zoobadger

quote:

---

With all due respect, I have to say I'm a little more than irritated by seeing the offense look like it did yesterday.

---

I don't have the expertise to back this up, but I felt like Paul Chryst did a much better job of adding wrinkles to the Badger offense that enabled our non-stellar QB to be successful.

Shifts, throws to the tight end, sideline routes, and outlet passes to the fullback. I also feel like Bart's screw-ups are correctable due to better offensive coaches.

I'm going out on a limb here, but if Harris played for Wisconsin he'd be a better QB. Not a stellar QB, but a competent game manager who can eat some clock and move the sticks in a close game. Kinda what Bart did in spite of his mistakes.

quote:

---

They were really nice. Partly because they didn't have any expectation of winning and partly because they felt bad for us.

---

The new playoff format is a huge step forward compared to the BCS, but limiting the playoffs to four teams kinda sucks; one bad loss in week one and your hopes are dashed.

On the other hand, unlike the BCS, if you play a tough schedule and lose early, you'll get in ahead of a team (like Iowa last year) who nearly went undefeated on a steady diet of cupcakes.

I'm looking forward to bowl season. For once, we can truly roll our eyes at the usual opposing fan taunt that "you've never seen a QB/offense/defense /speed/etc like ours." If we survive the gauntlet of our remaining schedule with three losses we can hold our heads high as we run onto the field at the Outback Bowl, lol....

quote:

---

their defense matches up poorly against our offense (both in ability and in size).

---

You guys are just pulling stuff out of thin air in this thread. First of all, this team will be better than last year. The OL was a cluster**** due to injuries and youth. Much better this year. Our marquee RB missed the entire season. He's back, and we've got improved depth behind him.

Badgers are deep and talented at LB, and the DL is very good; big, strong, experienced.

Not predicting Badgers will win, but there' no doubt that we're built to defend a power running team. It's not going to be 50 - 0 at half time.

Did anybody watch the App. State/Tennessee game last night? Go back and look at the Volunteer board and chuckle over their asinine predictions of a blowout.

quote:

---

The Gold Sheet has Wisconsin as one of their Key Picks with LSU winning 21-20. Basically said Wisc is a lot better than people think

---

That's true for sure. LSU will need to be as good as advertised to win easily.

quote:

---

What are your plans before going to the game? This is my first time to Chicago where I have time to kill, any suggestions for breakfast/lunch and then drinks around Wrigley?

---

If you're staying downtown in Chicago Friday and making the early AM drive to GB Saturday, I'd think about taking the Wendella boat architecture tour on the river in the evening. Definitely one of the "must see" tourist things in Chicago.

I think the last boat is 8 or 9PM. That would give you time to hang around Wrigleyville for a while then head back downtown.

If you're driving to GB after the Cubs game, be prepared for a fifteen mile parking lot on I-94. Friday PM traffic in Chicago is routinely miserable, but absolutely mind-boggling heading north out of the city before a holiday weekend.

quote:

---

This is promising.

---

Yeah... And add to that the obvious need to put ten guys in the box which puts our untested DB's on a island.

It's a net negative that you guys have Aranda on your sideline, but perhaps less so in our case since our coaches and players know his schemes and tendencies firsthand.

Wishful thinking maybe. I mainly just want to see some gleam of hope that we can survive our deadly schedule and end up with 8 or even 9 wins.

Let me preface this by noting that I expect LSU to win the game.

That said....

On offense, Wisconsin runs the football. Typically the OL and RB's are very good. Last year due to injuries and youth the OL was a total cluster****. Add to that, Corey Clement, who we expected to be a potent workhorse basically missed the entire season with a weird sports hernia injury.

We won ten games and beat USC in the Holiday Bowl due to combination of easy schedule, good defense, and IMO a good HC in Paul Chryst who understands that you need to make adjustments based on the personnel.

On defense, the Badgers have a lot of depth and talent at LB and DL. Safety and CB is a question mark, but reports out of camp are encouraging. Naturally, playing in the B1G means you need to stop the run and the Badgers have typically been pretty good at that.

I feel like we've always been vulnerable to the Big Play, especially mobile QB's who throw a good deep ball.

Wisconsin is smart, physical, and well-coached. Lots of ex-Badgers in the NFL including several former walk-ons attest to the skill of the staff transforming 3-star kids into outstanding college football players.

I'd prefer to be playing somebody else this week, though, lol.... Probably only five or six teams in the country that can hang with you guys. We are most likely not one of them.

quote:

---

Yeah, Bama trucked us pretty good. You know it's a bad day when you've got them in 3rd and 26 and Kenyon Drake goes the distance. Though, we did have them 14-7 at half (and it should have been 14-10, but fatty bricked a 34 yarder).

---

I have mixed feelings about opening against world-class opponents. Barry's MO of starting out against an Easter Illinois kind of opponent and then following up with a middling Power 5 team like Washington State wasn't sexy but it made sense.

The Badgers are always talented but we don't have 5 star frosh who spent their high school careers in NFL quality strength and conditioning programs.

It takes some time and experience for Badger teams to find their footing.

That said, it's awesome to have Gameday in Lambeau and just keeping it close in the 4th quarter will be pretty exciting. This is one of the rare games where a moral victory will actually be meaningful in terms of building confidence in a season when we're facing a hellish schedule.

Obviously, Wisconsin will need to establish the run and play very good defense to keep it close against LSU.

Even if BH evolves into a good B1G QB by the end of the year, there's no way we win this one if BH needs to be more than a game manager who picks up a few key 1st downs and avoids mistakes.

And, notably, the "driftless zone" is predominantly in the state of Minnesota. (Driftless zone is a triangle around Mississippi river on Wisc/Minn border that was never covered by a glacier, btw).

Good reading...

So different from Wisconsin where we'd be happy with 8 wins this year and a respectable bowl berth (Holiday, Outback, etc).

A few random thoughts:

I don't think Dave Aranda would have taken the job if he didn't feel LSU had the personnel on defense to run his system. It's complex, the players need to buy in and take the time to study and learn, and then he needs the right kind of athletes.

He couldn't fully implement his scheme until last season at Wisconsin due to lack of players with the physical skill set to run his defense. Watch a replay of the Holiday Bowl against USC if you want to feel all warm and fuzzy about what Dave Aranda can do with the right kids, lol.

Wisconsin is a "developmental" program. It's the only D1 school in the state. So we've built a wall around Wisconsin, and a big part of that is the preferred walk-on program. Guys like JJ Watt, Jim Leonhard, and our recently departed (and imperfect) QB all could have gotten a full ride at Eastern Illinois or similar but knew they'd have a real shot at the big leagues if they paid their own way for a year or two in Madison.

But those kids take a few years to blossom usually. As to the three star kids that are overlooked in Texas or Florida that the Badger staff has a knack for discovering.

And like Stanford, Northwestern, and a few other programs you can't get admitted to Wisconsin unless you're a legitimate student. Yeah, most of the football team couldn't get into Wisconsin on academics alone, but they could get into a four year college somewhere else.

So the Badgers are pretty good most of the time, very good every few years, and we don't have the depth or the margin of error to survive misfortune like injuries or a murderous schedule.

As for this year's team: they should be pretty good. The usual question marks that afflict any college program which loses 30% or more of their starters each year. Our OL should be a lot better. Our LBs are deep and good. We have depth and experience at RB.

Who knows about the passing game, though. Our likely starter based on recent rumors is an RS frosh who was an early enrollee when Chryst came back after Gary Anderson demoted himself and took the job at Oregon State. Our receivers seem promising but they're an unproven lot and our best receiver has been injury prone and inconsistent.

The DL should be very good. Placekicking should be very good. Punter? Not sure. We lost our safeties and that's a real source of worry. Pretty solid CB's, though.

I'd only bet on Wisconsin against LSU if the spread was over seven points. First game against a more talented squad hasn't gone well for Wisconsin. Ever. As far as I can remember. Again, we develop players. We don't recruit kids who are ready for the NFL on day one. We develop them as we did with JJ Watt.

It'll be fun and I hope anybody heading up to the Badger State hangs around for a few days and enjoys the lovely late summer weather.

And I'm not an expert. I'm pretty much interpreting and repeating what the smarter guys on Wisconsin message boards would likely say if they posted herre.