Wisconsin Football 2025

[Samurai Bucky]

11 minutes ago, yourout said:

 

No, he will try to take your money.  For real...

[AKCheesehead]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

Morton level ineptitude.

Don Morton was exactly what I thought about. I was a 3rd grader when McClain passed on the treadmill. Aunt Peggy was a long time season ticket holder, I think she graduated UW circa 1943. We went to games and aside from the freezing cold ass kicking Michigan State gave us…what was it, 88? I don’t know- we stayed until the end. Always.  But no way I’d go sit through this crap now. No way. I’ll make a point of watching the Minnesota game this year. The rest, whatever. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

Let's be honest - 

At their "peak", the Badgers still greatly benefitted from not having PSU, OSU, or Michigan in their division, plus those programs all took turns in some sort of scholarship/postseason bowl ban purgatory.  The Badgers made hay by recruiting and developing players who would stick around through their 5th year, particularly up front on both sides of the ball.  

 

Them trying to play the same NIL game the bluebloods can with unlimited budgets and then have a staff seemingly incapable of developing players, and also losing their divisional advantage with the conference realignment/expansion is why this program now sucks.

 

Im not all that disappointed though - college football is largely unwatchable for me no matter who is playing at this point.

[AKCheesehead]

Agreed FTC. College football, for much of my life, was my number 1 sport. Brewers were 2nd then Packers. Brewers became number 1 I think ‘16 o’17. But college for me dropped to the point of hardly care once NIL. Hoops is a little better we keep more guys around. But it’s not for everyone. I know Dad dropped his season tickets- going back to about 5 years in the Field House- the moment Hepburn transferred. That was it. 

[Samurai Bucky]

22 minutes ago, AKCheesehead said:

 We went to games and aside from the freezing cold ass kicking Michigan State gave us…what was it, 88?

November 25, 1989.  It was after thanksgiving and there seemed to be nobody in the stands.  Lost 31-3.  My penultimate year in the band...

They flat out sucked that year.

[Samurai Bucky]

17 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Im not all that disappointed though - college football is largely unwatchable for me no matter who is playing at this point.

At least McIntosh will have some really cool shiny new buildings, right?

[yourout]

One thing is clear. It's far easier to tear down a respectable football program than it is to build one.

[homer]

If Indiana and Illinois can be top 10 teams then there is zero reason UW can't be one. This is pathetic.

[Samurai Bucky]

27 minutes ago, homer said:

If Indiana and Illinois can be top 10 teams then there is zero reason UW can't be one. This is pathetic.

The last AD for Wisconsin was a football guy whose profession was a football coach.  The current AD was a football guy who was a realtor.

I do have to give McIntosh credit, though -- he hired Mike Hastings for the hockey team and has kept Gard and Sheffield around.

[nate82]

Would be nice if the OL could stay healthy for more than a half of a quarter.

[nate82]

I still believe Fickell has at least one more year and possibly two.  The Badgers are still trying to dig themselves out of the hole PC left them in.  If they could have kept Bielema that would have been the best outcome.

All UW had to do was pay the coordinators more.  UW definitely could have afforded that.

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, wildcat83 said:

Good news is rebuilding can be a quick process if you get the right coach and boosters in place.

I don't agree with this.  The schools that people use as examples have benefited from easy schedules.  

Indiana got torched in the two games last year that they played against good teams.  They weren't that good.

Arizona State lost to Cincinnati last year and this year they lost at Mississippi State where their starting QB went 10-22 for 82 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs.  UWs backup QB did that against Alabama.

Deion brought his own luggage.  He hasn't beaten a good team yet and started this season 1-2.

If by "boosters" you mean Larry Ellison shelling out $10M for the #1 QB recruit in the country at the behest of his sugar baby, or Phil Knight shelling out $40M to fund his alma matter, yes, but UW doesn't have any of those boosters.

[LouisEly]

The #1 way that you beat yourself is by trying to do too much.

While I appreciate Danny O'Neil's level of effort, by trying to do too much he hurt his team badly today.  Bad INT, bad sacks, gave Maryland more yardage than he generated for UW.

Thanks, Chryst, for your half-assing of recruiting the last two years you were here and for all of the quality QBs, OL, TEs, and DL you left behind (which I believe is a total of two two players - Mahlman and Brunner).  When you don't have $40M in NIL to spend on a team you can't buy an entire offense and half of a defense to get you a halfway decent team.

[nate82]

6 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Thanks, Chryst, for your half-assing of recruiting the last two years you were here and for all of the quality QBs, OL, TEs, and DL you left behind (which I believe is a total of two two players - Mahlman and Brunner).  When you don't have $40M in NIL to spend on a team you can't buy an entire offense and half of a defense to get you a halfway decent team.

I think it was longer than his last two seasons.  It felt like he quit after Mertz committed.  After Mertz committed there was barely any recruiting going on if any at all.  Leonhard didn’t help either on the defensive side of things when it came to recruiting.

The death kneel of this program was losing Bielema and then going to Anderson and then to PC.  PC was just a bad hire from the beginning.  He was unwilling to move players around on offense and refused to change his game plan when it wasn’t working and then when something was working in the pass game it would all of a sudden just disappear never to be ran again because that wasn’t WI football.  He had a great TE in Ferguson but refused to play him off of the OL.  PC is a great D3 coach but an absolutely awful major conference coach.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Regarding todays' game---if you are having trouble scoring points (which is obvious) you need to at least play the 'clean' football Fickell sometimes mentions that seldom happens. Take away the blocked punt & terrible INT early, and you're quite possibly looking at a 7-3 or 10-3 game going into the 4th quarter. No excuses here, just pointing out how you can't absorb mistakes when offense is so hard to come by. Muck it up, keep it close, hope the FR QB makes a critical error or two & you're in business. But.........

The inability to run is killing them. Today MD had their pick--either shoot a LB or two & make O'Neil run for his life, or cover & rush four, which usually meant we had maybe an extra second to throw, if that. And usually no one could get open cuz they're covering with seven. Simmons actually looked OK on the last drive, but while he showed a little mobility you pretty much have to have O'Neil out there since his sprint draw up the middle represents at least half of your run game (Plus Simmons wasn't being pressured outside of one or two plays).

On paper, you could make the argument 2-10 is a possibility. In reality, the O-line needs to get better/healthier & the defense has to somehow avoid getting worn down or else yeah, you could go winless from here on out.

I feel for Ryan Cory. Unlike other OL, even casual fans can see when a center screws up. Tough spot for a RS freshman (he's struggled so much I actually assumed he was a true FR before looking it up). Having to go with your 3rd string guy there can spell big trouble. You hold out hope the staff can make the OL better week-to-week, but then you realize this is the same braintrust that decided going into week one that Davis Heinzen could play LT, and then juggled around almost the entire line since then. I dunno.

[LouisEly]

That's true - no QB recruit in 2020.  I thought they had a good OL class in 2021 and they did on paper - Rucci, Mahlman, Benzschawel.  But it was only three players, Rucci didn't want to wait his turn so he took advantage of the portal, and Benzschawel was severely over-rated.  He's a redshirt SR now and hasn't been able to earn a starting job, and that says something right now.

So, in three years (2021-2023) Chryst brought in a total of 6 OL - Rucci, Mahlman, Benzschawel, Brunner, Barrett Nelson, and Durand.  Six OL in three years... no wonder their OL is a disaster.  And you can't fix that in the portal when you have to buy a starting and a backup QB every year.

I don't think that PC was a bad hire.  His promotion of Joe Rudolph to OC and then replacing him with Bobby Engram was the death knell.  That, and NIL.

[JosephC]

14 minutes ago, nate82 said:

PC was just a bad hire from the beginning.  

You just keep typing this over and over and over, like if you type it a million times you will eventually convince yourself that it is the truth.

Chryst had a .713 winning percentage in the regular season, .705 against the Big 10 and .857 in bowl games.

The Badgers were 9-4 in Chryst's last full season and that was his seventh year.  7+ years of 70% winning percentages is a "bad hire from the beginning."

Enjoy the next several seasons of 5 or less wins.  Prepare to get one hell of a lesson on what bad coaching is.

[Jim French Stepstool]

When I think of Chryst & his career here I often think of Bob Schnelker, who was an OC for Green Bay & a few other teams. He had a great rep as an OC (as did Chryst), but never was a HC although I would assume he had opportunities. Some guys need to 'stay in their lanes', but it isn't easy to turn down a HC opportunity at your alma mater. Chryst was, if not a hot commodity, at least a warm one when he was an assistant. Obviously in the current state of the college game he isn't a fit as a head guy.

[nate82]

He went 12-18 against ranked opponents.  That is horrible for the program he was given.  If he continued to coach his record would have went even lower.  Probably looking at something like 12-25 or there about.  Yes PC sucked and he was a bad coach.  You have to do more than win in college football especially in a major conference.  PC couldn't recruit and the majority of his best recruits were guys that were already there.  He took a good football program and turned it into a snowball going to hell.  His final 3-years he absolutely decimated the football program by refusing to recruit anyone.  

He was absolutely lazy and pathetic at recruiting.  He is the reason this program is faltering as much it has been.  Bielema set him up really good for his first three years.

[homer]

32 minutes ago, nate82 said:

I think it was longer than his last two seasons.  It felt like he quit after Mertz committed.  After Mertz committed there was barely any recruiting going on if any at all

2021 was a very good recruiting class.

[owbc]

9 minutes ago, nate82 said:

He went 12-18 against ranked opponents.  That is horrible for the program he was given.  If he continued to coach his record would have went even lower.  Probably looking at something like 12-25 or there about.  Yes PC sucked and he was a bad coach.  You have to do more than win in college football especially in a major conference.  PC couldn't recruit and the majority of his best recruits were guys that were already there.  He took a good football program and turned it into a snowball going to hell.  His final 3-years he absolutely decimated the football program by refusing to recruit anyone.  

He was absolutely lazy and pathetic at recruiting.  He is the reason this program is faltering as much it has been.  Bielema set him up really good for his first three years.

At the rate they are going they will be lucky to get one win in their next 25 against ranked opponents. 

[homer]

and again recruiting aside, this team simply looks poorly coached. They gave up a blocked fg and a blocked punt today. That has little to do with recruiting. 

[JosephC]

41 minutes ago, nate82 said:

He went 12-18 against ranked opponents.  That is horrible for the program he was given.  If he continued to coach his record would have went even lower.  Probably looking at something like 12-25 or there about.  Yes PC sucked and he was a bad coach.  You have to do more than win in college football especially in a major conference.  PC couldn't recruit and the majority of his best recruits were guys that were already there.  He took a good football program and turned it into a snowball going to hell.  His final 3-years he absolutely decimated the football program by refusing to recruit anyone.  

He was absolutely lazy and pathetic at recruiting.  He is the reason this program is faltering as much it has been.  Bielema set him up really good for his first three years.

Against ranked opponents-

Alvarez (if I counted it all up correctly) = 26-38-1 = .408

Let's throw out the first 8 losses and a later bowl win and bowl loss as he was just a "fill-in" for a bowl game = 25-29-1 = winning percentage = .464

Bielema = 10-14 = winning percentage = .416

Anderson = 3-4 = winning percentage = .429

Chryst = 12-18 = winning percentage = .400

So Barry is a whole lot better if one is willing to throw out a whole bunch of data points.  Otherwise, not much of a difference between the last four coaches.  Maybe somebody gets all stupid and wants to argue that .429 (with only 7 data points) is way better than .400, but I fail to see all that much difference.

[Jimbo]

I had two options this afternoon:

Option A) Watch Badgers football.

Option B) Watch the replay of the women's marathon World Championship race from last Saturday.

I made the correct choice.  And was more entertained.

 

[homer]

Curt Cignetti took over an Indiana team that had gone 3 - 24 in conference the prior three seasons and took them to the playoffs. I really don't think the Badgers were worse off than the Hoosiers when Tom Allen departed. Obviously those are different programs, schedules, situations etc and you can't always expect a one year turnaround but this team has not improved since Fickell started.