Wisconsin football 2026

[Jim French Stepstool]

I really dislike blaming officials, but tonite.........it's not really blaming them I guess, because UCLA was the better team & we probably lose anyway. But looking at missed calls both ways & questionable calls both ways, it's almost impossible to not make those guys a feature part of the story. I don't know what it is with west coast officials over the years, but tonite pretty much stood alone. It's almost as if they knew they missed stuff early, overcompensated, then overcompensated for the overcompensation.

I thought the defense was extremely solid, especially since Dieffenbach had a pretty good game, not what you'd expect from a backup. Just a few too many penalties (legitimate ones) & poor discipline at inopportune times on both sides of the ball, reminiscent of Fickell's first couple of years.

I'm sure all things considered Joseph is their best bet to win games. But he needs to mix in his running ability, and that wasn't there against a defense like UCLAs, and may not be in the next two either. I thought they ran the ball OK, but not well enough to open up passing opportunities to the extent that they need to. O-Line vs their front seven wasn't a favorable matchup.

I'm sure I'm in the minority but I thought the punt with about 6 minutes left was the right call. Yes, they needed two scores. And yes, you're pretty much asking for a 3-and-out from UCLA, or a TO, muffed punt, etc. And while all those things were unlikely, I think they were a better bet than picking up a 4th & 9 play.

I haven't seen all the B10 teams, but I have a hard time imagining a better group of LBs anywhere else in the league than UWs.

[yourout]

Wisconsin's going to have a hard time just getting a first down against Iowa. 

I still put the odds of a bowl game at about 50/50.

[JosephC]

Not real encouraging that the two Big 10 teams Wisconsin beat are now a combined 0-8 in Big 10 play.

I think the Badgers should be heavy favorites against Rutgers (who aren't very good) and Maryland (who are completely awful).  That gets them to 6 wins and a bowl game.

I'm not convinced that USC is all that great.  Non-conference schedule was not real challenging.  They did have a win against Fresno State, who might end up being a decent team.  So far in the Big 10 they've beaten Washington, Penn State and Rutgers, all are either 1-3 or 0-4 in Big 10 play.  I'd definitely favor them in the Wisconsin matchup, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Wisconsin won.

Iowa will likely be a Badger massacre.

That leaves Minnesota and Purdue.  Purdue looked like a gimmie game heading into the season, but the Boilermakers have been surprising solid.  Both of those games look like they could swing either way.

6 wins should be easy, and it's not crazy to think that this team could still get to 8 wins.  But yes, that is a function of the morons that run college football and these ridiculous 18 team conferences that lead to these extreme schedules in terms of difficulty or non-difficulty.

I think at this point we can conclude that the offense is slightly improved but still pretty terrible.  Incredible that the team went into this off-season with so much more money, and they had already ID'ed Colton Joseph as the #1 QB target and threw a whole bunch of money at him.  Joseph is not a Big 10 level starting quarterback. 

[homer]

If UCLA didn't massacre them I don't think Iowa will. 

[LouisEly]

I was there and sitting in row 70 so I was too far away to see how terrible the officiating was.  Prolly a good thing.

Just couldn't get off the field.  UCLA was 13 for 20 on 3rd down.  Good that they got them to 3rd down so much, but bad that they couldn't get stops.

Sama averaged 5.7 per carry but was only able to get 6 carries.  They were running effectively but just had so few possessions.

[yourout]

8 hours ago, homer said:

If UCLA didn't massacre them I don't think Iowa will. 

Don't bet on it. Iowa is one of the top 4 in the conference. I could see at least one pick six from Joseph and 10 points might be the ceiling for buckys offense.

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, LouisEly said:

 

Just couldn't get off the field.  UCLA was 13 for 20 on 3rd down.  Good that they got them to 3rd down so much, but bad that they couldn't get stops.

 

The biggest negative defensively, by far. And it wasn't a ton of 3rd & five or less, either--UW had a lot of nice down & distance situations that they allowed conversions on.

 

[owbc]

I didn't watch but my dad said it was boring because they can't score and that he regretted watching. 

[Samurai Bucky]

1 hour ago, owbc said:

I didn't watch but my dad said it was boring because they can't score and that he regretted watching. 

The defense was good.  It was very frustrating how Joseph didn't throw the ball.  Not sure what team will turn up next week.

[LouisEly]

Look what UCLA's defense did to Oregon at Oregon the week before.

ESPN's Football Power Index has UCLA's defense ranked #12.  UCLA is also ranked #12 in the nation in rushing yards per game (231 yds/game) and that includes the 120 rushing yards that UW allowed - UW basically allowed half of the rushing yards that UCLA had been averaging.

When you have a really good rushing attack and a really good defense, you're going to win a lot of games.