JosephC

DE - Darian Varner - Cincinnati = 12 games, 11 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 fumble recovery DL - Rodas Johnson - Texas A&M = 12 games, 10 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack DT - Gio Paez - LSU = 12 games, 19 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 pass breakup DL - TJ Bollers - California = 12 games, 22 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 2 pass breakups DE - Jordan Meyer - Penn State = 11 games, 2 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks EDGE - Kaden Johnson - Nevada = 8 games, 17 tackles, 0.5 tackle for loss, 1 pass breakup DL - Mike Jarvis - Liberty = 10 games, 3 tackles, 0.5 tackle for loss, 1 pass breakup LB - Jordan Turner - Michigan State = 12 games, 66 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 2 interceptions, 1 pass breakup (tackles and tackles for loss were team highs, sacks ranked 2nd on team) LB - Aidan Vaughan - Liberty = 11 games, 16 tackles, 1 pass breakup LB - Ross Gengler - Wisconsin-La Crosse = 12 games, 38 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 forced fumbles

QB - Nick Evers - UConn = 8 games, 97/179, 54.2% completion percentage, 918 passing yards, 5 TD, 5 INT, 234 rushing yards, 3.0 average, 3 rushing TDs (other QB on roster had 183 pass attempts, so looks like a 50/50 split in playing time) QB - Myles Burkett - Albany = 145/265, 54.7% completion percentage, 1845 passing yards, 10 TD, 7 INT, 129 rushing yards, 1.7 average, 0 rushing TDs WR - Chimere Dike - Florida = 36 catches, 687 yards, 19.1 average, 2 touchdowns WR - Keontez Lewis - Southern Illinois = 49 catches, 813 yards, 16.6 average, 5 touchdowns WR - Skyler Bell - UConn = 47 catches, 783 yards, 16.7 average, 4 touchdowns WR - Tommy McIntosh - Central Michigan = 9 games, 2 catches, 15 yards OL - Nolan Rucci - Penn State = Appeared in all 12 games, only started 2 OL - Trey Wedig - Indiana = Started 11 games at right tackle OL - Dylan Barrett - Iowa State = Started 8 games at right guard and then got hurt

The NFL will not change the rule because the NFL has fought major court battles to keep this rule in place. College football is a completely free developmental league/minor-league system for them. What could be better?

So when we had the designated hitter argument, the biggest pro was "I want to see pitchers pitch, and hitters hit. I do not want to see pitchers hit." Of course, the same thing could be said for other positions. Who wants to see defensive catchers hit? Who wants to see defensive shortstops hit? Almost every lineup has a player who is in there only because of his defensive ability. Why not have a second designated hitter? Baseball as a money-making venture (not the game itself!), by it's very nature, has a major problem in that it's star players are not active participants in a large percentage of the game. If you are an NFL fan, and tune into a Chiefs game, you get to see Patrick Mahomes is on the field and an active participant roughly 50% of the time. If you are an NBA fan, the star player is on the court 90% of the time. Nobody pays their money to watch Aaron Judge play the outfield. So if you watch a 3 hour baseball game, you only get to see Aaron Judge perform at the plate for roughly 7-8 minutes. Over the last few years I've become convinced that it's only a matter of time until baseball resets the lineup and starts at the top of the batting order every half-inning. People can think that it won't happen because pitchers and bottom of the order hitters will scream bloody murder. Baseball historians will throw all their record books away (can you imagine Juan Soto's season statistics with 1400+ plate appearances?). But if MLB, MLBPA and television think that, ultimately, there is more money to be made, then they will do this "for the good of the game." (Even though it is not good for the game, just good for their pocketbooks) I am older but still think I likely have 15-20 years left in me. I expect to see this happen before I kick the bucket. And when it happens, I'll be glad that I stopped watching many years earlier.

I would also guess this stadium does not happen under the current situation. In addition to the 380 million dollars they are getting from the state, they are also getting tax breaks worth an estimated 220 million. So they are getting roughly 1/3 of the money from the public, meaning Fisher's bill comes out to 1.15 billion (the 1.15 billion does include projected interest on the loans). Fisher's net worth is estimated at 3.2 billion by Forbes, it doesn't seem very likely that he would be willing to pick up 66% of the price-tag. If Fisher was willing to add a partner and spend 1+ billion right from the start, it seems like they would have already broken ground in Oakland, Las Vegas or somewhere else. It's not like he just started working on this stadium thing 9 months ago. And I still can't figure out why anyone in Las Vegas would like this idea, even if they were a true baseball fanatic. You have a cheap owner who wants to build the smallest stadium in the smallest television market and you really think this is going to be a competitive team long-term?

Do I have this college football playoff thing figured out correctly? If I do, this system will not last very long because ESPN will sure be howling about this. Top 4 ranked conference winners get the top 4 seeds? So let's just assume that all the favorites win this weekend. Using current AP rankings as CFP rankings have not been released..... Big 10 - #1 ranked Oregon -3.5 against #3 Penn State SEC - #3 Texas -2.5 against #7 Georgia ACC - #8 SMU -2.5 against #18 Clemson Mountain West - #10 Boise State -4 against #19 UNLV Big 12 - #12 Arizona State -2 against #16 Iowa State So if all of the favorites win, we are looking at SMU and Boise State being the #3 and #4 seeds in this playoff? Even if Clemson wins, unless the committee takes orders from ESPN and throws all "fairness" out the window, we are looking at Boise State and Arizona State being the #3 and #4 seeds (assuming they both win)? This is really the system they came up with? Please tell me I got this wrong. So, as best as I can guess, the playoff would look something like this? #1 - Oregon #2 -Texas #3 - SMU #4 - Boise State --------------------------------------------------- #5 - Notre Dame #6 - Tennessee #7 - Ohio State #8 - Penn State #9 - Georgia #10 - Arizona State #11 - Indiana #12 - Alabama So I am assuming the brackets are locked and they do not re-seed. Is that correct? So in this scenario, does Oregon's first game come against either Penn State or Georgia? Meanwhile, Tennessee in the #6 seed gets Indiana in game #1 and then SMU in game #2? If this is all correct, I congratulate the morons who came up with this. Giving conference champions an automatic bye would have been reasonable if there were four conference that were similar from a competition standpoint, but clearly that is not the case. PS - I see now that ESPN will give the order to flip Alabama and Indiana so Notre Dame's game #1 chance of winning increases by about 5-fold.

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

McIntosh will not fire Fickell unless the order comes from above, which isn't happening anytime soon. Every now and then you will run into a chancellor who has particular interest in the athletic department, but Jennifer Mnookin doesn't strike me as one of those people. The UW administration as a whole will only care about the athletic department's balance sheet, and will only react AFTER something significant happens there. If the athletic department's revenue remains strong, I don't think there is any chance McIntosh gets any interference with what he's doing. And as upset as I suspect most Badger fans are, I don't see Camp Randall's attendance dropping to 55,000 per game next year. And as far as McIntosh firing Fickell without influence from his boss, well, he pretty much put his reputation on the line when he got rid of a successful head coach, passed on a popular internal candidate and went with his hand-picked guy. I don't see him as being very quick to admit he made a mistake. If anything, I see him sticking with Fickell right until the moment where he thinks his own job is in serious jeopardy.

An Ohio State grad that I know questioned the Fickell hire. Even with he excellent record at Cincinnati, he wasn't convinced that Fickell was Big 10 material. Ohio State records: 2009 = 11-2, 7-1 (Tressel) 2010 = 12-1, 7-1 (Tressel) 2011 = 6-7, 3-5 (Fickell) 2012 = 12-0, 8-0 (Meyer) 2013 = 12-2, 8-0 (Meyer) I really didn't think that was a fair assessment, as Fickell took over a program that was really messed up and every single player knew that he was a lame-duck. But looking back at that now, that 6-7 record sticks out like a sore thumb. There is no way that Ohio State team had a 6-7 talent level. Fickell now has a 11-15 record as a Big 10 coach against Big 10 competition.

First sub-.500 season with no bowl game since 2001. IMO, the worst Badger football season since 1991. 2024 most impressive win was against Rutgers, who at 6-5 overall and 3-5 Big 10 (currently) will at least be going to a bowl game. Can't say the same about Northwestern and Purdue. The two non-conference wins against Western Michigan and South Dakota are nothing special, although at least Western Michigan will also be going to a bowl game. Ended the season with a 5 game losing streak, and simply were not competitive against long-time rivals Iowa and Minnesota. Last sub-.500 season was in 2001 (5-7, 3-5), and in that season they beat Iowa, Penn State and a ranked Ohio State team (Ohio State ranked 21st at the time, finished 7-5). Prior to that, the last sub-.500 season was 1995, when they finished 4-5-2 (3-4-1 in Big 10). That season they beat a Penn State team that was ranked 6th at the time (was #13 in the final poll) and also had a win against a 6-5-1 Michigan State team. Before that was 1992 (5-6, 3-5). The Badgers beat an Ohio State team ranked 12th at the time (finished at #18 in the final poll), although the other 2 Big 10 wins were nothing to write home about (a bad Purdue team and a terrible Minnesota team). So that takes us back to 1991, Badgers were 5-6 overall, but only 2-6 in conference. The conference wins were against Northwestern (3-8) and Minnesota (2-9). The non-conference wins were against Eastern Michigan, Western Illinois and the one "big conference opponent" win was against a 3-7-1 Iowa State team. This was so long ago, Iowa State was a Big 8 team (before they expanded to become the Big 12). 1991 was Alvarez's second year at the Badger head coach. So I'd put this as the worst Badger football season in 33 years, and IMO it's not really even debatable. Fickell, and especially McIntosh, should be looking for the nearest rock to crawl under tonight.

I did watch 1 quarter against the Vikings and 2 quarters against the Lions. Williams looks like he will be better than I thought he would be. He takes dumb sacks, but I didn't see him throw any balls to the opposition (only 5 interceptions all year), which to me is a big deal for a rookie. The offensive skill positions are fine and the defensive backfield looks decent although they have one glaring dumb-ass playing back there. But both lines looked terrible and I was less than impressed with their linebackers. The defensive line did generate some pressure from what I saw, but they are downright terrible against the run. So yeah, there are some guys there, but there are enough holes on the roster to where they looked like a 7-10, maybe 8-9, team to me. Then add in all the injuries they had on the offensive line a few weeks ago (I think they only had 1 starter playing for the majority of the Patriots game), and it's no surprise that they have no shot at hitting 8 wins and are pretty unlikely to get to 7. Looking at the rest of their schedule, 5-12 seems most likely to me.

Despite the pitiful offensive showing, the Gophers are nowhere near a ranked team. The Badgers can still win this game if they get their crap together.

Bears interim head coach is a former Badger running back coach.

Great move by Fickell to fire Longo before the season ended. That move looks like it really paid off. 1st half stats - 43 yards of total offense (37 passing yards and SIX rushing yards) and zero points.

Even worse than that, IMO, is that Cots has the Dodgers current luxury tax penalty for 2025 as being 46 million. As a 5th time payer, they are a 50% payer and then add a 60% surcharge for already being 60 million over the luxury cap limit, Their penalty is likely already over what the A's payroll will be this season. If they add another 60 million in payroll, which wouldn't be the least bit surprising, their tax would likely be higher than about 8 MLB teams payrolls, and the Brewers would be a likely candidate to be on this list.

I might not watch these games anymore, but I still pay a bit of attention. Just checked the box score, and it looks like Fickell probably should have fired the defensive coordinator too.

Yeah right. More like, "you are third string at best behind Allen and Mellusi, those guys can find holes that are smaller than 10 yards wide."

If I were a Jets fan, I'd prefer keeping Rodgers (regardless of how washed up he is) and get rid of the owner. Woody Johnson bought the team in January of 2000. This is year #25 under him. Regular season record of 171-227, a .430 winning percentage. 6 playoff appearances in 25 years, but none in the last 14 years. Only 1 division title in those 25 years, that happened all the way back in 2002, Incredible to think that almost all of those years (the last 23) they were in a 4-team division, and still can only manage 1 division title. Last place finisher 9 times. Last 8+ seasons = 44-98, a .310 winning percentage. Somehow I just can't blame any of the 5 general managers, 8 head coaches or many quarterbacks they have had over the last 25 years as being the franchise's biggest problem.

I think Potrykus forgot about Pelini. Controversial for sure, but in terms of W/L he was pretty successful at Nebraska. And I definitely didn't interpret the tweet as a "what might have happened if Longo stayed" comment. I think it's more along the lines of, "did McIntosh screw up when he went away from the Alvarez tree?" He brings up Callahan...Nebraska went from Osbourne to Solich (who was Osbourne's OC) to Callahan and there was a huge drop-off with Callahan. Solich had a 58-19 record (.753 winning percentage) to Callahan's 27-22 record (.551). As of now, Chryst at Wisconsin was 67-26 (.720 winning percentage) and Fickell sits at 13-11 (.542). I posted it on the previous page or the one prior to that, Fickell deserves 4 full seasons to see if he can improve dramatically on that 13-11 record. I believe that and I am sticking with that. But the early returns are not looking good.

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.

So I was looking at undefeated Oregon, and those undefeated teams usually start really feeling the pressure... and then they have to travel halfway across the country and end up stepping into the hornet's nest. So I had to look at the schedule and see what game followed Bucky, just in case Oregon may be overlooking Wisconsin and already be preparing for the following game. Only to find out that Oregon has a bye week after the Wisconsin game. Bucky being a 14.5 point dog is sounding just about right to me.

McIntosh gets full blame if this move does not work out. UW got off to a poor start in 2022 (which seems fairly routine for the program), but they still had a highly successful coach who was coming off a 9-4 year (that includes a 6-3 record in the Big 10 and a bowl win). Then instead of going with Leonard, who was highly liked and respected among the players, he decided to go in a completely different direction. I have stopped watching Badger football but would not give up on Fickell yet. Even though the transfer process would lead one to believe that rebuilding should occur much faster, I don't know if I buy that concept or not. The Badgers did a complete change in philosophy on both sides of the ball, and I would argue that Fickell needs four full seasons before we can really pass any judgement on him. But IMO it all goes back to McIntosh. If Fickell puts this program back to 9-10 wins pretty much every season, then McIntosh gets credit. If Wisconsin turns into a 7-6 (4-5 conference record) program, McIntosh should face the consequences of that. This is all fully and completely on him.

You think Rodgers will really retire? I don't know. It's not often that a guy gets to be both quarterback and general manager at the same time. Sounds like too much fun to me.

If I didn't miss anything, in the Brewers last 6 playoff appearances, the Brewers have a 1-6 playoff series* record and 7-15 playoff game record. * = includes 1-game wild card playoff as a series Sad thing is that 5 winning games came in the first year of that streak. Brewers last 5 playoff appearances has resulted in a 0-5 series record and 2-10 playoff game record. I'd take the Dodgers, but "relative to expectations" can be interpreted differently by different people. But for people curious, over the last 12 years the Dodgers have a 15-10 playoff series record and a 64-55 playoff game record.

Lets hand them 500 million dollars in free money for the stadium and then watch them move 33% of the games to a different stadium. That would go over really well.