Maxconvert

So does anyone know what the story is with Zaire? Reinjured, or did he somehow get beat-out as the LB in the dime package by Gerry (who has never played LB and is in his first game out of high school)?

A trap play! that was a previous NU favorite

Not sure if Bo is a "guru", but he sure seems to be confident in the matchup zone. A related question would be how many college defenses run a similar matchup zone scheme? If it's so effective, you would think it would spread like wildfire given the copycat nature of college and pro fooball

Good grief, another defensive meltdown! So much for this year erasing memories of last years D. I'll give Bo this--he is breaking in basically new starters at SS, FS, MLB, SLB, WLB (including turning Gerry from a safety into a LB), both DTs (Randle didn't really play enough last year to be a real "returning starter"), and both DE (Ankrah is NOT the answer here). That being said, Bo is quickly running out of excuses! Last year everyone was on the "not enough athleticism" excuse, especially with the lack of speed in the linebacker corps after Zaire went down early in the year, and in the D-line depth as awfully displayed in the Big 10 title game disaster. But now we have speed (Nathan Gerry, Corey Cooper, Zaire Anderson, David Santos) and athleticism (V. Valentine, Randy Gregory, Greg McMullen) to kill and still our D looks pathetic. It's time for Bo to realize that his schemes are too complex, especially for newbies. It really seems that it takes special (i.e. future NFL starters) talents pl several years of absorbing bo's D-playbook to actually get an effective defense.

It was intended as jest, out of the frustration of the disgusting effort against the Jet sweep last night. Of course the Bo-Pony crowd sees it as some sort of heresy Pick me, pick me. I already started last night. I was yelling sweep. I don't think the defense realized that the guy running behind the line could get the ball. I'll point this out to Bo and tell him we need to tackle the guy with the ball. I would make a great jet sweep coordinator. I think I have more knowledge then anyone on the defensive coaching staff on the subject. Sorry, needed a cathartic vent after last night. THe most frustrating part of it was when they had succcess with the sweep in the "Barge" formation. Literally the only two options to defend were the wildcat run and the sweep, with the possibility of a throwback. Most offensive sets present a lot more things to defend.

I wish I could +1000 this. I didn't think Wisky would put up 70, but I knew after play one on D it was going to be a long day. They were lost immediately. I wish someone could explain the usefulness of this constant jumping around and signalling to each other than the players do pre-snap. If it's such a great scheme, why does literally nobody else do it? Have the coaches ever explained it?

Do you actually think he'd fire his buddies? I'd be shocked. He already has, hasn't he? Watson, Carl? Carl was fired? He went to a head coaching gig in the best state for recruiting. Watson yes, but that took a lot of bad performances to get him to finally pull the trigger.

I'm not saying all is well because its definitely not I just think it could all stay on one thread I'm sorry to annoy you man, nothing personal, but the magnitude of the defeat yesterday and how disgusting it is to be doing this year 5 is something that has so many issues, it's not possible to just keep it in one thread. The program is a disaster, so hard to just confine discussion of that to a single thread after 70-31 against an unranked, 5-loss team.

The "we didn't execute" should be referring to the coaching staff, not the players. The coaching staff has not been "executing" for a long time. Time to execute the buyouts

It was intended as jest, out of the frustration of the disgusting effort against the Jet sweep last night. Of course the Bo-Pony crowd sees it as some sort of heresy JP doesn't need help, Bo does. Bo calls the plays and JP sends them in. That's it, that's all JP does, IMO. The play last night was embarrassing at best and that's all on Bo. He needs to man up and ask for help. Thor I don't think JP is just a signal-caller, since he's paid 6 figures. I realize Bo has a hand in the scheme, but I think JP actually is responsible for much more than you are thinking

Sorry sunshine pumpers, I didn't realize there was a quota of how often you are allowed to criticize our coaches. Missed that in the terms of usage for this board. Is there a similar quota for the amount of delusional, "all is well!" brainwashing mantras one is allowed to post too?

You can only keep inspiring/yelling at your players for so long before they see through it. I do agree with those that are saying our execution was terrible, and yes that's not all on the coaches, but it's the coaches fault for putting our players in such a demoralizing position. If you're out there in the third quarter, losing 42-10, and your big "comeback effort" falls on its face during the first drive when TMart throws a pick, are you really gonna be busting your a$$ trying to make plays? Or are you gonna be thinking about wrapping this painful game up? It's easy for us to say things like "play for pride", "man up", etc; but most of us don't remember/realize how painful it is to be continually slamming yourself against huge guys when the outcome isn't gonna change, especially for our D-linemen and interior LBs who had a 50-100/lb disadvantage per person against Wisc's OL. Yes the team gave up. That's on Bo.

It was intended as jest, out of the frustration of the disgusting effort against the Jet sweep last night. Of course the Bo-Pony crowd sees it as some sort of heresy

Yes similar situation, but that was not YEAR 5 in the Bo experiment. That was with a frosh Martinez at Qb, not a third-year veteran. That was not with a full team of Bo's recruits. We should be much farther than we were two years ago.

I'm sorry friend, but the no talent line is a complete cop-out. Even freaking Purdue, who we can all agree is much less talented, fared better than we did yesterday. If it's all "talent", then howcome this same "talent" beat this same Wisc team in Lincoln earlier this year? Cause it's not talent, it's the craptacular coaching.

Don't know about that, but at least they do tend to reject any criticism of Bo the Humble. And curiously say the same things, all around the same time....

Tad Stryker breaks down the horror: two rushers each with 200+ yardage, plus a third Wisc rusher with 100+ yards. Backup RB Gordon averaged almost 40 yards/rush on 5 sweep plays. For the game, Wisc averaged almost 11 yards per rush. Wasn't it only a few games ago that Bo was snidely reminding everyone how "he hasn't forgotten how to stop the run"? What a nightmare for our seniors. Hope better days are on the way in the NFL for Baker, Stafford, E-Mart, and a few others who might be free agents

+1 good post. Fine if you're worried about changes coming with getting rid of Bo, but what is the rationale for expecting Bo to become a better coach to the point that these blowout losses to mediocre teams stop?? Bo himself said tonight that he has no idea what happened. Much similar to what he said after OSU handed us our rear in columbus. Doesn't seem like there's a lot of learning going on there from a coaching/strategic level. If you say "he will get better recruits", then what the f&$@ has he been doing the past 5 years? If you say he will hire better assistants, he won't. If you say "he will change his scheme", his scheme has been almost the same the entire year.

Don't put words in people's mouths. The point being made is that we recognize the success we have had, realize that it is an accomplishment that very few teams can lay claim to, are thankful for it, and hoping that it can improve. BOOM. People with ponies in their signatures (as well as the moderating team and the admins, and perhaps Bucky and The Dude) get the point being made. Now excuse me as I have to go bury my head in the sand. You pony guys are good stuff.

The total number of wins was not an illusion, but they success it conveyed definitely was an illusion. We don't deserve any sort of top 25 ranking, let alone #12.

It's not the idea, but the frequency to which you post these things. I don't recall previously suggesting a Jet Sweep coordinator....

Yeah that's "not bad". Everyone gets humiliated in 40 point losses on national television every now and then, what's the big deal? Most rushing yards given up EVER? Eh, ain't that bad!

Well hey if you take Bo to be a man of his word, then we apparently practiced for "99% of what Wisconsin did". If we are practicing that many things, and still look like vomit against the jet sweep again and again and again in a game, then maybe Papuchis does need Jet Sweep Coordinator

I like the idea of Fickel but he's not leaving OSU for a lateral move, especially since he was HC there a year ago. I think Bo would have to reach into the NFL to hire a D-coordinator with experience.

Or how about how after the ridiculous 80 yard run before the half by Wisc, they line up with 6 seconds left in their "Barge formation" and---pass the ball to a wide open guy in the end zone. Really Papuchis and Bo, they had 6 seconds left and you thought they were going to run the ball?