Wisconsin 2018 Season Thread

[847badgerfan]

I thought the play calling was mediocre at best. I think UW was a little surprised at how fast BYU was on the edges, but it seemed like they went away from that too quickly. Lots of up the middle stuff, and that didn't work well either. BYU was flying to the ball.


The other thing that surprised me was the clock management at the end of both halves. I thought UW could have used timeouts to get another crack late in the first, and I thought they should have used one after the Hornibrook scramble late in the 4th. I can't figure those out.

[SFBadger96]

Teams often lose games they shouldn't. That's what upsets are, and they happen all the time. That's also why unbeaten seasons are so rare. 

Nonetheless, this game wasn't really an outlier. The Badgers weren't especially impressive either of the first two weeks despite playing poor opposition. Playing still mediocre opposition this weekend, they failed. The real question is what happens from here. Is this who they are? A mediocre team that has a shot at the west because it isn't very good?

Or do they react to their exposed weaknesses and work hard to fix them, fulfilling their potential and fighting back into serious contention? Or are they somewhere in between: a really good team that's limited by injuries and a talent ceiling that just isn't that high?

We shall see. I've been saying since week one that they weren't looking impressive. I hope that this was the wake up call they needed. Otherwise, I'll remain happy that my fall Saturdays are dominated by my kids' soccer.

[847badgerfan]

BYU could be good - and could have been caught looking to this game as they lost to Cal a week earlier. They said this game was circled because of the 40-6 debacle in Provo last year. They have more chances to prove how good they are, or aren't. Washington in two weeks. Boise and Utah also on the schedule, among others. We'll see.


I'm not ready to write off UW by any stretch.

[Anonymous Coward]

Only the highest level of pearl clutching...

Headline: Chancellor doth declare: "Well...I never"

[847badgerfan]

UW-Madison clarifies it has 'no plans to stop offering athletics' after chancellor's testimony in NCAA amateurism lawsuit







https://madison.com/wsj/sports/college/uw-madison-clarifies-it-has-no-plans-to-stop-offering/article_ea634419-4fdf-5c4b-9bfa-31ef2054447d.html#utm_source=madison.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail%2Fbadgerbeat%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=0701DB267027A176132EF5C6A73A2B8F7659C27A

[MarqHusker]

first, this is a nothingburger story.

However, me thinks the Chancellor and 'UW' ought to get on the same island.  Of course the lawyer in me sees the UW headline and thinks, well that statement doesn't exactly contradict the Chancellor.  The Chancellor says (or is attributed as saying) they are ('the') considering two options.   'UW' is attributed with saying that there are 'no plans to stop offering athletics.'   If spoken in the present tense, both statements could be true.  Amateurs aren't being paid, now, thus there are no plans to stop offering athletics.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah. It doesn't actually matter. It also isn't new. This language is straight from the Delany playbook. Beyond being a funny example of pearl clutching, it's only noteworthy because it is an awkward threat and a window into the prevailing psychology of university administrators on a topic (giving players access to their market value) that is gaining more and more tailwind every year.

[847badgerfan]

There will be an NFL minor league before college football players get paid. I can't wait.

[Anonymous Coward]

That kind of minor league already exists.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18449983/new-pacific-pro-football-league-debut-summer-2018

Unsurprisingly it is small, seemingly unpopular and won't do much if anything to change CFB's fate. That will continue to be primarily determined in court.

[847badgerfan]

Start a new thread please.

[Anonymous Coward]

No need. Unless you make another comment, we've already had the full conversation. But try not to be too agitated that it showed up here. Given the employer of the woman who gave the original quote, the first comment belonged in this thread.

[Cincydawg]

I'm not ready to write off UW by any stretch.

No one should be, of course, but perhaps they are more a second ten team than top ten.
We'll see.  That L will hang over them even if they run the table.

[847badgerfan]

No need. Unless you make another comment, we've already had the full conversation. But try not to be too agitated that it showed up here. Given the employer of the woman who gave the original quote, the first comment belonged in this thread.

I'm not annoyed, but this has got absolutely nothing to do with the 2018 Wisconsin football team. The stream would have been a better place, perhaps.
As for the BYU loss and how it affects UW, I guess time will tell. They have some pretty tough games on their schedule coming up to prove that they are very good, or not so good. What I do know is UW is not playing top 10 football at the present. It will have to moving forward if they want to reach the goals they set for themselves in January.

[Anonymous Coward]

The stream miiiight have been better, but this topic is about UW in 2018. Maybe this thread isn't perfect but it's close enough to fall within the realm of a judgment call. I'd have started a new one, but this board historically has a distaste for excessive new threads. Which is a good thing.