Wisconsin Football 2025

[LouisEly]

11 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

Yeah, except for the fact that Wisconsin has consistently been a much better program than either

Oklahoma State finished top 10 in 2021 and played in the Fiesta Bowl that year.  They were also top 20 in 2023.  Wisconsin hasn't finished in the top 25 since 2019. 

Oklahoma State has finished in the top 20 six times in the last 10 years, Wisconsin four.  I think you're selling Oklahoma State short.

[Samurai Bucky]

5 hours ago, JosephC said:

Michigan is a 17.5 point favorite this morning. 

Have to think with the beatdown that this team has received from the fans and media these last two weeks, that if they have any pride and guts at all, that we are going to see the best they have.

I'll predict the Badgers lose, but it will be a closer game (and in general, pretty ugly).  Maybe something like Michigan 22, Wisconsin 17.

If this is the case, then I will be OK with it.  I want to see them grind and leave it all on the field.

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Oklahoma State finished top 10 in 2021 and played in the Fiesta Bowl that year.  They were also top 20 in 2023.  Wisconsin hasn't finished in the top 25 since 2019. 

Oklahoma State has finished in the top 20 six times in the last 10 years, Wisconsin four.  I think you're selling Oklahoma State short.

It's a little silly to cut my quote off at the part that makes your assertion that the Wisconsin job is on the level of Stanford or Okie State because "they haven't been competing for National titles," right at the point where it suits your argument the strongest.

Quote

 

Yeah, except for the fact that Wisconsin has consistently been a much better program than either school and in the B1G while they're ACC and B12. I don't buy for a second Football coaches are going to say 'well, Stanford or Wisconsin, neither were regularly in the CFP, so same level.' 

Wisconsin dwarfs both those programs both in resources and money spent on the program. 

 

Those are all PRETTY big parts of attracting a coach. One of the two actual power conferences left, the fact that the Badgers have far better resources and play in a better conference should appeal to coaches.

 

I'm also not sure why we're going back 10 years, including the worst 5 year period the Badgers have had since Barry got them back to the Rose Bowl, other than... that time period was OSU's best and includes Wisconsin's worst. 

The Badgers have a better record in a better conference, more conference championship games played in, won, more top 10 finishes more top 25 finishes... and T. Boone Pickens is gone. 

Wisconsin has more money to invest and are in the midst of building new facilities. 

 

Okie St has lower academic standards and... Texas which is slightly easier for them to recruit from. 

Wisconsin has pretty much everything else. 

 

They also had 4 different head coaches during this transition and they haven't gone through this type of lull and been quite so dismissive of the State. So it's not hard to see where Fickell has changed things and how obviously those changes have not worked. 

[BrewerFan]

20 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

If this is the case, then I will be OK with it.  I want to see them grind and leave it all on the field.

That's a BIG spread for a Michigan program that I don't think is that strong this year... 

This may be one of the easiest games left on the schedule... so, it'd be nice to be competitive. We've got the #1 and #2 teams coming up, another top 10 team. 

[nate82]

Simmons has looked really good at QB in this game.  Why was he the #3 QB?

[JosephC]

I watched the first half and that is enough for me.  Just a good reminder on why I don't watch games anymore.  Not much going on, it felt like I watched a bunch of commercials with a couple football plays mixed in.  Completely boring experience.

Each team gets any early score, then both defenses just load up the box and despite the spread offenses, no offense after that.  Michigan hits one 32 yard pass down the sidelines and that's pretty much all the offense after the first drive for each team.

Maybe Underwood will be something a in a couple years, but he doesn't deserve any hype based on what he did in the first half of this game.

Good performance by the Badgers.  They may be behind by three but Michigan is a top 20 team and didn't look any better than Wisconsin.

[homer]

glad UW saved all it's timeouts on that last drive. Might need them next week 

[JosephC]

Make me feel a little better to see Wisconsin has the same record in the Big 10 as Penn State, both 0-2.  Can't say I'm a big fan of James Franklin.

[LouisEly]

On 10/3/2025 at 2:21 PM, BrewerFan said:

Yeah, except for the fact that Wisconsin has consistently been a much better program than either school and in the B1G while they're ACC and B12. I don't buy for a second Football coaches are going to say 'well, Stanford or Wisconsin, neither were regularly in the CFP, so same level.' 

Purely subjective.  I don't find anyone jumping at the Nortwestern or Rutgers or Maryland jobs because they're in the B1G.  If you can find quotes from coaches that support that, I'll acknowledge.

The objective part is that Oklahoma State has been a better program than UW for the last decade, and that is not debatable.

On 10/3/2025 at 2:21 PM, BrewerFan said:

I'm also not sure why we're going back 10 years, including the worst 5 year period the Badgers have had since Barry got them back to the Rose Bowl, other than... that time period was OSU's best and includes Wisconsin's worst. 

What time period would be relevant for this discussion?

[LouisEly]

21 hours ago, nate82 said:

Simmons has looked really good at QB in this game.  Why was he the #3 QB?

He didn't transfer in until after spring practice, so he may have been behind in the learning curve on the offense.  He also had a season-ending injury and may not have been healthy enough to participate in football activities until fall camp.

[yourout]

At this point I think they should start a GoFundMe page for the buyout and I'm guessing they'll be a lot of local vendors that'll pitch in knowing full well if they don't make a change their business is going to take a massive hit next year on Saturdays

[JIMMYG17]

23 hours ago, JosephC said:

I watched the first half and that is enough for me.  Just a good reminder on why I don't watch games anymore.  Not much going on, it felt like I watched a bunch of commercials with a couple football plays mixed in.  Completely boring experience.

Each team gets any early score, then both defenses just load up the box and despite the spread offenses, no offense after that.  Michigan hits one 32 yard pass down the sidelines and that's pretty much all the offense after the first drive for each team.

Maybe Underwood will be something a in a couple years, but he doesn't deserve any hype based on what he did in the first half of this game.

Good performance by the Badgers.  They may be behind by three but Michigan is a top 20 team and didn't look any better than Wisconsin.

Totally agree with your first paragraph. Since baseball rule changes to spread up the game and only 2.5 minutes between innings watching football is just a continuous string of commercials. Dull and boring 

[BrewerFan]

5 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Purely subjective.  I don't find anyone jumping at the Nortwestern or Rutgers or Maryland jobs because they're in the B1G.  If you can find quotes from coaches that support that, I'll acknowledge.

The objective part is that Oklahoma State has been a better program than UW for the last decade, and that is not debatable.

What time period would be relevant for this discussion?

Sure, it's "purely subjective," to point out that Wisconsin still being in one of the two relevant conferences... which comes with significantly more resources and exposure is a selling point...

 

You ignored all the things like... financial resources and I said how far you could go back. To Gundy's era or to 2000, 1990. The last 10 years takes the worst 5 year stretch we've had since '93 to create the strongest argument for Okie State.

 

But if we're just going to ignore like 75% of the argument and then sure, the "objective" part is Oklahoma State is a better program....

[BrewerFan]

On 10/4/2025 at 2:25 PM, homer said:

glad UW saved all it's timeouts on that last drive. Might need them next week 

They just quit with ~3 minutes left in the game and 3 TOs left. It's embarrassing. It was a 2 TD game... so they're PROBABLY not coming back or stopping Michigan, but it's not real helpful when your coach is just checked out. 

 

3 hours ago, yourout said:

At this point I think they should start a GoFundMe page for the buyout and I'm guessing they'll be a lot of local vendors that'll pitch in knowing full well if they don't make a change their business is going to take a massive hit next year on Saturdays

We're sinking to a depth that's... going to be VERY difficult to recover from and it's going to take a long time to rebuild from.

The 10-3, 9-4 type seasons that weren't good enough seem a LOOONG way away right now. 

[owbc]

I didn’t watch. I didn’t even know who they were playing this week until I happened to be checking college football scores. I’m completely checked out as a fan. 

[nate82]

The only HC I would want to change from Fickell would be Lane Kiffin but I am not sure he will leave Ole Miss.  Everyone else who has been mentioned just don't do it for me.  They are all blah bland coaches who don't really do anything to make the program better.  Kiffin would be that guy who would continue with the recruiting that has been set up so far.  I don't really care about recruiting players in WI I just want the best players coming to Wisconsin.  Creating a wall inside WI for recruiting is just something that is dumb to me and is unnecessary.  If that is the next HC's focus then I know it will be a failure.  

[JosephC]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

The only HC I would want to change from Fickell would be Lane Kiffin but I am not sure he will leave Ole Miss.  Everyone else who has been mentioned just don't do it for me.  They are all blah bland coaches who don't really do anything to make the program better.  Kiffin would be that guy who would continue with the recruiting that has been set up so far.  I don't really care about recruiting players in WI I just want the best players coming to Wisconsin.  Creating a wall inside WI for recruiting is just something that is dumb to me and is unnecessary.  If that is the next HC's focus then I know it will be a failure.  

Off the Deion Sanders bandwagon so soon?

[nate82]

7 hours ago, JosephC said:

Off the Deion Sanders bandwagon so soon?

Nope.  Just not a good fit at UW personality wise.  He would drive so many here crazy.  

[homer]

10 hours ago, nate82 said:

The only HC I would want to change from Fickell would be Lane Kiffin but I am not sure he will leave Ole Miss.  Everyone else who has been mentioned just don't do it for me.  They are all blah bland coaches who don't really do anything to make the program better.  Kiffin would be that guy who would continue with the recruiting that has been set up so far.  I don't really care about recruiting players in WI I just want the best players coming to Wisconsin.  Creating a wall inside WI for recruiting is just something that is dumb to me and is unnecessary.  If that is the next HC's focus then I know it will be a failure.  

Lane Kiffin is not leaving a top 5 program and a top 10 salary to come to Wisconsin.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, homer said:

Lane Kiffin is not leaving a top 5 program and a top 10 salary to come to Wisconsin.

Ole Miss is a top 5 program????  They maybe ranked in the top 5 but I wouldn't put them as a top 5 program.  They are not on the same level as Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma or Michigan.  Heck I would put Auburn, USC LSU and Notre Dame ahead of Ole Miss and possibly even PSU.  The difference in salary between Kiffin and Fickell is about $1mm.  Unknown on the bonuses for both so lets say that figure grows to about $2-3mm difference. 

I already said I wasn't sure he would leave but that is the type of HC I would want at UW.  I don't want someone who was an assistant at UW previously.  Why does UW have to stick with the boring safe HC's it is like the program gets stuck in we can only do it one way and that is it.  UW is stuck in the Bears thinking of we had Payton and the '85 defense that is the only way we can win mentality.  Stuck in a bygone era of football doomed to be a failure until those people are removed.  

[LouisEly]

19 hours ago, JosephC said:

Off the Deion Sanders bandwagon so soon?

They're sitting at 2-4, 0-3 in conference, with #22 Iowa State coming to town (who I've never been sold on as a top-25 team and last week showed why, but still).

According to 24/7, their 2023 transfer rank was #1, 2024 transfer rank was #8, and their 2025 transfer rank was #19.  (They've also had top-25 freshman recruiting classes three years in a row.)  Great transfer classes aren't a sure thing for success.  1-8 in games against top-25 teams with the one win coming against a TCU team the first game of 2023... who then went on to have a 5-7 season.  So really, winless against every good team they played.

[CheezWizHed]

The shine is coming off the Deion hype train.  More of a promoter than a real coach, IMO. There is a real trend among coaches where the most talented players make terrible coaches because so much of the game came naturally.  Better coaches tend to be the players that were more limited and succeeded only because they understood every nuance of the game to compete with more talented players. 

[nate82]

40 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

The shine is coming off the Deion hype train.  More of a promoter than a real coach, IMO. There is a real trend among coaches where the most talented players make terrible coaches because so much of the game came naturally.  Better coaches tend to be the players that were more limited and succeeded only because they understood every nuance of the game to compete with more talented players. 

Just like anything else it is far easier to teach what not to do than it is to teach how to do it correctly.  Deion though is a really smart player but that doesn’t really mean much if you can’t teach what you know.

Ted Williams is probably the greatest example of this one of the greatest hitters of all time but also one of the worst to teach you how to hit.  Tony Gwynn is the same as how he taught how to hit would drive some people crazy.  

[CheezWizHed]

29 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Just like anything else it is far easier to teach what not to do than it is to teach how to do it correctly.  Deion though is a really smart player but that doesn’t really mean much if you can’t teach what you know.

Ted Williams is probably the greatest example of this one of the greatest hitters of all time but also one of the worst to teach you how to hit.  Tony Gwynn is the same as how he taught how to hit would drive some people crazy.  

Rod Carew, Paul Molitor... many examples of great players that struggled to teach the things they did well as players. 

[Yaz19]

2 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

Rod Carew, Paul Molitor... many examples of great players that struggled to teach the things they did well as players. 

Tony Granato comes to mind.