BigAppleBucky

1.) Wisconsin 2.) 34-13 3.) Blake 4.) Wilcox 5.) 224 Badger alum. 63rd year as a UW fan.

1995 was a losing season. Also Wisconsin had a losing season in 2001. Oddly enough the team won games at Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan State that year but lost to Indiana something like 63-32. Those are the only two losing seasons since 1992. Last season the defensive line suffered several key injuries and the offensive line did not perform nearly as well as a line with three potential All Americans on it should have. Team needed to win in three overtimes at Purdue to have a winning record. The 2019 is a mystery to me. For one thing there will be a quarterback competition. For another, the defensive front seven needs to be rebuilt. Even though the offensive line lost three starters (2 of 3 potential AA's), I have hopes for improvement in 2019. Obviously running back, Jonathon Taylor, is a star. If unhurt, he will almost certainly run for 2,000 yards again in 2019. The schedule is tougher. I have read the team has to play six games against other teams coming off byes. That's a good reason for predicting a poor season.

Delivering the game ball. http://www.snappytv.com/snaps/camp_randall_descent_asr45n

Think the old Miller beer ads - Tastes great!! Less Filling!! This started back in the 60's and 70's when students were seated in sections by class. Freshmen sat in Section O, so sections N and P would chant O sucks. From there it devolved into the ES-FU chant they currently use. The AD has been trying to eliminate it for 20 years. They usually do it when the Steve Miller Band's piece, "Swingtime", is played either over the PA or by the UW band.

I think I agree with you, but sometimes the camera angles mislead us viewers.

I watched the game at a bar in NYC. I commented to my tablemates that if I were a South Florida fan I'd be PO'd at the refs. They agreed with me. Especially about that sequence in the fourth quarter. Now I was watching on a fairly old wide screen that didn't have the best resolution or even very good color so maybe when I watch it at home I'll get a chance to see things better and replay some of the calls. So I could change my mind.

Vince Biegel ran the 110-meter hurdles in 14.65 seconds weighing 234 pounds as a high schooler.

One of the good qualities about the Bulls I've seen Wisconsin people mention is your positive turnover margin. Go to the end of this as most of it is a recap of the last game. Wisconsin does have some shortage of depth at running back. Both true freshmen, who were expected to play, have been injured.

Many Badger fans think we were overrated pre-season. I certainly did. We really won't find out until November if our ranking was deserved. At this point definitely not a top 15 team. The QB situation alone brings us down to, at best, 16.

Congratulations to the hearty fans who persisted and actually got to Madtown. Condolences to those who were cancelled out. Horrible.

Didn't Chambers play for the Fish? IIRC, Evans played at Buffalo. Fletcher had 21 interceptions, five returned for TDs, in three years. Not too shabby. And picked in the 2nd round, I think, which is reasonable. But he was smallish. Bollinger had a career as a NFL backup. About six years. Some of his Badger QB rushing records may be broken by McEvoy if he starts two years. But he was illusive. Got sacked a lot in 2001-02, otherwise his stats would have been better. The UW O-line could run block, but weren't great pass blockers in those years. I think the OP must be a fairly recent fan. If he wanted to talk about speed, he might have mentioned that Vince Biegel at 235 pounds came in second at the Wisconsin State track meet in the 110 hurdles a couple of years ago. Now at 250 he's a threat to disrupt any offense from his outside linebacker spot. Wisconsin does get some (not nearly as many as Florida or Texas, obviously) good fast track athletes. One other fast guy from 2000, who was drafted late and never made it as a pro, was BJ Tucker. He and Bennett were half of a surprisingly fast UW 4X100 relay team and had finished 1-2 in HS track in Wisconsin a couple of years ealier.

It's McEvoy. And this Badger fan definitely does not think he's the best player or even the best athlete on the UW offense, let alone the entire team. I'd start with Melvin Gordon. He's special. The UW offensive line is pretty good, but certainly not 2009/10 good when six guys were drafted and started in the NFL. The Badger offensive line coach from those years is now coaching offensive lines in the pros. IIRC, at Tampa. I'm beginning to really like Dave Aranda, the UW defensive coordinator. Young and innovative. Believes in smaller quicker guys. Not sure how well the current front seven will stand up to a couple of power rushing teams faced in back to back weeks. We'll know more after Nebraska-Iowa-Minnesota the last three games of the season. The 2000 team probably had more offensive speed with Chris Chambers, Lee Evans, Michael Bennett, Nick Davis, and Brooks Bollinger as well as Mike Echols and Jamar Fletcher at cornerback. But the 2014 defensive unit, overall, is definitely quicker than prior squads, especially at linebacker. TOP is somewhat overrated as a stat. In 1998 and 99 we beat Purdue when they were good with Brees, even though they possessed the ball almost two to one. Your final score seems a tad low, but it might be correct.

Not terrorism. Some nut job, probably a suicide attempt. CNN Story: http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/26/travel/chicago-ohare-midway-flights-stopped/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 Good luck. Too bad the start is so early tomorrow.

ESPN agrees:

Let's see, pay $150 for a ticket, Lord know what for parking. $8.00 for a hot dog, $3.00 for a soft drink (no beer), deal with security getting in to the stadium and traffic getting out or stay home, watch in high def, eat better and cheaper than stadium hot dogs, drink whatever adult beverage I want and not risk getting rained on. Oh, and that $150 by itself covers my basic cable, and the sports and movie packages - for a month. hmmmmm . . .

Same time as the BGSU game. Wisconsin plays about five or six games a year at that time.

Local time. One reason the students won't be there at kick off. 11 AM is practically the crack of dawn for them.

I can't remember a bigger spread. I think this tops them all. Last year against UCF it was 26.5 (easy USF cover). In '02 Oklahoma 28 (USF covered), in '03 'bama 15 (Bama covered by 8), and 2004 Louisville +30 (UL covered by 2 points) which was the largest ever. I don't know what the guys with the long noses in Vegas know, but it's obvious they want all the bets on USF.

We didn't defend Melvin Gordon III last year. He got 253 yards yesterday against Bowling Green - on just 13 carries. He'll be fresh. Huge spreads are always a crap shoot. A good or bad break or some strange weather can really change things. In 2003 UW lost to UNLV 23-5 at home in the rain and fog. We were 20, or more, point favorites in that game. Among other things, UNLV returned a fumble for a TD. Wisconsin was -17 to BGSU on Monday and that wound up at -27.5 by Friday as news of the BGSU injuries came out. Point a gun at my head and make me bet, I'd take South Florida and the 33 points. But who knows.

I've seen teams come into Camp Randall and get energized as in #3 and I've seen teams get intimidated. Either could happen. Student portion of the crowd won't be loud, so that should help.

McEvoy is a mediocre to OK passer on short routes and horrible on long balls. Last year's starter, Joel Stave, developed a strange case of the yips during fall camp and dropped out of the two deep. Wisconsin will probably lose a couple of games this season because of this. (Probably would have won at LSU with an OK Stave.) McEvoy occasionally will make a nice throw on the run, but most often overthrows his target. BGSU was missing their best DL, best LB and best DB due to injury in this game. They were noticeably slow and very poor tacklers to boot. I'd posit that your team has to be better on defense and I don't know anything. Wisconsin lost its entire defensive front seven to graduation. The new group is smaller and faster than last year's squad. It held up well at LSU until the nose guard and one defensive end were injured. After that LSU ran with relative ease. The defensive backfield seems to rely on drops and overthrows to defend long passes. Has worked fairly well so far this year, not sure if that's a good long term solution. I guess what I'm saying is that 33 points is a lot to cover. It could happen, but I wouldn't bet on it. A visitor's guide to Madison: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=193&f=2562&t=4512150 Safe and fun travels to those making the trip.