HuskyBadger

Hi! We had Drew from your board jump on, but I would love to return the favor if you have a show and wanted to talk some UW/NEB ... big ten in general topics. Side note, I was pretty into Nebraska football as a kid, my step-dad was from Nebraska and I remember watching games with him when I was little - eventually the home state Badgers won me over, but I followed both programs pretty intently until the Huskers came over to the BigTen. I had a Bobby Newcombe jersey mounted on my wall forever, just loved watching those prime Nebraska teams. But you can't have two teams you cheer for in the same conference, it just doesn't work.

Whats up all ? We have a Badgers podcast, and are looking for a knowledgeable Huskers fan to jump on the show and talk recruiting, the Huskers ceiling/floor, and this year's UW/NEB matchup. Would love to have some good conversation and get a little smarter on each program. If anyone is interested, please feel free to reach out to ryanharings@gmail.com Thanks !! Ryan

Iowa wouldn't surprise me, they have a decent returning QB, strength along both lines, depth at RB and the easiest schedule. They have to replace their linebackers, but Iowa usually finds decent guys to play LB.

As a UW fan - people are getting a little carried away with the 'UW has a whole new defense' train of thought. Now, of course I'd say that, I'm a Wisconsin fan and we all have a little homer in us. But like many teams, Wisconsin rotates a lot of guys on defense, so while its very true a great many seniors and starters have departed, theres a decent amount of experience left over, even in the front 7. The DL has two guys with heavy experience, Warren Herring played about 50% of the snaps at DT and Zagzebski played in all 13 games and started 3 at SSDE last year. Both are 5th year seniors. The LBs have a host of players with decent experience. Vinc - Vince Biegel played in all 13 games and started 2 - Joe Schobert played a lot against spread teams and started 1 game - Marcus Trotter started a game - Landisch started a couple games The secondary returns several starters and experienced backups. The defense just isn't going to be as young and inexperienced as people seem to think. Now I'm not saying the Badgers won't struggle replacing some of the pieces they lost, and losing Borland from the linebacking group isn't replaceable, there will be dropoff there regardless of who replaces him. There's also a complete black-hole at WR right now - and while there are some intruiging young kids there, nobody has emerged yet. Still need to solve the QB issue as well - there's a pretty good chance McEvoy beats out Stave.

He had a 2000 yard season and his teams were National Champioship contenders every year he was on campus. Those were things Dayne cannot claim. To be fair, Ron Dayne's overall durability and the career rushing record are things that Rozier can't claim, and Dayne lifted his team to higher rankings each consecutive year. It's almost a wash, really, but everyone's opinions have been stated. Why keep repeating yourself over and over? Actually Dayne ran for 2109 yds as a freshman and 2034 as a senior if we count the bowl games; and Rozier's Husker teams were obviously superior in talent to the Badger teams Dayne played on -- so I don't know if its fair to knock Dayne for UW not being National Title contenders every year. Rozier's '83 season is bonkers good though -- two great backs.

Actually, Dayne usually ranks as one of the Top 10 draft busts when those "awards" are being handed out for draft busts. Opposing NFL defenses even referred to him as "The Danish", so I'll stand by my toad comment. A. Where to start? How about we are talking about their college football careers? Who cares what they did in the NFL? Additionally those 'draft bust lists' are a joke; so you can reference them if you want but they hardly help your argument; and frankly make you look worse. The idea that the 11th pick in a draft that would end up with 3700 yards and 28 touchdowns is any sort of "Top Ten Draft Bust" is just laughable. I mean, take 30 seconds and think of 10 draft busts who were worse than Dayne -- it isn't hard. Just for kicks; lets look at players selected higher than Ron Dayne since 2000 (the year he was drafted). 2000 draft #1 Selection - Courtney Brown -- finished with 19.5 sacks in his career. #2 Selection - LaVar Arrington -- incredibly athletic LB, barely started after his first four seasons in the league. Finished with 23.5 sacks. #4 Selection - Peter Warrick -- Shifty explosive player at FSU, struggled in the NFL and finished with only 2990 rec. yards. 2001 draft #3 Selection - Gerard Warren -- Big bust in Cleveland and another example of the terrible Butch Davis drafts. #8 Selection - David Terrell -- Big time WR out of Michigan, finished with 1602 rec. yds over the course of five seasons. #10 Selection - Jamal Reynolds -- Was supposed to be an uber-talented pass rusher out of FSU, but was a massive bust at the NFL level. Finished his career in two seasons with 3 total sacks. 2002 draft #1 Selection - David Carr -- Currently with 65 TDs and 71 INTs #3 Selection - Joey Harrington -- Retired with 79TDs and 85 INTs #4 Selection - Mike Williams (OT Bills) -- Never made an impact in Buffalo; was so bad they even tried to convert him to Guard and some DT. Massive bust. #6 Selection - Ryan Sims (DT KC) -- Arrowheadpride.com considers Sims the #3 biggest draft bust in KC history. http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2011/4/28/2138741/chiefs-draft-picks-nfl-draft-busts-medlock-simshttp://www.arrowheadpride.com/2011/4/28/2138741/chiefs-draft-picks-nfl-draft-busts-medlock-sims 2003 Draft #2 Selection - Charles Rogers -- Rogers was a fantastic talent at MSU, long and spindly just dynamic in the red-zone, but his injury and drug problems killed his NFL career. Finished with 36 receptions. #4 Selection - Dewayne Robertson -- Had some moments, but is considered a bust for a player picked so high. Was out of the league by 2008. 2004 Draft #2 Selection - Robert Gallery -- Was considered a can't miss LT coming out of Iowa. Struggled badly and would have to eventually move to guard. Had more success at guard; so maybe he isn't a bust; except that nobody drafts a guard at #2. #9 Selection - Reggie Williams -- Played 5 years and finished with 2322 rec. yards. Fell far short of expectations. 2005 Draft #6 Selection - PacMan Jones -- Call him a bust or not, but not worth the #6 pick in any realm. #7 Selection - Troy Williamson -- Drafted to help fill the Randy Moss void; he was a complete bust. Finishing with just 87 receptions. #10 Selection - Mike Williams -- Oh look another Det. WR makes the list. 2006 Draft #3 Selection - Vince Young -- Young is now broke and looking desperately for another team to give him a chance. #7 Selection - Mike Huff -- Has already been released by Oak. #10 Selection - Matt Leinart -- For obvious reasons. 2007 Draft #1 Selection - JaMarcus Russell -- For obvious reasons #9 Selection - Ted Ginn JR. -- Has been a good return man, but a terrible WR 2008 Draft #5 Selection - Glenn Dorsey -- Never did live up to the hype during his time at KC. #6 Seleciton - Vernon Ghoulston -- Workout warrior that busted for NYJ. #8 Selection - Derrick Harvey -- Was out of the league by 2011. #9 Selection - Keith Rivers -- Cincy would trade him the NYG for a 5th round pick in 2011. Had injury problems after a vicious Hines Ward hit. 2009 Draft #2 Selection - Jason Smith -- Massive bust the Rams couldn't wait to get out from underneath his contract. #4 Selection - Aaron Curry -- Was considered a top-flight LB that year, Seattle traded him to Oakland two years later for a 7th round pick. #5 Selection - Mark Sanchez -- He of the butt-fumble. #7 Selection - Darius Heyward-Bay -- Al Davis type pick, very fast but can't catch -- has already moved on from Oakland. Thats just a grouping of players since 2000; all of whom were selected higher in their respective drafts than Ron Dayne was in his -- and we didn't even go dredging up historical guys like Mandrich, Albert, Bruce, Shuler, Leaf, Buckley, Stokes ...ect....ect.... This isn't to say Dayne had a great career, he most certainly didn't, but I keep hearing these uneducated arguments that he was somehow a 'top-ten' bust all-time. Its just ignorant.

I'm a Badger fan, but my stepfather is a Nebraska guy so I grew up watching both teams. Fans always have so much trouble looking at topics objectively when their favorite teams/players are involved -- I'm no different. I won't get into Rozier vs Dayne too much; but some of the comments are just laughable. The idea that he would have only been a 'third-down' back or that he 'didn't break off long runs' or that there is a huge chasm between Rozier and Dayne is just silly. Rozier was an all-time great, as was Dayne -- both were unique talents and played with different teams and schemes which makes it awfully tough to compare. They were certainly closer in talent than some on this board seem to think. The unique thing with Dayne was how quick his feet were for a 260 pound guy, did a great job of waiting for a hole and getting upfield. I would also like to comment on the idea that being the focal point of the UW offense helped Dayne, while sharing carries hurt Rozier. Certainly getting more carries allowed Dayne to get more yards; nobody would argue that. But, the fact that UW didn't have many other options also allowed defenses to absolutely load up to stop Dayne, he routinely ran against 9 man fronts all game long and was still able to be very successful doing it. There are also a lot of running backs that wouldn't be able to tote the rock that often, he was the ultimate bell-cow, incredibly durable, didn't wear down, just kept pounding. I'm certainly not saying Rozier couldn't have done the same; but there aren't a lot of college backs that have the ability to take 30 carries every game if needed. Ron Dayne shouldn't get knocked because he played four years and had a lot of carries; he should get credit for handling that workload and remainaing incredibly productive. I have a feeling a big power back that ran downhill, never got hurt and holds the NCAA rushing record would have been beloved as a Husker, but because he's a Badger its suddenly insulting to have him headline a HOF class. Just for fun; to break Dayne's rushing record, a RB playing 13 games a season for four years would need to average 137 rushing yards per game. Thats damn impressive. And none of what I've said is meant to discredit Mike Rozier who I was sadly too young to watch and fully appreciate -- my step-father holds him in extremely high regard.

haha - yea should be a fantastic game, of course I think Wisky has their own advantages....

It's ok guys, because I do. Have at it. Uhh... they lost to Sacramento State. Whatever point you were trying to make is now invalid. Just sayin'... They also started the Wisconsin game with a punt that netted -4 yards deep in their own end when the punter kicked it off the side of his foot rugby style. That'll zap any early momentum in a flash. Wisconsin has simply outclassed their opponents, and those opponents also inflicted tons of problems on themselves, so there really isn't a good barometer game. I think Nebraska will win. Always do. Here's a few reasons why. 1) Dennard. He can basically take Toon out of the game if he is playing well. I don't care how good you think Toon is, he's no Justin Blackmon. 2) Wisconsin won't have the luxury of short fields pretty much the whole game. <50 yard fields are going to be hard to come by outside of huge turnovers. 3) Their defense. It hasn't looked as impressive as scores would have you believe and frankly Nebraska has better athletes on offense then Wisconsin does on defense or has seen yet this year. 4) Wilson isn't that fast. He's a good decision maker and can be elusive, but he is by no means a burner. You won't see him bust one and outrun dbs because they take a bad angle against speed like Martinez has. He might weave around, but mostly his legs are used to extend drives if you break contain. He's also going to have to deal with more pressure then he's seen all year and faster defenders. 5) Karmic Justice, for every big ten fan who has come here and basically explained to us how you play a different kind of football in the big ten. It's ok guys, because I do. Have at it. Uhh... they lost to Sacramento State. Whatever point you were trying to make is now invalid. Just sayin'... They also started the Wisconsin game with a punt that netted -4 yards deep in their own end when the punter kicked it off the side of his foot rugby style. That'll zap any early momentum in a flash. Wisconsin has simply outclassed their opponents, and those opponents also inflicted tons of problems on themselves, so there really isn't a good barometer game. I think Nebraska will win. Always do. Here's a few reasons why. 1) Dennard. He can basically take Toon out of the game if he is playing well. I don't care how good you think Toon is, he's no Justin Blackmon. 2) Wisconsin won't have the luxury of short fields pretty much the whole game. <50 yard fields are going to be hard to come by outside of huge turnovers. 3) Their defense. It hasn't looked as impressive as scores would have you believe and frankly Nebraska has better athletes on offense then Wisconsin does on defense or has seen yet this year. 4) Wilson isn't that fast. He's a good decision maker and can be elusive, but he is by no means a burner. You won't see him bust one and outrun dbs because they take a bad angle against speed like Martinez has. He might weave around, but mostly his legs are used to extend drives if you break contain. He's also going to have to deal with more pressure then he's seen all year and faster defenders. 5) Karmic Justice, for every big ten fan who has come here and basically explained to us how you play a different kind of football in the big ten. Maybe, maybe not on Dennard taking out Toon. He's playing awfully well right now and I'm not sure if either player can completely win that matchup. I'd also disagree on Wilson not being that fast, he's more than just a good decision maker that can be elusive. Not as fast as Martinez, but a much bigger nightmare because of what he does with his arm. JMO.

I can't wait for this weekend - growing up in Wisconsin the Badgers are my 1A team, but my Step-Father is from Lincoln and he brought Husker football into my house. Like I said the Badgers are my 1A, but the Huskers are 1B for me, one of my favorite football plays ever was the Crouch TD catch against Oklahoma, I still have a Bobby Newcombe jersey hanging up and I used to love watching Carlos Polk smash into people. Just can't wait for this game, hope the Badgers win, but wish you all luck the rest of the way. Most Badger fans that I know don't expect this to be easy, but knowing the Huskers as well as I do, I'm scared of what happens if Martinez rips off some big plays and your......our......(this game is going to be like watching my kids fight....if I had kids.....maybe my dogs) defense gets going. There are a couple advantages you guys have in this game that aren't being talked about much. - Our kicker last year, Phillip Welch, is a really good player, veteran, strong leg, consistent; problem is he hasn't played this year with a pulled quad. He might be back for this game in some "capacity" as BB puts it, but Badger fans don't want to see any game come down to a FG at the end. His backup on kickoffs was really shaky last week booting two kicks out of bounds and several others either short or nearly out of bounds. With Abdullah back to return, this could turn into a big-time advantage for the Big-Red.......er.....Nebraska. - The zone-read; gave us problems against UNLV, it also gave us problems against TCU last year with Dalton running it. With Martinez in the backfield, this could really cause issues for the Badger defense, we haven't looked really good against this type of threat in the past and we haven't seen somebody like Martinez. - Despite the hype, our running game isn't as good this year as it was at the end of last season. We've had trouble getting it kickstarted in each of the last three games - part of this is due to teams loaded up the box, but part of it is we are still trying to replace the two All-Americans we lost off of last year's line (Carimi and Moffitt). Another interesting aspect is we've usually had a big-bruising tailback to pound away (John Clay last year, PJ Hill the several years before) but we don't have that guy this year. Ball is about 205 and White is even smaller, both are very good backs - but you're linebacker speed is going to play better against them then it would a guy like John Clay. - We don't have a true deep threat, Nick Toon has developed into a really good WR this year and he's going to make $$ as an NFL player, but he's a bigger physical guy, not a true burner. On the other side Jarrad Abbredaris is a very good possession WR who is a great blocker, but also not a true deep threat. This should allow you guys to creep your safeties closer to the LOS and help out with the running game without conceding deep passes. Reading these boards and talking to some family members that Husker fans - I think most underestimate our passing game, it's been better than our running attack this year, although you could argue that they set each other up. Like I said earlier I can't wait - love the Huskers......just love the Badgers a little more.