarryDoyle said:

That didn't have a shot of being completed anyway. The intended receiver couldn't have been covered any tighter than he was.

So were all of the other receivers. 

Less than 1:30 remaining, at your own 25 yard line, in the pocket so can't throw it away without it being at a receiver or it's intentional grounding, and absolutely can't take a sack or a gain of little to no yardage and have the clock keep running.  He tried to make a play with a receiver who was covered 1:1 and hope that the receiver can make a contested catch or draw pass interference.  Not many options there.  The defense defended it well and made two good plays, one by the DL to time his jump and get his hand up in the right spot, one by the other DL to turn around and find the ball.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I certainly didn't expect the defense to hold up through 4 quarters. It sort of didn't, but nothing like the last two games. Kudos.

Anyone with even a semblance of an open mind can't help but notice how the refs impacted this. The non-hold call on a critical pass from Gabriel, contrasted with two flags on our O-line negating a TD pass & a huge pickup of a (IIRC) 3rd & nine play. Even if they were both legitimate infractions, not Lockes' fault. Nor was a tipped pass volleyball-spiked to a teammate for an INT. 

I'm not here to anoint Locke as some sort of outstanding signal caller. He isn't. To defeat the #1 team in the nation, he needed to be much better. But you can say that about everyone else on the offensive side of the ball, with the exception of our TBs running pretty hard despite no consistent holes & the O-line performing well in the first 2nd-half possession. And Anthony, I thought he had a nice night. Locke missed throws you needed to make to beat this team. He also had the two huge completions, one for a TD, taken away by either the officials or his linemens' gaffes, take your pick. Of course there will always be fans who can't see beyond the guy taking the snap. Yes, the backup QB that is extremely ill-fitted to lead this type of offense & was thrust into the starters' job since early in the 3rd game isn't good enough. For the seventh week in a row, we get it. And if the true freshman backup who they view every day in practice is deemed to not be an alternative at this point, I'm going to go with the people that do the viewing rather than frustrated fans.

Oregons' special teams have been game-changers all year & we pretty much matched them in that area. Well done. Fourqurean stepped up & played well. I thought the D-line held together as well as you could expect vs this opponent. And Alliegro is most likely going to be a leader defensively in '25 if he isn't already.

Hope Wohler is OK. You'd hate to see someone with the stuff he's made of have to end his career at less than 100%.

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, LouisEly said:

So were all of the other receivers. 

 

That reminds me of a play in the 2nd half. They were finally starting to get a little of the run-pass mix going with Walker & Dupree, and wisely (or so I thought) were sufficiently set up to throw on 1st down. Locke rolls right, has two receivers on that side. and they're both tightly covered. Nothing to do but throw it in the turf.

On 1st & ten. And it's not like we've been throwing on 1st down all game. 

That's what made the 1st drive of the 2nd half so impressive. Just a tough group to sustain a drive against unless you can establish a running game.

[LouisEly]

3 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

He also had the two huge completions, one for a TD, taken away by either the officials or his linemens' gaffes, take your pick.

I don't think it was a lineman's gaffe.  It looked to me like they called a QB draw; Locke tucked it and ran fairly quickly, but when the run wasn't there and he saw the open receiver he improvised.  There were two OL downfield, strongly suggesting that they were the two who were instructed in the play call to wait 2 seconds, then charge downfield.

[yourout]

Badgers were outscored by the students on Saturday. 

17 citations to 13 points for the football team.

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, LouisEly said:

I don't think it was a lineman's gaffe.  It looked to me like they called a QB draw; Locke tucked it and ran fairly quickly, but when the run wasn't there and he saw the open receiver he improvised.  There were two OL downfield, strongly suggesting that they were the two who were instructed in the play call to wait 2 seconds, then charge downfield.

Possibly. It looked like he decided to tuck & run but it just didn't look like a QB draw to me since he was rolling left rather than going up the middle & a designed rollout & run just doesn't seem like the type of thing they'd call. But yeah, the linemen going downfield DOES suggest that.