Wow! A semblance of a drive!
Well, at least they didn’t get shut out. That’s a positive.
Mellusi and Cade Y have run the ball pretty well also.
Nice drive, good defensive stop and then a turnover. Oh boy.
Both lines for Sconnie just aren’t good
Can’t turn the ball over and Badgers have done it twice.
That was likely the dagger
And yes, the trench play sucks for the Badgers. Especially the DL.
Alabama o line are 4-6 yards down the field. Badge o line are always stuck at line of scrimmage
Thank goodness beer was invented.
I honestly don’t know if Van Dyke makes a difference. They’ve thrown downfield more with Locke than they have with TVD.
Just no identity on offense
I just don’t think Longo is the right guy. The offense has actually regressed this year despite adding quite a bit more talent.
Van Dyke injury or not this is a pathetic showing. Badgers have looked like relative crap so far this season and it ain’t going to get any easier.
@Tschmack posted:Can’t turn the ball over and Badgers have done it twice.
That was likely the dagger
And yes, the trench play sucks for the Badgers. Especially the DL.
The Badgers could play the Tide 100 times and Alabama would win 99 of those (probably 999 times out of a 1000).
The dagger was when the recruiting classes signed. There is a bigger difference in talent between Alabama and Wisconsin than between Wisconsin and MAC schools.
FINAL: Alabama 42, Wisconsin 10 Whether Tyler Van Dyke played or not, the #Badgers tailbacks had two fumbles, offense failed to convert an early fourth-and-short, and missed a field goal. The Crimson Tide turned all four of those miscues into touchdowns. Can't win like that.
Benjamin Worgull
@TheBadgerNation
I'm trying to remain patient with Luke Fickell, but thus far into his tenure I've seen little to get excited about.
Swapping Jim Leonhard for Mike Tressel has not paid dividends at all.
Badger football Saturdays used to be 'must-see TV', now it's just an option if I don't mind being frustrated and disappointed.
For all the guys they’ve added in the portal and recruiting the last two years there’s not one DL worth a damn?
And can we stop talking about how good this OL is? Badgers haven’t had a dominant OL in 10 years now.
29-24 this decade without a top 25 finish in the final polls.
Michigan, Ohio State, USC, Oregon, and Penn State (at least) are all going to be better teams than Wisconsin almost every year. Nebraska looks like they are tracking towards being very good again.
Unless they spend a lot more money on NIL in football and mens basketball they are not going to be competitive at the highest levels. At that's fine with me. Van Dyke is likely getting north of 500K to play in Wisconsin this year. That's ridiculous.
is it too late to bring back paul chryst?
Many said NIL would be the death of football except for a handful of teams. Looking to be very true. Interesting to how BB transpires.
I’ve been completely unimpressed with Longo and Tressel as coordinators. It’s almost like they are more interested in proving how smart and creative they are versus actual results on the field.
Looking ahead, the Badgers have 9 games remaining. I’d say the only 2 games they are likely favored is Purdue at home and at Northwestern. It’s entirely possible this is a 4-8 team in 2024. If so, heads should roll in Madison.
It was about what I expected. Van Dyke may not be an NFL QB, but his is better than and more prepared than Locke, so that does make a huge difference (I hope the QB competition restarts this week). Chez fumble was huge, but the real backbreaker was the shit defense to close the first half.
I know Mellusi is a senior and has worked his ass off to get back healthy, but he fumbled last week and his fumble against Alabama can’t happen.
Honestly, he’s JAG as is Cade Y (who also fumbled) so maybe it’s time to think about the future and get Dupree and Jones some more carries. Those two are way more athletic and capable of big plays which is something this offense doesn’t have or doesn’t feature.
Same goes for QB. Locke is another JAG. Get Mettauer in there and see if he’s half as good as his talent and hype. We know what Locke is- not very good.
This game honestly turned out pretty much as I thought it would. UW would hang in there for a bit with their adrenaline at home. Bama is just so much more talented than 95% of the teams in the country and more often than not talent in college football will take over.
I for one am a bit more patient with the UW program than many fans are. The reason being that they are in the middle of taking over talent that was built for the usual UW team that we have been used to for a long time. And are installing an RPO offense.
What will be interesting is when this last recruiting class which I think may have been the best UW since they have been ranking classes starts hitting the field.
Any word on Van Dyke?
The Badgers recruiting classes at DB and WR and RB over the last two years has been very good. The three LBs they added in the portal this offseason were also decent commits.
The problem the Badgers have and you saw this yesterday is elite programs like Georgia and Texas and Alabama have loads of very good OL and DL. While the Badgers OL is “OK” from a big program standpoint they cannot and will not match up against a team like Alabama that can throw 5-6 dominant defensive lineman at you the entire game. Then there’s the Badgers DL. It’s easily the weakest position group on the entire team and even with James Thompson Jr it’s ordinary by big program standards.
There isn’t a single DL that plays for UW that would even see the field on a team like Alabama. And I have no idea why it’s been such a struggle for Wisconsin to find those types of guys - even a couple of them.
The other glaring weakness is if you are going to run a Phil Longo type offense you need a good QB. Longo had Sam Howell and Drake Maye for cripes sake. As much as I like Van Dyke he’s probably half as good as those two.
IMHO the Badger DL problems go right to NIL. It doesn't matter how very good DL Alabama, Georgia, Texas, etc have, they will remain able to "pay" as many as they need and keep them away from other teams. Many guys don't really care if they play as long as they get paid.
@ammo posted:IMHO the Badger DL problems go right to NIL. It doesn't matter how very good DL Alabama, Georgia, Texas, etc have, they will remain able to "pay" as many as they need and keep them away from other teams. Many guys don't really care if they play as long as they get paid.
College football is basically professional football right now without a salary cap. Same with college basketball - the NBA with no salary cap.
I find it hard to get excited about watching college sports at all now. There is no continuity from year to year and you are now cheering for laundry instead of watching a guy develop over 3-4 years and being invested in that.
@MichiganPacker2 posted:College football is basically professional football right now without a salary cap. Same with college basketball - the NBA with no salary cap.
I find it hard to get excited about watching college sports at all now. There is no continuity from year to year and you are now cheering for laundry instead of watching a guy develop over 3-4 years and being invested in that.
I also am struggling with watching college football now because of the NIL thing. The elite teams always have attracted the top talent because those programs recruit themselves. AND they have the NIL money to back it up.
There has always been a disparity between the teams like OSU, Bama, UGA, etc. and the UW's. And now that they are flat out allowed to pay players without any real rules the gap is only going to grow. A good example is that Arch Manning who has up to this year been a backup and he makes something like 4.5 MILLION from Texas. I honestly have no clue at all what UW can pay but I doubt its that much for a QB.
The NIL had an impact on even Nick Saban. One the reasons he retired was that players and their parents only want to know what they will get paid not if they can develop as players and be prepared for life.
There’s no question NIL and pay to play has an impact on a school like Wisconsin.
Rumor has it that Nebraska paid a million dollars for their QB. Most of the top guys are probably in that $1-2M range. Elite WRs and DL are probably in that 500K-750K range with the best likely around a million per year.
The difference between a top 5-10 program and Wisconsin right now is every single one of those teams has a blue chip QB. Some have more - like Texas with Ewers and Manning.
Van Dyke is a solid QB but he’s no difference maker. He’s probably a top 50-60 QB. Guys like Millroe and Ewers and Gabriel and Cam Ward are top 10 guys. The Nebraska kid is probably top 15-20.
As for DL, the difference between 3 star guys that Wisconsin has and 4-5 star guys that Alabama has is enormous. There’s probably only 10 elite level DL each year. Every year Alabama and Georgia probably gets at least one of them. You get enough of them and it tilts the field your way.
Personally, if you have enough NIL money a school like Wisconsin could compete with an Alabama or Georgia for a player here or there. I guarantee you that Nebraska doesn’t land Dylan Raiola without paying him top dollar.
@ammo posted:IMHO the Badger DL problems go right to NIL. It doesn't matter how very good DL Alabama, Georgia, Texas, etc have, they will remain able to "pay" as many as they need and keep them away from other teams. Many guys don't really care if they play as long as they get paid.
And, in terms of development for the NFL, a backup lineman for Alabama or Georgia might be more NFL ready than a starting lineman for a mid-tier Big10 team. Those guys from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Texas are practicing against future NFL players every day. You can't simulate those reps at a lower tier place.
@Tschmack posted:There’s no question NIL and pay to play has an impact on a school like Wisconsin.
Rumor has it that Nebraska paid a million dollars for their QB. Most of the top guys are probably in that $1-2M range. Elite WRs and DL are probably in that 500K-750K range with the best likely around a million per year.
The difference between a top 5-10 program and Wisconsin right now is every single one of those teams has a blue chip QB. Some have more - like Texas with Ewers and Manning.
Van Dyke is a solid QB but he’s no difference maker. He’s probably a top 50-60 QB. Guys like Millroe and Ewers and Gabriel and Cam Ward are top 10 guys. The Nebraska kid is probably top 15-20.
As for DL, the difference between 3 star guys that Wisconsin has and 4-5 star guys that Alabama has is enormous. There’s probably only 10 elite level DL each year. Every year Alabama and Georgia probably gets at least one of them. You get enough of them and it tilts the field your way.
Personally, if you have enough NIL money a school like Wisconsin could compete with an Alabama or Georgia for a player here or there. I guarantee you that Nebraska doesn’t land Dylan Raiola without paying him top dollar.
Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Texas each average about 4-5 5-star recruits every class. You could form an NFL team with just the guys from Alabama, Georgia, and LSU the last 10 years and be a playoff team. If you added Ohio State to that list, you might win 14 games every year relative to having a team with the players from all the other schools combined.
Since 2019, Alabama has sent 21 first-round picks to the NFL. Georgia has sent 15. LSU has 11. Ohio has 13. There have been roughly 190 first round picks in those 6 drafts, and almost a third have come from those 4 schools.
OSU has had 45 guys drafted the last 6 years. Alabama has 55, LSU has 48, Georgia has had 59. 207 draft picks from those 4 schools in the last 6 years. Basically, an entire NFL team every year from those 4 schools (35 players a year).
Now with Texas, Michigan, Oregon, and USC spending money the way they are, Wisconsin and schools like it are just not going to be competitive.
A good NIL story for you. As some of you know I live about 45 minutes from Ohio State and I have some friends who are connected to the football program somehow. So apparently this offseason there was some frustration in Columbus that OSU wasn't paying well in NIL and that they were frustrated by losing to Michigan and in the playoffs. So Ryan Day goes to the boosters and the school asking for 20 million in order to entice some players from the portal and to pay top level recruits.
They gladly handed the money over and they landed 5-6 top tier guys out of the SEC and the top WR recruit in the country.
No one says they have to be like OSU or Georgia or Texas. No one says they need to land Cam Ward or Dillon Gabriel or Will Howard.
But I’d argue if they want to run a modern offensive (Longo) system they had better spend some decent coin to get a real QB, not some cast off guy with one less year of eligibility left.
Mordecai and Van Dyke simply aren’t good enough. If you are going to spend it might as well be for a QB.
It’s crazy to think but a guy like Kyle McCord went to Syracuse and KJ Jefferson went to UCF. Does anyone think Syracuse or UCF are more appealing than Wisconsin?
Dante Moore and Julian Sayin and Austin Mack aren’t even playing this year. But they landed at Oregon and Alabama respectively. So not only are those big programs featuring a stud QB, they have guys waiting in the wings that are also elite prospects.
Wisconsin needs to coach and recruit better for damn sure. But they also need to decide if they want to compete. That will require spending a fair amount in NIL money at some key positions - namely QB and probably WR.
@The Heckler posted:A good NIL story for you. As some of you know I live about 45 minutes from Ohio State and I have some friends who are connected to the football program somehow. So apparently this offseason there was some frustration in Columbus that OSU wasn't paying well in NIL and that they were frustrated by losing to Michigan and in the playoffs. So Ryan Day goes to the boosters and the school asking for 20 million in order to entice some players from the portal and to pay top level recruits.
They gladly handed the money over and they landed 5-6 top tier guys out of the SEC and the top WR recruit in the country.
Another NIL story.
I have a relative that is good friends with Max Klesmit, an Appleton kid who now plays for the Badger basketball team. Klesmit told them that when Chucky Hepburn came and told his Badger teammates he was transferring to Louisville for his final year, he had tears in his eyes. Hepburn loved Madison, loved being a Badger, but he said he was getting 750K to play one year in Louisville and that's probably more money that he was going to make in the next decade of his life as he's, at best, a low-level league player overseas. He didn't want to leave Madison, but he couldn't afford not to.
20 million for Ohio State football is going to be peanuts compared to where this arms race might end up.
Really no sense in going to a 12 team NCAA Football playoff except for the TV $$$$$$$$$$$$$. You can bet the farm that the top 4 teams that get a bye will be the final 4 anyway. Basketball has been a little different but will it be for long?
@MichiganPacker2 posted:20 million for Ohio State football is going to be peanuts compared to where this arms race might end up.
Oh I would bet the 20 million is the only figure we really know about. I do have to wonder how much of the NIL money is under the table. Because one thing we all know is that Uncle Sam will get around to wanting his tax money.
I am sure we haven't even seen even a little bit that is probably going on in college sports. The NCAA to me is just spineless and it doesn't even seem like they care about the NIL wild west at all. They probably are gun shy and afraid to get sued even more.
If we don’t think a covert “under the table” version of NIL wasn’t already happening, well, the $EC would like to have a word with you!
@Tschmack posted:If we don’t think a covert “under the table” version of NIL wasn’t already happening, well, the $EC would like to have a word with you!
Cam Newton's father would like to talk to you as well.
so it begins,
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- In what is believed to be the first arrangement of its kind, Tennessee fans for all sports will be charged a 10% "talent fee" on tickets to help pay athletes as part of the new revenue-sharing plan set to begin in 2025.