2025 Wisconsin Season Thread

[847badgerfan]

Weird.

Wisconsin offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes contract details

[SFBadger96]

The lawyer in me likes it. The sides negotiated over a lot of important stuff and baked it in. He makes a little more than he did at Kansas, but not a lot, and there are incentives and disincentives built in. Sounds like good contracting to me. The leaving for another coordinator job is an interesting one. Basically, there's not enough money at the college level for him to do that because, if I understand it correctly on my quick read, the new employer would have to cover a huge amount of his remaining UW salary. But the NFL can afford to pay half of his remaining salary, so if the NFL really wants him, the money is there for it--with a good benefit to UW.

Now let's control the ball and win football games. The latter being more important than the former, but we've seen what happens when the Badgers don't do the former.

[bayareabadger]

Weird.

Wisconsin offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes contract details

Which part is weird?

[bayareabadger]

Fickell wanted to can Phil Longo after year 1, but the AD said no.

Very short-sighted on that one by the AD. Lots of no-shows in the stands last season, with how that team played (like shit on offense).

Today's no-shows turn into tomorrow's no-buys.

I didn’t 100 percent know that, but it was interesting that higher on sideways in some ways that were exactly what you expected and at least one that was somewhat unexpected.

[847badgerfan]

Which part is weird?

That it took 8+ months to get done.

[bayareabadger]

That it took 8+ months to get done.

There may have been some extra machinations, but it’s actually pretty common for stuff like that to happen (usually not quite that long). There is some other document that coaches sign just to get started and often in the actual signing just sort of drags out.

I used to work adjacent to that space and I can’t tell you how often you would look at a contract and wonder why some football assistant actually put pen to paper in like June. 

[847badgerfan]

I hope he turns into a hot commodity that everyone wants to hire. That means we can be happy for a few years. It's been a shit couple of years and nothing truly good since 2019.

[bayareabadger]

I hope he turns into a hot commodity that everyone wants to hire. That means we can be happy for a few years. It's been a shit couple of years and nothing truly good since 2019.

Would not hate that. Was trying to watch some of his film from his best Baylor offense, but it’s pretty hard to get much of a read on that one.

[SFBadger96]

Discussion on another thread leads me to this: at 4-8 is Fickell necessarily gone? I think even at that record, he probably gets another year. The buyout is substantial, the schedule is rough, and McIntosh might not be far behind him if Fickell gets the axe. But...

3-9 is a real possibility:
Miami-OH: W
MTSU: W
@Alabama: L
Maryland: put in the W column...then...
@Michigan: L
Iowa (at home): no one would be surprised by a loss in this game, which is competitive in the best of times
Ohio State: L
@Oregon: L
Washington at home: the Badgers will badly need this game, and the travel will kick Washington's ass, but...Washington is never a pushover.
@Indiana: I'm still not convinced Indiana wasn't a flash in the pan last season. But if it wasn't, then another L is easy to see.
Illinois at home: this is another one the Badgers will really need, and I'm still not sure Illinois is all it's being cracked up to be right now, but if it is, easy to see another L.
@Minnesota: tough. Imagine the Badgers come into this game with 3 wins. Chances they pull out a 4th?

On the one hand, they could be decent and have three or four wins.
On the other, looking up at Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota isn't an acceptable place for the program to be. And it shouldn't be chasing Iowa, either.

Hope springs eternal, so let's say they beat Iowa and Washington at home, Indiana and Illinois return towards the mean and the Badgers beat them, then finish off their rival to reclaim the axe at Minnesota. 8 wins. Surprise one of the big four that they are playing? 9 wins. Now I'm probably just hallucinating...

[bayareabadger]

Discussion on another thread leads me to this: at 4-8 is Fickell necessarily gone? I think even at that record, he probably gets another year. The buyout is substantial, the schedule is rough, and McIntosh might not be far behind him if Fickell gets the axe. But...

3-9 is a real possibility:
Miami-OH: W
MTSU: W
@Alabama: L
Maryland: put in the W column...then...
@Michigan: L
Iowa (at home): no one would be surprised by a loss in this game, which is competitive in the best of times
Ohio State: L
@Oregon: L
Washington at home: the Badgers will badly need this game, and the travel will kick Washington's ass, but...Washington is never a pushover.
@Indiana: I'm still not convinced Indiana wasn't a flash in the pan last season. But if it wasn't, then another L is easy to see.
Illinois at home: this is another one the Badgers will really need, and I'm still not sure Illinois is all it's being cracked up to be right now, but if it is, easy to see another L.
@Minnesota: tough. Imagine the Badgers come into this game with 3 wins. Chances they pull out a 4th?

On the one hand, they could be decent and have three or four wins.
On the other, looking up at Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota isn't an acceptable place for the program to be. And it shouldn't be chasing Iowa, either.

Hope springs eternal, so let's say they beat Iowa and Washington at home, Indiana and Illinois return towards the mean and the Badgers beat them, then finish off their rival to reclaim the axe at Minnesota. 8 wins. Surprise one of the big four that they are playing? 9 wins. Now I'm probably just hallucinating...

I think 3-9 and he’s cooked. 5-7 gets a pass (not from me), just because of money. I think 4-8 should be fired, but not 100 percent the world will alight.

[SFBadger96]

Good writeup in the Journal Sentinel discussing what the record will look like: LINK.

I didn't realize the transfer class was rated as highly as it was. Changes on the line--if they work--should lead to a better team, which will matter against Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Illinois, and Indiana. I certainly like an offense that is designed to grind the ball and the clock.

There are reasons for optimism...BUT...

[847badgerfan]

Paywall for that article.

[847badgerfan]

Good writeup in the Journal Sentinel discussing what the record will look like: LINK.

I didn't realize the transfer class was rated as highly as it was. Changes on the line--if they work--should lead to a better team, which will matter against Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Illinois, and Indiana. I certainly like an offense that is designed to grind the ball and the clock.

There are reasons for optimism...BUT...

They really re-built the DL (5 4* players) this time. Also took 3 QB's.

[SFBadger96]

Well, the article isn't worth paying for: basically it says if the lines play better, the QB should be better, and the defense shouldn't crumble in the 4th quarter as it has done for the last two years, then they can get to a winning record. Conversely, they play the brutal October and may not have anything left by the time they get to the stretch of winnable, but not easy games in November.