badgerfan007

Wisconsin has had a very good defense under Dave Aranda and continued into this game. USF had difficulty moving the ball despite a couple instances having very good field position. The difference between the two teams is being able to make an impact both offensively and defensively. Complain all you want, but the game wasn't very close statistically... at all.

This game would have been over Wisconsin's first possession had the refs swallowed their whistle on the holding call no one saw on Gordon's 55-yard run.

They started off the season at No. 14. You seriously expect them to drop out of the Top 25 with a loss to the No. 13 team in the country and two wins? Please. This is how college football works each season. Early season polls are meaningless because of these schedules and this is exactly how I know USF has been down for a few years now. You simply do not understand the irrelevance of early season polls. If you don't think Wisconsin is deserving of this ranking, it'll show in a few weeks. Nebraska will be lucky to beat Wisconsin in Madison, by the way. Hell, Nebraska goes on the road to Madison, Iowa City, and East Lansing. There's a chance they lose all three. Wisconsin is 2-1 against Nebraska since the Huskers joined the B1G, two of those wins included a 48-17 beat down in Madison and a 70-31 shellacking in the B1G Championship Game.

Nice peace offering.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/26/travel/chicago-ohare-midway-flights-stopped/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I get that NIU is not the 'sexy' opponent your fan base was looking for, but it will be a good test for your program. NIU is a quality program. Clearly in rebuild mode after graduating Jordan Lynch, but they are 49-11 (.816), including this season, since the turn of the decade and have won 11+ games each of the last four seasons.

DBs are not Wisconsin's weakest position. A very experienced group that finished 2013 Top 15 nationally. The secondary returned three of four starters from a season ago and are playing well thus far, as they are Top 25 nationally. Just as there is with every secondary, there are weaknesses. To call them weak, though, is wrong. I'd say the WRs are the weakest group followed by the DBs so far this season. Yeah, UW returns a lot of starters, but they still aren't covering well. Most of the reason for UW's decent pass defense stats is that we don't play very good competition on average - definitely few good passing offenses in the Big Ten, and Aranda covers up deficiencies with blitz packages. Also, UW's run game, controls the clock and speeds up the game, so opponent passing yards will be lower due to less possession. UW will have a lot of trouble against good passing teams this year. Probably will not have to worry about it much until the CCG and bowl game as the teams on the regular season schedule don't pass well. I have admitted on this website that the secondary has been lit up by some very good quarterbacks (Hackenberg, Shaw, Kelly, Miller). They've been a product of going against some very average passing teams. I'd like to think USF is one of those teams. No disrespect to USF, because I'm a huge fan of Taggart, but I'm not overly worried about our secondary on Saturday. USF goes as Marlon Mack goes. That being said, the most concerning position is the WRs. The lone target on the outside is Alex Erickson. The young guns have been concerning and Andersen has acknowledged this. Players like Rushing, Love, Wheelwright, and Fredrick have combined for one catch the past two games.

Whaaaaaaa?? Hahaha. I want to hear his take on Mike White. Nothing wrong with a little homerism. Indeed. Do not confuse acute homerism with objective analysis. Remember, as a fan, you're exempt from the constraints of reality and are afforded the luxury of green-n-gold goggles as a permanent fashion accessory. How is saying we should have won the MD game is homerism? Take away two of the botched special teams plays and we would have won. Maryland is a better team than Wisconsin mumbo jumbo. That's not even homerism. It's just silly. Why do you think that? Maryland's only loss is to one of the best teams in the Big 12 by 3 points. We'll find out who's better in a month or so when they play. West Virginia is one of the best teams in the Big 12? They may not even be a Top 5 team in the Big 12 at this juncture. I think Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas State, and TCU would have something to say about your claim.

Clement is a good player, but he is not fast. Has been clocked at a sub-4.45. Is it a burner a la Jerick McKinnon? No. He does bring plenty of speed to the position, though.

Not sure what makes you think McEvoy is not a B1G caliber quarterback. He had some elite offers out of JUCO (Oregon, Texas, Florida, WVU, Wisconsin). Obviously those coaches believed he was a P5 caliber quarterback. His passing statistics are identical to Joel Stave in 2013, but he has added 200+ rushing yards to the table, too. Its been such a small sample size - quite unfair to lump him in a group that does not belong in the B1G. Wisconsin is ranked because they started the season at No. 14, lost to the No. 13 team, and proceeded to win their next two games with relative ease. You really don't expect a Top 15 team that loses by four to another Top 15 team to drop out of the rankings, do you? It doesn't matter how you perceive LSU to be. They were ranked where they were ranked. DBs are not Wisconsin's weakest position. A very experienced group that finished 2013 Top 15 nationally. The secondary returned three of four starters from a season ago and are playing well thus far, as they are Top 25 nationally. Just as there is with every secondary, there are weaknesses. To call them weak, though, is wrong.

Is this a UW fan? I've never been a big fan of going to an opposing team's message board and starting a topic as to why you'll win. To each his own, I guess. Well, I'll just go through each of his points briefly... (1) Tanner McEvoy is not the best player on the field. It's simple: Melvin Gordon and Corey Clement are the best players on the field, the former being the best. McEvoy is an elite runner at the quarterback position, but has a slow and inconsistent release. You never know where the ball will go on intermediate/deep passing routes. Hell, he has difficulty keeping the ball at the receiver's body on a simple slant route. (2) Wisconsin has an enormous offensive line. They outweigh the average NFL line by ten pounds. These boys are fed what Willie Taggart hopes to bring to USF. That being said, it is a very good offensive line that is short of dominant, relative to a traditional Wisconsin offensive line. Who the hell is Ossai? (3) No argument here. Aranda's 3-4 scheme has been nothing short of impressive. Hell of a coordinator and it will suck to eventually see him leave to take a HC position somewhere. How he can seemingly replace the front seven in 2013 (though the majority of this season's starters have starting experience in the past) without missing a beat is impressive. (4) Well, I won't get into this post. You spelt the majority of those players' names wrong and I would personally use some other examples other than the players you mentioned (exception being Gordon and Clement). (5) Wisconsin probably does win TOP. That's a statistic that sticks with Wisconsin each season.

Let's not forget the trip last year to East Lansing. Anything is possible as we blew that game. It's really about the match-ups. At that time last season, Michigan State's offense was struggling mightily and using multiple QBs without much success. MSU originally started Andrew Maxwell and shuffled one or two other QBs into the game (Cook included). It wasn't until Connor Cook really separated himself that MSU began to perform better on offense on a more consistent basis. The defense was always very good. I don't know if you can look at USF/MSU in EL last season to judge the success of USF in Madison. USF is a middle-of-the-road run defense going against the No. 1 rushing attack in UW. On the other side, USF's offensive strength lies in the run game, which squares off against a UW run defense that has allowed just over 2.50 yards/carry this season and no red-zone touchdowns. As I said previously, it is about match-ups.

Hard to tell with NC State right now. They're coming off a season in which the only three teams they beat were non-conference opponents. We'll see if they can muster off a couple conference wins in 2014. It completely depends on Jacoby Brissett. Kid has always been very talented, so it doesn't surprise me that he has padded his stats against a relatively easy schedule thus far. We'll see if his play continues into the ACC schedule and getting some help out of his skill positions is vital. Even with Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon at the helm, NCST has always had a little difficulty at the skill positions. I am sure Florida wishes they still had Brissett at their disposal now that Driskel is struggling. Really wish he had chosen Wisconsin out of high school! It'll be a big game in Raleigh on Saturday afternoon. I'd be pleasantly surprised if NC State keeps it within three scores, though. Nothing to do with USF or any other opponent on NC State's schedule as it does the talent of FSU.

11AM games are actually fairly common. Chances are when you get onto Regent Street, they'll be open. I'd guess sometime around 8:30-9:00AM.

Depending on the score of the game, an enormous amount of the student section will just bolt after 'Jump Around.' This is sad when you consider they don't even get in their seats until the 2nd quarter, if not halftime! The student section typically takes their time getting to their seats for non-conference games. Have to say I was guilty of this during my undergraduate years (2008-2012). When taking the entire stadium into account, though, you'll see nearly 15k still in the stands for the Fifth Quarter following the conclusion of the game. Fifth quarter is a blast.