If we win turnover battle, we beat Wisc going away

[Count 'Bility]

It would ALMOST be worth burning a redshirt (Westerkamp ?)to have someone field a punt in a game like this for the conference Championship !

(before you get too fired up.......I said ALMOST......not that we would or should).

Yeah, I dont think any reshirts should be burned unless it's on the d-line. If one of them big horses is showing like they could make a difference with Baker dun, that may be worth it. Just let the damn punts bounce. I still was not upset the other day with the punt rolling to the 1 inch line. My friend says "there you go, you got your bounce you wanted so bad, now we're buried deep" I didnt care. at least we had the ball.

 

[Comish]

Yes, I was just highlighting how important the special teams area is.  Last year AA was among the leaders in punt returns and this year we celebrate anyone who is able to catch it.  We are losing way too much field position by never flipping the field.

The redshirt comment was just born of frustration, although we have burned shirts for far less recognizable rationales in the past.  Especially playing frosh early and then inexplicably relegating them to the bench the rest of the year.

 

[74Hunter]

you're crazy

Agreed. I would love to have a cakewalk game, but with Jackson and especially Baker out, I don't think that we will win.

Either way, no way that we curb stomp them by 20.

 

[JTrain]

If we can get over ourselves and/or the weather we're going to be amazing. At least that's what they tell me. Can't wait to see it.

 

[deedsker]

Just like our games as of late, it comes down to Nebraska. If Nebraska wants to win and doesn't fumble over itself, literally, we will win. If not, have fun Wisconsin.

 

[Huskerbreeze]

WE would have won handily in every game except maybe Ohio State if we hadn't shot ourselves in the foot. Unfortunately, that is what this team does. We better hope they avoid any big problems on Saturday or we will be in trouble. We were down 17 to Wisconsin in the third quarter (I was at that game) and we were fortunate to beat them.

 

[Bigdsrip]

I could very easily see NU winning on Sat but I would be shocked if it was by more than 7. UW has not lost a game by more than that since Oct. 2010 and even that game was within a field goal until the final minute. That includes 3 games vs teams ranked #3 or higher and multiple games against top 10 teams. This team just does not get blown out.

This is not the same squad you guys saw early this year, the D has 3 starters back that sat out game #1 (assuming Borland plays) and the whole team is just much sharper. As others have pointed out every game UW has lost they could have won with one or two breaks here and there. They have lost three games in OT in the last 4 weeks. Of course as a UW fan I expect to win, but I could see the trends continuing with NU coming out on top. Either way it will be a close game. Good luck Huskers and lets hope it is injury free!

 

[knapplc]

I could very easily see NU winning on Sat but I would be shocked if it was by more than 7. UW has not lost a game by more than that since Oct. 2010 and even that game was within a field goal until the final minute. That includes 3 games vs teams ranked #3 or higher and multiple games against top 10 teams. This team just does not get blown out.

This is not the same squad you guys saw early this year, the D has 3 starters back that sat out game #1 (assuming Borland plays) and the whole team is just much sharper. As others have pointed out every game UW has lost they could have won with one or two breaks here and there. They have lost three games in OT in the last 4 weeks. Of course as a UW fan I expect to win, but I could see the trends continuing with NU coming out on top. Either way it will be a close game. Good luck Huskers and lets hope it is injury free!

Ranked #3 or higher in what? Your losses:

Oregon State - #16

Nebraska - #14

Sparty - unranked

Ohio State - #4

Those are AP rankings, because the Buckeyes aren't ranked in the Coaches or BCS polls.

Otherwise, I'll agree with your assessment. You've got a lot of pieces back that should help quite a bit. On top of that, we've lost our starting Center and D Tackle. If we can't patch up those holes, this could be a third straight Wisconsin Big Ten Championship.

 

[GSG]

I could very easily see NU winning on Sat but I would be shocked if it was by more than 7. UW has not lost a game by more than that since Oct. 2010 and even that game was within a field goal until the final minute. That includes 3 games vs teams ranked #3 or higher and multiple games against top 10 teams. This team just does not get blown out.

This is not the same squad you guys saw early this year, the D has 3 starters back that sat out game #1 (assuming Borland plays) and the whole team is just much sharper. As others have pointed out every game UW has lost they could have won with one or two breaks here and there. They have lost three games in OT in the last 4 weeks. Of course as a UW fan I expect to win, but I could see the trends continuing with NU coming out on top. Either way it will be a close game. Good luck Huskers and lets hope it is injury free!

Who are the 3 starters back on D? And are you saying Borland didn't play against us the first time? Because he most certainly did. He had 9 total tackles, 1 TFL, and 2 fumble recoveries.

 

[Sparker]

I could very easily see NU winning on Sat but I would be shocked if it was by more than 7. UW has not lost a game by more than that since Oct. 2010 and even that game was within a field goal until the final minute. That includes 3 games vs teams ranked #3 or higher and multiple games against top 10 teams. This team just does not get blown out.

This is not the same squad you guys saw early this year, the D has 3 starters back that sat out game #1 (assuming Borland plays) and the whole team is just much sharper. As others have pointed out every game UW has lost they could have won with one or two breaks here and there. They have lost three games in OT in the last 4 weeks. Of course as a UW fan I expect to win, but I could see the trends continuing with NU coming out on top. Either way it will be a close game. Good luck Huskers and lets hope it is injury free!

Ranked #3 or higher in what? Your losses:

Oregon State - #16

Nebraska - #14

Sparty - unranked

Ohio State - #4

Those are AP rankings, because the Buckeyes aren't ranked in the Coaches or BCS polls.

Otherwise, I'll agree with your assessment. You've got a lot of pieces back that should help quite a bit. On top of that, we've lost our starting Center and D Tackle. If we can't patch up those holes, this could be a third straight Wisconsin Big Ten Championship.

He said since Oct 2010, so over two years, I am guessing those are the #3 teams he is talking about.

 

[knapplc]

Still doesn't make sense. They haven't lost to three teams ranked in the top three since 2010. Their losses since 2010:

2010

#24 Sparty

#3 TCU in the Rose Bowl

2011

#16 Sparty

Ohio State (unranked)

#5 Oregon in the Rose Bowl

2012

Oregon State (unranked)

#22 Nebraska

Michigan State (unranked)

Ohio State (unranked/#4 depending on who you look at)

Penn State (unranked)

So that's one loss to a top-three team, two/three losses to top five teams, six losses to Top 25 teams, and four/five losses to unranked teams.

None of that amounts to a hill of beans, though. I give Wiscy a 50/50 shot at winning this game. I think these teams are pretty evenly matched, and their strength matches up with our weakness pretty well. Toss in two crucial injuries, and I honestly don't see why we're favored.

 

[Sparker]

Still doesn't make sense. They haven't lost to three teams ranked in the top three since 2010. Their losses since 2010:

2010

#24 Sparty

#3 TCU in the Rose Bowl

2011

#16 Sparty

Ohio State (unranked)

#5 Oregon in the Rose Bowl

2012

Oregon State (unranked)

#22 Nebraska

Michigan State (unranked)

Ohio State (unranked/#4 depending on who you look at)

Penn State (unranked)

So that's one loss to a top-three team, two/three losses to top five teams, six losses to Top 25 teams, and four/five losses to unranked teams.

None of that amounts to a hill of beans, though. I give Wiscy a 50/50 shot at winning this game. I think these teams are pretty evenly matched, and their strength matches up with our weakness pretty well. Toss in two crucial injuries, and I honestly don't see why we're favored.

Knapp with facts! +1

 

[ladyhawke]

I think this is going to be a tough game. Wiscy has only lost their games by mere points. However, they do run out of gas in the 4th quarter and that has been where we excel. We'll see. It will be a good game.

 

[Count 'Bility]

WE would have won handily in every game except maybe Ohio State if we hadn't shot ourselves in the foot. Unfortunately, that is what this team does. We better hope they avoid any big problems on Saturday or we will be in trouble. We were down 17 to Wisconsin in the third quarter (I was at that game) and we were fortunate to beat them.

I was at that game too. Wisconsin is also very fortunate that once we got rollin, that we didnt win by 20. Fortunately, that is also what this team does. Most jeckyl/hyde season I've ever experiences.

 

[Bigdsrip]

Still doesn't make sense. They haven't lost to three teams ranked in the top three since 2010. Their losses since 2010:

2010

#24 Sparty

#3 TCU in the Rose Bowl

2011

#16 Sparty

Ohio State (unranked)

#5 Oregon in the Rose Bowl

2012

Oregon State (unranked)

#22 Nebraska

Michigan State (unranked)

Ohio State (unranked/#4 depending on who you look at)

Penn State (unranked)

So that's one loss to a top-three team, two/three losses to top five teams, six losses to Top 25 teams, and four/five losses to unranked teams.

None of that amounts to a hill of beans, though. I give Wiscy a 50/50 shot at winning this game. I think these teams are pretty evenly matched, and their strength matches up with our weakness pretty well. Toss in two crucial injuries, and I honestly don't see why we're favored.

Knapp with facts! +1

I was referring to games since 2010, not just this year.

2010 OSU #1 31-18 UW

2011 TCU #2 21-19 TCU

2012 Oreg #3 45-38 Oreg

Whatever measure you use the point is that UW has played some very, very good teams in huge spotlight games and they have all come down to the last possession since 2010. This team just doesn't get blown out. That was my only point and it is validated whatever metric you use.

No Borland played that game and played it well, as I recall he had one of the hits of the year against Burkhead early in the game. We were missing our FS Shelton Johnson, and our DE's Brendon Kelly and Patrick Muldoon (technically not a starter but he plays starter minutes). Not to mention Ball was coming back from sitting out the last 6 quarters and had yet to find his grove after the rough start to the season (although you can make a solid argument that Burkhead not being 100% at the time makes that a wash).

As I said before should be a great game, but calls for a blowout is simply wishful thinking by NU fans. This UW team is much improved from the one that was up 27-10 before going into run the clock mode and T-Magic lived up to his name. Good luck again, hope I haven't just jinxed my guys!