** 2018 Opponent Previews: Wisconsin (Game 6) **

[MichiganDad3]

21 hours ago, cheekygeek said:

As a point of (perhaps irrelevant) reference, it may be worth remembering that Tom Osborne did not defeat nemesis Oklahoma until Year 6. In my book, Wisconsin is our 2018 Oklahoma. They will probably always stand between the Cornhuskers and any hope of the Big 10 Championship game. But, hopefully, soon we can flip the table on them and it can be said that defeating the Cornhuskers will always stand between Wisky and the Big 10 Championship Game.

We will dominate Wiscy in the very near future. IMO, they are no better than Kansas State in the 90s. Oklahoma was in the hunt for the MNC nearly every year. From 73 to 88, the Sooners won 3 MNCs. 

[Redux]

Wisconsin will lose to Penn State, and they will drop another game somewhere to finish 10-2 on the year.

[Mavric]

3 minutes ago, Redux said:

Wisconsin will lose to Penn State, and they will drop another game somewhere to finish 10-2 on the year.

 

My money is on October 6

[Redux]

1 minute ago, Mavric said:

 

My money is on October 6

 

[RedDenver]

11 hours ago, Redux said:

 

Herbie Husker

[badgers007]

On 8/16/2018 at 12:00 PM, Undone said:

 If we don't beat Wisconsin in any given season where Wisconsin benefits from a weak cross-conference schedule (like they do yet again this year), we almost certainly won't be winning our division. 

 

How can playing @Michigan and @Penn State be perceived as weak?

[Moiraine]

1 hour ago, badgers007 said:

How can playing @Michigan and @Penn State be perceived as weak?

 

 

It's not. Unless you're comparing it to Nebraska's cross-conference schedule.

[badgers007]

8 hours ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

It's not. Unless you're comparing it to Nebraska's cross-conference schedule.

 

Sure, but that wasn't the implication of the post I quoted.

[Mavric]

 

[badgers007]

Think Wisconsin can begin to make plans of going through this season without Quintez Cephus.  Though Cephus made a strong statement, on Twitter, proclaiming his innocence, a three-month initial investigation has led to formal sexual assault charges.  Per UW policy, he will be automatically-suspended.  Innocent or not, I'd be shocked if this is resolved before end of season.

 

From a football perspective, Cephus is Wisconsin's best receiver, but Wisconsin already went through a half-season without him in 2017 and knocked-off a couple Top 15 opponents + Iowa during that time.  WR is a deep position in Madison with Danny Davis, A.J. Taylor and Kendric Pryor all playing key roles last season.  Although Cephus is a player that elevates this unit from good-to-great, this is still a capable, Top 10 team --- just don't think it's as good as their No. 4 AP ranking suggests.  No. 6 or No. 7 seems fair.

[RedDenver]

7 hours ago, badgers007 said:

Think Wisconsin can begin to make plans of going through this season without Quintez Cephus.  Though Cephus made a strong statement, on Twitter, proclaiming his innocence, a three-month initial investigation has led to formal sexual assault charges.  Per UW policy, he will be automatically-suspended.  Innocent or not, I'd be shocked if this is resolved before end of season.

 

From a football perspective, Cephus is Wisconsin's best receiver, but Wisconsin already went through a half-season without him in 2017 and knocked-off a couple Top 15 opponents + Iowa during that time.  WR is a deep position in Madison with Danny Davis, A.J. Taylor and Kendric Pryor all playing key roles last season.  Although Cephus is a player that elevates this unit from good-to-great, this is still a capable, Top 10 team --- just don't think it's as good as their No. 4 AP ranking suggests.  No. 6 or No. 7 seems fair.

Maybe this is the kind of off-field stuff that heralds Wisconsin's ascent to national prominence?

[brophog]

On August 16, 2018 at 12:00 PM, Undone said:

We have to have a defense built to stop Wisconsin's run game. I just don't see that happening this season unless a c$%ktail of great blitz packages and incredible run support from our secondary happens

 

I think this defense will be surprisingly good against the run. Got some asses up front now, a penetrating scheme, and some downhill tacklers at linebacker. There are also some natural box safeties back there that love to hit. The worry, and this is where Wisconsin is really starting to improve, is over-valuing their rush offense to the point they expose man coverage. 

 

The best defense against any ground and pound team is to score. We all know the effect getting down multiple scores has on such an attack. 

 

[Undone]

7 hours ago, brophog said:

The best defense against any ground and pound team is to score. We all know the effect getting down multiple scores has on such an attack. 

 

 

Yep, and I think that when Frost gets his offense rolling 2-3 seasons from now Wisconsin will start dreading us and we'll start consistently beating them. 

 

I do remember how Stanford had a run of 3-4 seasons where they got the better of Oregon. Stanford had a stout defense, but they'd also grind out long drives that kept Oregon's offense off the field. 

 

Have to shut down Wisconsin's ground game.

[brophog]

5 hours ago, Undone said:

 

I do remember how Stanford had a run of 3-4 seasons where they got the better of Oregon. Stanford had a stout defense, but they'd also grind out long drives that kept Oregon's offense off the field. 

 

Stanford and Oregon have swapped 2 year winning streaks since 2010. The last team to win more than 2 in a row in the series was Oregon, from 2002 to 2008. 

 

Frost was OC for 3 years at Oregon (2013-2015), and Oregon won 2 of 3. That included a loss of 6, win of 29, and win of 2. In the two wins, Oregon scored 45, and 38, respectively. They only scored 20 in the loss.

 

In that loss, Stanford sitting in the ball didn't win them the game. They won it by playing great defense. Mariota had a banged up knee, never really got the passing game going, they couldn't run it at all, only 3 of 10 on third downs, were minus 2 in turnovers, and were also stopped on downs. Oregon wouldn't score until the fourth quarter, where they scored 20 in the final 12 minutes. It wasn't the offense keeping Oregon off the field, it was the defense getting them off of the field. 

 

It's an alternate possession game. If you have the ball, they're not scoring, but you're not either as long as you hold the ball. Killing the clock has a purpose, late game when you're trying to hold a 26 point lead.  The narrative is they controlled the game on offense, but that cheats their great defensive effort.

[Mavric]