Badgercentric

UW-Indiana box score

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Thoughts from the Wisconsin-Indiana box score:

-As much as Indiana shredded our pass defense, here's an interesting stat: we averaged 17.6 yards per completion to Indiana's 12.6. On 11 attempts, that's a pretty good day for Scott Tolzien.

-If we get through a game with a roughly 5:2 run-pass ratio, we're usually going to win.

-Time of possession advantage for Badgers: 33:45 to 26:15.

-Interesting punter comparison: Brad Nortman's gross average was 44.2 to Chris Hagerup's 37.8, but Hagerup's net average was 37.0 yards to Nortman's 32.5. Touchbacks will do that to a guy. Nortman's solid, I'm not complaining, but he can work on his coffin corner touch.

-Just one end around called today, a week after Lance Kendricks ran it so well and a year after David Gilreath ran it so well against Indiana. The fake end around was employed regularly.

-No surprise that Chris Borland led the team in tackles with nine, including one for loss and his incredible interception. But Devin Smith was second with eight, an indication of how often Indiana passed. Interestingly enough I don't remember a single play Smith was involved in.

-Will Patterson led Indiana with 10 tackles, but Montee Ball flat run over him on his second touchdown run. That's a true freshman running over a senior thought to be one of the best linebackers in the conference. The future is bright for that one.

-Indiana's defense is not good, and most of their key players are seniors. Besides Patterson, there's Greg Middleton and Jammie Kirlew, who were rendered non-factors by Gabe Carimi, Josh Oglesby and Jake Bscherer. It's hard to see the Hoosiers getting considerably better any time soon.

-Jay Valai had a tackle for loss and pass breakup, and was generally more noticeable today than in most other games this year. Which got me thinking: he's making less highlight reel plays, but he's also whiffing on tackles less often. Overall, his play has been solid, as has that of Chris Maragos, which has helped as our young cornerbacks have had their ups and downs finding their way on the edge.

UW-Indiana thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:59:00 +0000

What else can you think about this but, "Whew"? Glad we won, but that was far from the dominant four-quarter effort we should have shown against an inferior opponent in front of a crowd smaller than one you'd see at a Texas high school game.

First, give Indiana credit. They did some nice things in the passing game. Their defense got better in the second half, although it got better when our all-conference running back went to the sideline.

But we made enough plays to win on the road. Can't be too upset about that.

-Offensive MVP? How about Nick Toon. He had five catches for 123 yards, and his last two were huge. The long one set up Montee Ball's second touchdown run. The last one came on third down on a poorly-thrown ball by Scott Tolzien. If Toon doesn't make that catch, Indiana gets the ball back with a ton of momentum. Great game by Nick.

-Defensive MVP? Chris Borland is obviously top of mind; his pick in the third quarter thwarted a nice Indiana drive. But that play was made posibble by O'Brien Schofield, who hit Ben Chappell as he was throwing. Borland's stat line may be more robust, but OB came up with big plays at crucial times. What a year.

-That said, on the whole our pass rush was lackluster on the day, which is probably why our pass defense was the worst it has been since the Fresno State game. Then again, Indiana put up 24 points at Iowa, far better than we fared against that defense, as well as 28 at Northwestern and 33 at Michigan. So the Hoosiers' offense isn't bad.

-Not listening to the radio broadcast, but haven't heard yet why John Clay didn't play in the second half. He was on the sideline walking around, looked to be mentally with it. Our running game was obviously less effective with him out, but Ball played well in his first extended action -- 115 yards, two touchdowns, good ball security. We need Clay to beat good teams, though.

-Clay's status is obviously of primary concern, but I'm also worried about Josh Oglesby. When he walked off the field after holding his knee, I was optimistic, but he didn't return. He's had a good year, and Jake Bscherer, while probably not a terrible liability, isn't the force in the ground game that Oglesby is.

-I'd give Tolzien a C for his play today. Against a pass defense that bad, 194 yards isn't that hot. If his receivers hang on to those two well-thrown balls that they dropped, his numbers are significantly better. And he didn't take any sacks. Bottom line: he didn't do anything to lose the game for the Badgers, which was just what we needed today.

So Iowa loses to Northwestern, Michigan loses again, at home to the team we beat 37-0 last week. We'll see what it all means for Wisconsin after the Penn State-Ohio State game tonight. A top-flight bowl game remains a possibility.

UW-Indiana halftime thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:18:00 +0000

You know me: it's tough to be satisfied with the halftime score when we should be up something like 31-7 or even 31-0. Indiana is every bit as unimpressive as Purdue was last week, but the fact that this game isn't over yet is an indication of just how well we played last week and how flawed we've been today.

-Seems like it's time to get David Gilreath off returns for a game or two, it's clearly not working for him this year. That fumble couldn't be blamed on blocking.

-Scott Tolzien started shaky, the touchdown pass to Isaac Anderson notwithstanding, but got better. Of course, that's when Garrett Graham and Anderson got the dropsies, pissed away our great field position, and led to Indiana's second touchdown.

-We should be running the ball up the ball every play. John Moffitt had a terrific block on John Clay's first long run. On Clay's touchdown run, Kevin Zeitler had a nice initial combo block with Peter Konz, then moved on to the linebacker and Clay ran into the end zone untouched.

-Did you notice O'Brien Schofield and Chris Maragos make the play on kickoff coverage? I like the move to play our best guys on special teams.

-What an athletic play by Maragos on that pick. Bad decision and pass by Ben Chappell, but Maragos showed his old wide receiver skills to haul the pass in.

-This is the best Montee Ball has looked thus far, although it's probably just because the blocking is better.

-Indiana's pass defense really is horrible, our guys are wide open consistently. And yet their run defense appears to be worse.

-Interesting that we've only see the end around once so far, to Gilreath. After last year's success with this play against IU, and last week's success with Kendricks running it, you'd have expected to see it more. But that's probably what makes Paul Chryst such a good offensive coordinator.

-Around the conference, I see Iowa is losing at halftime, undoubtedly setting them up for yet another second half comeback that analysts can hyperventilate about.

-Finally, another shoutout to our rookie of the year, Chris Borland. He makes tackles for loss, stops runners short of the sticks, returns kickoffs into the other team's territory. What an awesome find by the coaching staff, can't wait to see him get better and better during his time in Madison.

Let's step on their necks early in the second half. They've had success attacking Niles Brinkley, it would be nice to not let that snowball.

What to make of Indiana?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:27:00 +0000

Is it just me, or do the Badgers make you feel a little bit like the old Lou Holtz every week? We're winning, but every week I look at our opponent and see mainly their positives and the ways they could beat us, not the opposite. And we're not overwhelming enough to erase all doubt in the outcome of a game before the opening kickoff.

Take Indiana. By all accounts, they're terrible, just as they were last year, and almost every year in the past two decades. But they scare me.

They were in position to beat Michigan at the end of their Big Ten opener. They were up big on Northwestern but collapsed. They led the best team in the conference on the road in the fourth quarter but collapsed.

So they're close week after week, but can't finish. This week they could play us tough from the start but finally finish. Or this could be the week that the emotional toll of close loss after close loss catches up with them and they get blown out.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, but in my mind, the best way to blow them out would be to run the ball as often as possible. I loved the first drive against Purdue last week, all runs. Even though Indiana's run defense is better than its pass defense (especially minus Ray Fisher, their best corner), the run defense isn't very good either. Their pass defense is last in the league, but they're third with 14 interceptions and Scotty Tolzien has thrown the ball to the wrong guys at times this year.

Ignoring my inner Lou, I think the Badgers win this one by two touchdowns.

Will's first Badger game

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:28:00 +0000

Took Will to his first Badger game on Saturday, got a first-hand look at the Purdue game. It was a great day. Will was very patient and enjoyed all the different parts of a football Saturday in Madison: the band, Bucky's various Halloween costumes, Jump Around, and a blowout win for the good guys. And I didn't even have to keep a constant stream of food shoveling into his mouth. Can't wait to take him again!

Kids Day at the Kohl Center

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Friday was Kids Day at the Kohl Center, a nice event the University of Wisconsin athletic department staged because most of the state's schools were out for the day. There were a number of stations where kids could try their hand at different sports, and of course get free stuff.

The highlight came when we snuck inside to watch hockey practice, and a Badger skated over, picked up a couple pucks with his stick, and flipped them over the glass to the boys. They loved it!

Oh, and Jana told the boys the story of the 2002 Wisconsin-Northern Michigan game, in which five brave Yoopers traveled to the Kohl Center, cheered their pure little hearts out, but were mercilessly heckled by Badger fans as UW came back to win with two late goals. You can see she's still got a ways to go before she gets over it.

Player development

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:27:00 +0000

In the wake of the disappointing 2008 football season, I wrote that perhaps the most alarming trend in the UW program under Bret Bielema's stewardship was the lack of player development. After all, it is likely that our recruiting efforts will always yield more two- and three-star players than four- and five-star, so if we're going to compete in the Big Ten we need to coach our kids up.

With four regular season games and a bowl left this season, it is not premature to say that a number of Badgers have shown significant improvement this season. Two stick out in my mind, one on offense, one on defense.

O'Brien Schofield: Something of an afterthought in a linebacker class that included Travis Beckum, Elijah Hodge and DeAndre Levy, he became a serviceable defensive end, then the best defensive end in the Big Ten. Also the team's vocal and emotional leader. Other guys like Mike Taylor, J.J. Watt, Chris Maragos and Chris Borland have made big plays this season, but Schofield has lived in opponents' backfields from the first defensive possession of the season, and gave hope that a unit that figured to be a weakness might be an asset.

Scott Tolzien: He's regressed a little against better defenses, but his play this year has been a definite upgrade over what we had last year. With lesser quarterback play, we're probably 4-4 at best this season, maybe worse. What's interesting is that Tolzien wasn't ready to play extensively last year, when Dustin Sherer and Allan Evridge disappointed. What happened for Tolzien this offseason? Better coaching? Or did the proverbial light bulb just go on?

What other Badgers have been two-star recruits, per Scout?

Going back to that class of 2005, Jonathan Casillas and P.J. Hill were both two-star recruits who are now on NFL rosters. Jae McFadden and Jeff Stehle were two-star recruits who are starting on a pretty good front seven. Garrett Graham was another two-star guy from that class, but it's hard to say he has developed in his time here since he was pretty good from the minute he started playing. The recruiting experts just missed on that one.

In the class of 2006, Gabe Carimi was a two-star recruit, and he's a future NFL left tackle. Mickey Turner, Isaac Anderson, John Moffitt, Jay Valai, Maurice Moore, Culmer St. Jean -- all two-star guys who have become big contributors to a team that has a chance to win 10 games.

A number of two-star guys who are contributing in their first and second years: Brad Nortman, Antonio Fenelus, Travis Frederick and Borland. That doesn't count Maragos, a walk-on.

Going through the lists, there aren't many guys who stick out like Schofield and Tolzien, who toiled in obscurity for several years before emerging as team leaders. The rest of these guys have just improved enough to play important roles on an above-average team. And that, not statistics or individual honors, is really the only way we will be able to gauge player development under Bielema: wins and losses.

Badgers in the NFL, good and bad

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:18:00 +0000

Some ups and downs for former Badger in the NFL.

Down, Owen Daniels hurt his knee and is out for the season. This one is really too bad, Daniels has established himself as one of the best tight ends around and Houston was coming on. Hopefully he can recover fully.

Up, Matt Shaughnessy had a great game against San Diego, with five tackles, including a sack and two tackles for loss.

Down, Chris Chambers, who in the same game had a big catch for San Diego, was released by the Chargers the next day. He was picked up by the Chiefs, though. He figures to have another productive year or two left as a professional.

Big Ten thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:06:00 +0000

One thing I forgot to mention in the Purdue game wrap-up: we're bowl eligible. Last year that came as a huge sigh of relief, which may have been the best indication of how disappointing the season was. This year it's just another thing to check off on the list of goals.

Which bowl are we headed to? I think we're clearly the fourth-best team in the Big Ten, and since Iowa doesn't look like it's headed to the national title game and neither Ohio State nor Penn State deserve a BCS bowl bid, my best guess is we're headed to the Alamo Bowl. Which would be fine. Hopefully we could play a name program like Oklahoma or Nebraska.

Big Ten thoughts heading into November:

1. Iowa. They seem a lot like 2002 Ohio State, don't they? Remember, they almost lost to Northern Iowa and Arkansas State at home. But who's going to beat them?

2. Penn State. If they played Iowa again, who would win? Probably still Iowa.

3. Ohio State. Reflection of where the conference is and where OSU you is: they're clearly in a down/rebuilding year yet no worse than third in the league.

4. Wisconsin. No complaints.

5. Michigan State. Despite losing to Minnesota last night, I still think they're the better team. On the play before Duane Bennett's immaculate reception the refs blew a replay overturn that negated an MSU fumble recovery. Still, when the other team has 143 penalties like Minnesota did, you've got to win.

6. Minnesota. Did you see those thousands of empty seats at the Gophers' new stadium last night? Maybe it was too cold; they should build a dome. Can you imagine what that place will look like when the opening season novelty wears off? What, it already has?

7. Indiana. They seem to be close to finishing a big win. Hope it doesn't happen next week.

8. Purdue. As bad as they looked yesterday, they've at least beaten some teams. They almost beat Oregon at Oregon, and Oregon blew out USC, so by that logic we'd beat USC by about 30.

9. Northwestern. I guess.

10. Michigan. That huge win over Western Michigan seems like forever ago, doesn't it? They seem to be getting comfortable down here. If they beat Purdue next week to become bowl eligible that would theoretically make them less desperate in their game against us the following week.

11. Illinois. They still stink.

UW-Purdue thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Twenty-one years ago, my dad took me to my first Badger game at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin lost to Michigan 62-14. We walked up to the ticket office five minutes before kickoff and got tickets on the 45-yard-line. The stadium was about half full.

Today, I took my son to his first Badger game at Camp Randall. Wisconsin beat Purdue 37-0. We were lucky to get tickets because Purdue returned some of its allotment. The stadium was full, save for a few students who couldn't drag themselves to the game.

What a pleasant difference two decades makes. Today was the best kind of game: a laugher, decided in the Badgers' favor early, yet still some drama late as the defense tried to preserve a shutout. I was nervous coming in, given how well Purdue had played lately and how we had played in our last two games.

We played a pretty good game today, but PU just stunk. Joey Elliott wasn't accurate, and when he was his receivers dropped the ball. They couldn't stop the run. They couldn't hang onto the ball. And we did what we needed to do, with pleasing results.

-Let's start with the special teams. David Gilbert's play was amazing, and another piece of evidence in the case against that ridiculous method of punt protection. I have been surprised not to see Gilbert in more for more snaps at defensive end, but he, like Chris Borland, has proven to be a real playmaker on special teams. And good for Aaron Henry getting a score, hopefully that will help his confidence.

-Speaking of confidence, let's not overlook Philip Welch making all three of his field goal attempts. This week the talk was of his inconsistency, his groin injury, of Alec Lerner maybe getting some attempts. But he looked sharp on his field goals, and booted a couple touchbacks. I thought Brad Nortman looked good, too. Only blot on the special teams was David Gilreath fielding a punt at his own 5, then almost running himself into a safety. He did have a couple nice returns.

-Purdue helped our defense pitch the shutout, but the boys played pretty darn well, too. J.J. Watt sticks out in my mind, with some nice penetration and knocking down the pass at the end to preserve the goose egg. His new haircut is brutal, though. Dan Moore and Jeff Stehle got in on tackles for loss, as did Jae McFadden, who led us with nine tackles and was around the ball a lot. Brendan Kelly made a good play at the line of scrimmage and knocked down a pass.

-And what about my favorite rookie, Chris Borland? One TFL and two fumble recoveries, including one in which he forced the fumble. Assuming Mike Taylor comes back healthy next year, that's an awesome plamaking duo at linebacker for the next three years.

-It was Devin Smith and Niles Brinkley at corner the whole game, as suspected, and they played well enough. Nice pick by Devin, showed some good footwork to stay inbounds.

-Purdue was 2 of 16 on third down, awesome.

-Offensively, didn't you want to see Lance Kendricks get to 100 yards rushing? Has a tight end run for 100 yards ... ever? In the past 50 years? Great play to start the game, and they never figured out how to stop it. What a weapon.

-Also loved the first drive: 80 yards, all rushing. John Clay did nothing spectacular today, but racked up 123 yards rushing like he should have. Montee Ball's first run was nice, but after that there didn't seem to be anything there and he was repeatedly stuffed. Was it the blocking or was he misreading things?

-First catches for Kraig Appleton, glad to see his burnt redshirt won't go for naught. The best play he made was actually on a catch rule incomplete because his foot was just out of bounds. He sure looks the part physically, every bit as built as Nick Toon.

-Sort of a nothing game for Scott Tolzien, who made some decent passes and some not-so-great passes; at least none of them were picked. He had Toon open for a touchdown but overthrew it a bit, Toon made a great play to make the catch. He may have held on to the ball a bit long on a couple occassions, resulting in sacks, but that's debatable.

-Time of possession edge for Bucky: 36:45 to 23:15.

-Well-officiated game, only six penalties, gave things a nice flow.

-Listening to the postgame radio show, heard this gem from Van Stoutt interviewing Watt:
Stoutt: J.J., Indiana beat Iowa today. How does it feel to control your own destiny?
Watt: Um, I think Iowa came back and won that game. I think it was 42-24.

Nice one, Van. Even if Iowa had lost, how would that mean the Badgers controlled their own destiny?

Who's next, Indiana? They're spunkier than expected. But I like where we're at.

Purdue

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Here's an interesting fact: According to Athlon's season preview magazine, Purdue signed 21 players in its 2009 recruiting class. Fourteen of them are from Florida. Zero of them are from Indiana.

Interesting, no? True, new coach Danny Hope is from Florida and has strong ties there, and there are a lot of athletes down there. It makes sense to mine that place for talent, as we're doing. But geez, Indiana has some players too, and it doesn't make sense to concede all of them to IU, Notre Dame, Michigan, etc. Given the statue of IU, maybe it makes sense for us to get in on that.

Two weeks ago, this game seemed like a cakewalk to me. Then Purdue beat Ohio State, we collapsed against Iowa, and this looks a lot tougher.

Still, it's a game we should win. Frankly, we should be favored to win all five of our remaining regular season games. But, just as frankly, we could lose any of them. It's just that type of team.

We've got to to come out and run John Clay. Repeatedly. PU has the ninth-best rush defense in the Big Ten. Pound the rock.

Of course, Paul Chryst possessing a superior offensive football mind to mine, it wouldn't shock me to see us come out with Scott Tolzien winging the ball around. Especially since starting seems to give Clay the heebie-jeebies.

We'll be in Madison today, hoping to catch Kids Day the the Kohl. Tomorrow I'll be taking Will to his first Badger game. We've been practicing by attending high school games just down the street from our house. Wish me luck!

P.J. and Pressley in the pros

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:19:00 +0000

What a great day for former Wisconsin running backs yesterday, as P.J. Hill and Chris Pressley were both signed by NFL teams. The only downside to Hill signing with the Eagles is that it comes because Brian Westbrook, one of the key players on my fantasy team, might be out with a concussion. It's doubtful P.J. will see much playing time, but whatever, he'll be able to hang out with Jack Ikegwuonu.

As Dave Heller says, with B.J. Askew out for the season Pressley has a better chance of playing. After all, teams don't sign fullbacks to sit, that's usually not a position where teams stockpile guys ... unless it's the Packers.

Hoops scrimmage thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:24:00 +0000

A friend of mine at work attended Sunday's basketball scrimmage and passed along these thoughts:

We went to the Red-White scrimmage last night. Great fun. Some thoughts:

-Jared Berggren could be Brian Butch's little brother. Physically they look a lot alike and have similar games, although Berggren doesn't have the outside shot -- yet. I like him. Not sure how much he'll be able to contribute in the Big 10 but he'll play.

-Ryan Evans has some hops and made a few nice plays. And he has this '80s fade haircut going for him.

-Keaton Nankivil looks a lot quicker than last year.

-Trevon Hughes is a man. Offensive players better be very careful with the ball around him or they will quickly become defensive players.

-Not sure why Ian Markolf didn't redshirt last season: he looks like a stiff -- not as bad as Gavinski but does not look comfortable with the ball at all.

-Get Mike Bruesewitz in the weight room another year and he will be the second coming of Joe Krabbenhoft. Not sure where the interior points are going to come from.

-Jon Leuer still looks more comfortable working outside in than inside.

-The new uniforms feature REALLY long shorts.

Thanks Paul! Here's another good review from Hoops Marinara.

Fallout of Mike Taylor injury

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Earlier this week we heard that Mike Taylor's knee injury will sideline him for the rest of the season. First thought: dammit! Not another rotten thing to happen to the Badgers this week!

Second thought: Silver lining is that Chris Borland will be on the field even more.

Third thought: Why wasn't Borland getting snaps instead of Culmer St. Jean or Jae McFadden?

Fourth thought: St. Jean and McFadden, while not playing a starring role, haven't been bad this season. Linebacker, which I thought was perhaps our weakest entering the season, has actually been a plus position.

Fifth thought: Blake Sorensen's been better this year than I'd reckoned, too.

Final thought: But Taylor was our best linebacker this season. He was always around the ball, always making plays in the opponent's backfield. As Bielema said, Taylor has three years ahead of him, and assuming he recovers well he'll keep getting better. Linebacker looks good for the next few years.

Landry's a Knick!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:36:00 +0000

Well, surprise, surprise, some good Badger-related news this week. Marcus Landry made the Knicks!

What a great story: Marcus pays his own way to try out for the team, sticks it out, and eventually sticks for the opening-day roster. Everyone knows his story, couldn't happen to a better guy.

In all honesty, I'm surprised. Landry was a nice college player, never quite reached stardom. His game doesn't seem suited for the NBA. At 6-7, you'd think he'd have to play small forward, and his quickness and ball handling skills do not appear to be NBA-caliber.

He does have a nice postup game. Much like another undersized four-man, for the Rockets: Carl Landry. My suspicion is that if Marcus's name was Smith, he may not have even gotten this shot in the first place.

But whatever, this is great news! In that vein, Hoops Marinara has a really nice rundown of other former Badgers playing professionally.

UW-Iowa box score thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Unsurprisingly, not much to like in reviewing the box score from the Iowa game. Here are a few things:

-We held them to 1.7 yards per rush.

-We only had two penalties.

And ... that's it. Scoreboard.

-We averaged 44.6 yards per punt, but only 38.6 yards net. I've been pretty happy with Brad Nortman this year, but his work pinning punts inside the 10 could improve.

-Chris Borland led the Badgers with 10 tackles. Won't be the last time. Added a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. I can't remember the last time a true freshman made such an impact on such a consistent basis on defense.

-J.J. Watt had eight tackles, and a whopping four for loss.

-That was a nicely timed blitz by Devin Smith that resulted in his sack. Would like to see more corner blitzes.

-Two tackles for loss, a fumble recovery, and a quarterback hurry for O'Brien Schofield. Louis Nzegwu had a hurry too.

Halfway point

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:06:00 +0000

We're four weeks into the Big Ten season, and if anything is certain, it's this: the conference is every bit as mediocre as critics have alleged. If Iowa is the league's best team -- and they most certainly are -- and no one's even close -- and no one is -- that's troubling.

Which makes our losses the last two weeks even more troubling. True, the Badgers have performed about as well as expected. But with Michigan still seemingly not back all the way, Ohio State capable of losing at Purdue, and Penn State beatable, this was a year where the door was open for the second tier to do something special. Unfortunately, it's Kirk Ferentz's team that has barged through.

1. Iowa. They still have to play at Michigan State and Ohio State, but would you pick against them in either of those?

2. Penn State. In line to get blown out by an SEC team in the Capital One Bowl.

3. Ohio State. At least they're not in line to get blown out in a BCS bowl any more, god forbid the national title game. What a terrible offense.

4. Wisconsin. Michigan State has the better record, but their opponents haven't been that tough and we beat them. This is as much a reflection on the conference's weakness as the Badgers' performance thus far.

5. Michigan State. Has rebounded nicely from a rough start, as predicted.

6. Michigan. Beat someone before you bust out the "We're Back!!!" banners.

7. Minnesota. En route to a Glen Mason-esque finish.

8. Purdue. I suppose, they beat Ohio State.

9. Northwestern. Thought they'd be better.

10. Indiana. The game story for the Hoosiers' win over Illinois mentioned their bowl hopes. Uh huh.

11. Illinois. Wow, who saw this coming? That Ron Zook is a heckuva coach.

Great weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:01:00 +0000

So Vander Blue has committed to Marquette. That's just the kick in the groin we needed after the football loss to Iowa.

Don't even know what to say ... other than to say this seems like a very immature choice to close an awkward process. Marquette gets the nod because they run a four-guard offense (Buzz Williams' glorified YMCA "scheme")? Because he's been friends with Jeronne Maymon since he was a kid (first time I've truly been disappointed in Maymon's college choice)? Whatever. If that's what floats your boat, so be it.

What UW has to offer isn't exactly a perfect package. But, bias acknowledged, I think Wisconsin is a better choice than Marquette. For anyone, let alone Vander Blue.

But hey, committing to UW that early was an immature move as well. Maybe if he hadn't chosen us first this wouldn't hurt so bad.

Making immature decisions is what teenage boys do. Lord knows I made plenty of immature decisions when I was Vander's age, they just weren't this public.

Fully expecting much gloating from Marquette fans, as is their right. I'll do my best to ignore it, or delete it if it happens to show up here.

Even if, as I'm hoping, Vander goes on to have an undistinguished college career that doesn't leave us longing, that would be disappointing because we'd wonder what he could have done playing for a real coach. Chances are he'll have a good college career, based on what he's shown in high school. He's the real deal.

The only way this works out well for us is if he transfers home in a year or two, which given the way things go at Marquette isn't impossible, and Vander took the high road and was classy in his comments about Bo and Howard Moore. But given the hard feelings that have come from this process, isn't likely.

I can't take the high road on this. For the second straight day, I'm livid. This sucks.

Wisconsin-Iowa thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Today's proceedings at Camp Randall have left me feeling livid. Livid!

This is the first time this year that I have been truly disappointed in this team, and in this program. Because make no mistake about it: the results of today's game prove that Iowa has a program far superior to ours.

Not superior players, mind you. Their offensive skill position players are pedestrian at best, ours are more talented. Their quarterback still doesn't impress me -- he just threw the ball to wide-open players. They have a good defense, but as we showed in the first half, it's not impossible to move the ball on them.

And yet ... they dominated the second half today and go home winners. Their players' execution was nearly flawless. More importantly, the scheme adjustments they made at halftime were far better than anything we did.

Think about it: in the first half, we were running the ball for 5-7 yards a pop. There were big holes. On passing plays, we had guys open, and Scott Tolzien found them.

In the second half, with basically the same guys on the field (forget Garrett Graham's injury -- while he's obviously an important part of our offense, the results would have been the same with him) we created no holes, our receivers were double covered, and Tolzien threw it to the guys in white jerseys.

Defensively we were no less disappointing. For all the raves about Moeaki, definitely a good player, if Antonio Fenelus can't run with a tight end, we've got problems. Their running back will probably win praise, but he got his yards when our defense lost its focus and composure.

And when the defense did make a big play to give the offense a chance to score without actually moving the ball, Philip Welch shanks the kick right. We've gone from field goal kicking seeming like a definite strength at the season's beginning to being an uncertainty at best, a liability at worst.

Near the end of the game, when they were having their way with us, this thought occurred to me: It's like we weren't even on the field in the second half. Iowa did whatever they wanted.

Every time the cameras cut to Kirk Ferentz on the sideline, so calm and in control, I thought, "Man, I wish that guy was our coach, and his staff our staff." It's not the first time I've thought that way. But this year, when the Big Ten is truly up for grabs, if we had superior leadership like Iowa we could be pricing plane tickets for Pasadena now. Instead we're looking at what, San Antonio? No shame in that, but in years where the traditional Big Ten powers show vulnerability, we've got to be ready to take advantage. This year, we're not quite there.

Remember what I wrote at halftime?

"While I'm happy with the proceedings thus far, I also remember Barry Alvarez's last game in 2005, when we were up by a similar score at halftime and got dominated by Iowa in the second half. They make good halftime adjustments. Let's hope our coaches can do the same."

Unfortunately, today was a carbon copy of 2005. That loss left me feeling similarly upset and disappointed. But that year, we rebounded to beat Hawaii and then Auburn in a bowl, definitely a great ending to what ended up being a very nice season. Purdue is looking better than I figured, we'll have to bring it in two weeks. Let's hope our players and coaches take the week off to figure out how to be more like Iowa.

UW-Iowa halftime thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Not too much to complain about in the first half, we played well. Offense moved the ball fairly regularly, but Iowa's excellent defenders made some plays you'd expect them to make. Our defense was tight, with the exception of the one long pass play. I'd much rather be up two scores.

-Horrible kickoff coverage again to start the game. Iowa's Wegher looked like he was running in sand, but he still got it out past the 40. A Twitter post noted that we seemed to have more defensive regulars on the unit on subsequent kickoffs -- good move.

-J.J. Watt has been excellent coming off both edges, and O'Brien Schofield has continued adding to his honors resume. We need them to keep making those plays in the second half of the game, and the season.

-Mike Taylor gets hurt, and who's around the ball making plays? Chris Borland, of course. He's awesome. Hope Taylor's injury isn't too bad.

-John Clay was really running well before he got hurt, showing nice patience and vision. The offensive line has looked really good on running plays, the last one being Montee Ball's touchdown run -- great execution. Ball is looking like a guy we can trust.

-On his first punt return, David Gilreath doesn't call fair catch and gets drilled by a gunner with a running start. On Iowa's next punt, he doesn't catch it and the Hawkeeys get 15-20 yards in favorable bounces. Not only is our punt return game not a positive right now, it's a liability.

-I had just finished praising Jay Valai to my dad -- how he's had less highlight hits this year but also less major miscues -- when he seemed to be out of position on Iowa's long pass play. Can't say for sure without seeing the film or knowing the coverage call, though, so it may not have been his fault.

-Why put Curt Phillips in? Scott Tolzien was coming off his best drive throwing the ball, and we follow that up with a three-and-out. True, Curt looked good on his keeper run and was a shoestring tackle away from breaking it. And since Phillips hadn't played in a couple weeks it's not likely Iowa spent any time preparing for him. But it was a curious decision at the time.

While I'm happy with the proceedings thus far, I also remember Barry Alvarez's last game in 2005, when we were up by a similar score at halftime and got dominated by Iowa in the second half. They make good halftime adjustments. Let's hope our coaches can do the same.

Barometer

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:59:00 +0000

Tomorrow is a barometer game. Iowa is the most comparable Big Ten program to UW. Our states are similar demographically. We recruit the same areas outside of the Midwest. Not sure if you've heard or not, but our head coach has a Hawkeye tattoo on his leg.

However, we rarely seem to be at or near the top of the conference in the same year. Just 2004, the year when we lost at Michigan State, then went into Iowa City still with a chance to go the Rose Bowl but were humiliated, comes to mind.

This is shaping up to be one of those years. Right now, based on its wins over Penn State and Michigan, Iowa seems like the better team. Then again, they barely beat Northern Iowa and Arkansas State. I would expect the first team to show up at Camp Randall.

Iowa's defense is nasty. Their defensive line is good, but not as good as Ohio State's. Conversely, I think their back seven is better than Ohio State's. I can't see us scoring more than 20 points.

On the other hand, their offense doesn't scare me a bit. Lots of people give Ricky Stanzi props, but to me he's an average quarterback at best. Their running backs aren't nearly as good as ours, or their receivers. Nice line, though. Still, I can't see them scoring more than 20 points.

So where does that leave us? Special teams. Which doesn't leave me feeling very confident.

Win this one, and we've got a legit shot at the Rose Bowl. Lose, and it's Alamo Bowl at best.

Time to show you're in control, Bret.

Makes you proud

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:44:00 +0000

It's natural, from time to time, to grow cynical watching big-time college sports. No need to go into details, but UW is not immune.

That's why stories like this one are so refreshing.

Wisconsin QB Tolzien inspired by 6-year-old cancer patient

Makes you proud.

Attention Gopher fans: new Big Ten bowls

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:35:00 +0000

The Big Ten has announced a new bowl lineup starting next season, with most of the shake-up coming at the bottom. The first new bowl is the Texas Bowl in Houston, with a Big 12 opponent. I wonder what airline tickets from Minneapolis to Houston go for?

Or Minneapolis to Dallas, for something called the Dallas Football Classic versus a Conference USA team. Ugh.

The best new bowl game is the Gator Bowl, which is one of my favorites. There's a lot of history in that Jacksonville bowl, and we'll get an SEC team. We also still have the Insight Bowl, Outback, Capital One, and Rose Bowls.

Say goodbye to the Champs Sports Bowl, which was forgettable, and the Alamo Bowl, which I liked.

The other UW

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:30:00 +0000

So we've added Washington to the future non-conference schedule, a home-and-home series in 2017 and2018. Very nice addition of a big name opponent.

Right? I think so. But consider this:

The first game in this series won't happen for another eight years. Eight years ago, Washington won the Pac-10 and played in the Rose Bowl. But in the ensuing years, UW football cratered, and last year they were arguably the worst big-conference team in college football. They beat USC this year and appear to be getting better, but they're not all the way back.

Who knows, maybe Washington will be back to conference and national championship caliber status in 2017. Maybe they'll stink. Maybe they'll go back and forth several times. Point is, it's hard to know when you're making out the non-conference schedule so far in advance.

How good will Oregon State, Washington State, and Arizona State when they show up on our schedule in the next decade? All of them have had their moments of greatness, all of them have suffered through mediocrity.

That 2017 home schedule looks awesome, though, with Virginia Tech joining Washington in making the trip to Camp Randall. That is, of course, unless whoever our coach is at the time decides to push the Virginia Tech date back another decade and schedule Cal Poly instead.

John McPoland, rest in peace

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Tappa) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:49:00 +0000

Last week our good friend Todd Milewski forwarded me a notice that John McPoland passed away after a 21-month battle with cancer. Very sad news, very sad. John had a big impact on my life, I owe a great deal to him.

As my junior year in Madison was winding down, I was searching for an internship, and getting nowhere. One afternoon, out of the blue I got a call from John, who asked me to come down to Janesville to interview for an internship with the Gazette. Weird, I thought, I hadn't applied.

Turns out I had -- the year before. In an envelope that arrived in Janesville postage due. And they called me anyway. John and I talked for awhile, and late in the conversation he made a Simpsons reference that I got immediately. "We could have saved a lot of time if you had told me right away that you were a Simpsons fan," he said.

My internship was producing Diamond Chatter, a weekly tabloid devoted to Janesville-area baseball and softball. I covered Little League, Class A minor league, Legion, rec softball, you name it. It was a great opportunity to really own something, not the usual internship fare.

I worked with John on a daily basis, but he didn't micromanage me. Every day brought a good piece of advice. Here's the one that stuck with me: I wrote a story that used the word "concurred." Editing the story, John shot me a look and said "He didn't 'concur.' He 'agreed.'" It was a great lesson for a young writer with a quick trigger for the thesaurus.

He also told me early on that I would be an editor. No, I said, I'm a writer. Writers don't make as much money as editors -- you'll be an editor, he insisted. And that's what happened.

It was a great summer. At the end I went to Packers training camp with John to gather material for our fall football tab. After the summer I covered Badger sports for the Gazette on a regular basis, but never really saw John much after that. I remember how much time and effort he used to put into his Sunday column, really tried to make it thought-provoking, if not controversial. He relished telling the story about how, early in his Janesville tenure, he sang "On Wisconsin" in public after the Badgers beat his alma mater, Iowa State, in one of those ugly games early in Barry Alvarez's time in Madison.

He loved NASCAR, which we used to argue about. We talked about the big events he'd covered, like the Super Bowl and the Rose Bowl, and I just ate it up, itching for the time when I would do the same.

There are some tributes out there about John, I had a hard time reading them without tearing up.

From Justin Brown

From Greg Peck

From Scott Angus (who was editor during my internship)

Try making it through both of those without misting up a little bit, even if you never knew the guy.

John was a great guy. He'll be missed.