This morning on Mike and Mike they talked about a recent Big Ten Preview article (they blocked ESPN at work so I'm handcuffed a bit right now but I can find it). Apparently it has the Badgers picked to win the Leaders and the Huskers winning the Legends. It also mentions a poll of best coaches in the Big Ten with Bielema edging Ferentz for the top spot.
Last evening on the Badger Hour on ESPN Radio (FM 100.5) they were discussing how unrealistic the National Championship talk was for this team. They argued that National Champions have nasty defenses and they cited the '03 OSU, LSUs d-line, USCs linebackers and several others as examples. We all know that Wisconsin is doing an awesome job recruiting and developing on the offensive side but it seems that the defense is not keeping pace. It seems every year that only one guy on the defensive side of the ball is drafted high in the NFL (Watt, Levy, e.g.). If you look at past National Champions this number is closer to three or four.
There is no doubt Wilson and the offense are going to score points, but can the Badger defense put them in the top five of the BCS? Having Borland back will be a huge help but I would like to see a couple more studs emerge on defense. What do you think about the Badgers coming into this year?
Auburns d wasnt that great last year and oregons was pretty good but not like top ten...i prefer to be optimistic about the badgers because I'm not sure exactly what to expect out of our defense...we do have the offense and the schedule to be dominant though....snaggin mad championships and stuff
ReplyDeleteI hear ya big stacks 3000. I was just regurgitating some radio talking head speak for the sake of conversation. Radio people nay-say but I still think a stud or two on defense is really important. I'm pumped about this football season regardless.
ReplyDeleteEvery year they will pick schools like Oklahoma and Alabama. The glory of college football is that the predictions are 90% wrong 95% percent of the time. That's why it is more fun than drinking. It's the only thing we live drinking to attend for 3 hours (Some times 42 minutes sorry Akron) or (a few minutes if you are Theusch at the Ohio State game circa 2008, sorry AJ)
ReplyDeleteWe have 7 returning starters coming back on defense. 9 players on defense are seniors or juniors. One of the two sophomores is Borland. I agree with JOEL. I expect Borland to be the playmaker on defense. The good news is that all the return starters are scattered through the defense.
The D-Line should be solid. I have no basis for stating that but they practice against an NFL sized line and it's the big ten. I think to get pressure on the QB we are going to have to blitz a linebacker, so that puts a lot of pressure on the secondary. This is where I have my problem with this team. The let us down in Pasadena, quite frankly exposed as bad athletes with a poor scheme. They have to step up this year, or else we lose before Indianapolis.
The O-Line is Wisconsin's bread and butter (besides drinking and...drinking) Asking about Wisconsin's O-line is like asking how Bo Ryan's team will do at the line or asking how many Jewish friends Mel Gibson has. (The answer is one:Jesus)
Russel Wilson needs to be what he was advertised as.
Little worried about the receiving corps. Would feel bolder about a Championship talk of we had a 6'3" kid that could fly and/or a proven tight-end. Lance Kendrinks might be the most missed kid in Madison since Kevin Spears. (I mean wilkie moved in to that room?!?!?!?)
We can hide some of our weaknesses in our depth at RB. Being able to keep the ball away from Nebraska, Ohio St. (snickered as I wrote that) and Michigan St will allow us to protect our defense. We ran all over TCU on the ground. Hopefully J. White hasn't put on pounds so he can still bullet past that second level.
As much as I would like to be Q optimistic, I can't say BCS Championship but I can say we go to Pasadena and come back with a fucking Rose Bowl this time.
if we do go to the national championship game, I live an hour and a half from new orleans...just sayin
ReplyDeleteI see no reason why the D shouldn’t be very solid. You have to wonder what could have been if JJ stayed around but Borland is going to be a monster if he stays healthy. Taylor also a freak when healthy. I read an article that all the linebackers put on extra weight and improved their speed. The CB I think will improve the most as well as Nzegwu becoming our main pass rush. Even losing JJ, the unit may be better as a whole this year. Plus UW has always had a bend don’t break attitude on D.
ReplyDeleteNot terribly worried out the WR. Toon needs to play like he can. Abbederis will be a solid 2. One of the young guys (Gardner from what I have read) will do fine as a 3. Don’t think you will see much of a drop off in TE, Pederson, when used always did the job. Was it vs Miami that he had that monster game???
To get to the title game we’re going to have to catch some breaks. All teams do. Auburn could’ve lost like 4 games easily last year. Oregon got HUGE breaks at Cal and at ASU. Happy that we will have a veteran O if it comes down to the final drive.
Ball and White are going to be absurd. Guesses who has more yards? TDs?
..Think Ball will win both those categories, but by slim margins. The dude from gayass Kanosha will get some carries and will be a beast.
Important season for UW in the grand scheme of things to keep the momentum the program is building rolling.
Also for all you old balls who might not know this. Badgers vs UNLV Thursday night..First day of class Friday..Weekend..Day off Monday.
I’m going to guess that class will be HEAVILY attended Friday. Crackhead move by the University fasho
hahaa classic UW....football season will be outrageous..cannot wait....quitting jobs and moving back in to the frat is a likely maneuver
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with Doug about the secondary, but I think that improving the LB core will make them better. Fenelus, Smith, and Henry are all seniors and Borland and Taylor will seal up the short routes/TE's which is where the CB's have always struggled.
ReplyDeleteI am more nervous about the running QB's that we will be facing. Not sure if our D-line is athletic enough to contain them. Hopefully the LB's can do the job on Robinson and Martinez.
Quick note on Martinez. He was good early last season for Nebraska which is why it kinda sucks that we get them first (in B-10 play) but as the Oklahoma game proved last year, if you hit him early, he will puss out and get very timid.
ReplyDeleteBorland is going to play middle LB
ReplyDeleteI hate the bend but don't break mentality. I would like to see UW recruit some freak athlete d-backs that can place within 15 yards of the line and not get burned. Dalton raped them last year.
ReplyDeleteBut... this team is still gonna be sick nasty and I won't care if the D gives up 50 as long as the O puts up more.
Who is the third RB gonna be? Not saying we even need one but I don't know much about the young guys. Any studs on the horizon that could potentially make an impact this year?
ON RUNNING BACKS: Melvin Gordan is a recruit from Bradford and he put up Clay like numbers in high school (2,000 plus yards and 35 plus TD's in just his senior season averaging over 13 ypc) and will most likely be the third RB I would assume or redshirted to save him. I would like to see if they could make him a DB but I doubt they will do that because he came here to run obviously as he decommited from Iowa.
ReplyDeleteON THE DEFENSE: Louis Nzegwu should be a beast but Gilbert remains to be seen what he can do. Our CB's suck and they always will if we do not recruit better athletes, they line up 10 yards off the ball which is retarded and any efficient passing offense will score on us as a result and will be our downfall, luckily the B1G doesnt have many quality QB's...
ON THE OFFENSE: unstoppable except when Paul Chryst decides to lose games and get too cute (Give the fucking ball to Clay, TCU is sooo small) and our WR's just need to catch they will be open all day.
ON RECRUITING: Wisconsin is steadily approaching elite status on the field and it is starting to show, with this recruiting class, elite status off the field. We are lauded for our Lineman and we always can recruit that which sets up the rest of the offense and now are getting commitments from key-position players. Our only weakness is DB's and WR's (I think they are going to use Gordan at WR to get him on the field) and WR's aren't too important because if we can run, we can run. This comes down to our DB's needing to be better all around in order for us to improve defensively.
NATIONAL TITLE HOPES: SEC vs ?, our D will fail us one game and our offense can't score 50 every week, when the D fails us we can only hope we score a shit ton but I say we lose to OSU but win the B1G title. We won't be in the big game if we lose.
SPARKNOTES: Cb's blow, Melvin Gordan will be good, D needs to step up, Our offense is awesome, we are recruiting better but not at DB
Thanks for the sparknotes... Your post was way too long.
ReplyDeleteI know, depends how bored you are at the time so it gives ya sections to pick from otherwise so you dont have to read the whole damn thing
ReplyDeletenext time put the spark notes at the beginning so I don't make the mistake of reading the whole post..lol just kidding go badgers
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