Husker in WI

Frost also mentioned he's looking for clarification on the rules around hitting the snapper, since teams seem to be bullrushing Urbach which is supposed to be illegal. Although I don't know the rule for sure, it could be just not lining up over him. In either case, a lot of the push is right through the snapper.

True, but "Kanawai is playing really well" or whatever exact thing he said is hard to take the wrong way.

Based on the presser today, Frost does not in any way agree with my assessment of Noa. So I look forward to him proving me wrong!

I don't think teams would risk it anyway. Look at Trevor Lawrence - after last year people were calling for him to sit out until he was eligible for the draft, thought he was ready for the NFL. He hasn't been great this year, can you imagine how he'd look in the NFL? Teams won't want to use the first 2 years of a kids contract basically redshirting him when college's will develop them for free.

For sure - he still has the occasional whiff, but overall he's turned into a very good tackler. Still waiting for the ball-hawking to show up, at one point at least in fall camp he was leading the DB production chart. But Dismuke has been solid, which is huge since Safety depth is not where we want right now.

I could definitely see it. Michigan State is similar to NW but better on both sides of the ball, and if NW doesn't give away 14 points that was a close game.

I love the guys we have there, but we will be a lot better when we have an ILB with above average speed or at least instincts. My money is on Henrich.

I think Tuoti's influence with more twists and stunts will be big. I'm sure they've improved a lot since week 1, but SDSU just ran guys around the RG/RT and got a lot of pressure. I'm not even sure we need heavy blitzes or a good edge rusher, although it would be nice to see Ace make some plays. Last week he had a few where we was quick off the ball, but either didn't trust his speed or was afraid of losing the rush lane and just throttled down and engaged the tackle.

That was especially nice to see with Minnesota coming up, their only success last year was when Morgan came in and gave them a QB run threat. This year we have the benefit of knowing he's the guy at QB, so hopefully we're better prepared.

Hadn't looked at the forecast, I think that actually helps us. They're a good running team, but not a great one - I think their best chance would be their receivers going off on us, and that's less likely in the sleet. Makes me extra worried about the snaps too though. Some of the catches on the snaps will not work if the ball is wet, not to mention the potential for the snaps to be worse.

I don't think their defense has been truly tested. I won't believe we can contain a Wisky running back until we do, but I think a 38-27 is more likely.

It is still weird to me how little we play other guys. I get the idea of there's no such thing as a "gamer" and they have to earn it in practice, but is everyone else practicing that bad? And even if they're not consistent yet, don't the flashes earn a little bit of playing time? Rahmir made it in for one series, but that's it. Not a lot of Woodyard, a little bit more Williams, and no Chase. Is it that difficult to give them a shot? I'm also off the Noa train. He's had several drops - the one yesterday was not a great throw, but that's a catch he has to make. And there was one play where Martinez had to keep signalling him to move off the line to avoid him covering up the TE. I was under the impression he was out there for 2 reasons - he plays smart and he can catch. Neither have really been evident consistently. If the coaches are serious about limiting the things Martinez needs to worry about, a Senior receiver lining up wrong is pretty bad. Why not live with somebody more explosive potentially lining up wrong instead?

I learned a lot of people remember Martinez from last year very differently than I do. At times this year he has been off - specifically passing the ball against OSU, and running against USA/Colorado/Northern Illinois. But since Frost yelled at him to run against NIU he's been good there, and outside of OSU (and USA I guess) he's throwing it about as well too. There is absolutely room for improvement (and he will get there), but you guys saying he's worse than last year don't remember the picks thrown straight at defenders? Or the pretty significant lack of awareness in the pocket? Both of those are much improved, my only gripes at the moment are his little flip throws on the run being consistently low. He's had 2 bad games and very little help from receivers or the center. He is better than he was last year, with a worse supporting cast and a year of film for DCs to work with.

We haven't done a whole lot either, so I think the default favorite is going to be the undefeated home team. But I agree, I like our chances here. Their receivers are good, but Morgan is still not that consistent and I like our DBs overall. Their defense hasn't shown a lot IMO, outside of a pretty impressive performance last week. I don't really believe in their oline, they're sacrificing a lot of athleticism with their big dudes. It's not going to be a cake walk, but if we can limit their receivers and get Mills going we should be good to go.

If you take out drops he would've been 17-20 passing and we would've run away with the game. Drops, penalties, and a stout run defense were the issues we had. He still needs to remember when it's 3rd down to just run for the first, but he did not play poorly.

I'm curious how Ohio State looks against it when they've actually prepared, it's not like Wisconsin will surprise them with it. But LB is the one position group where I think OSU is just average, so you definitely could be right.

I would argue a lot of the deficiencies are in the talent department, and those don't apply against NW.

Said Rahmir Johnson is ready, and we're going to need him if Mo keeps getting dinged up. I don't think Rahmir has the same moves, but at least it's close speed wise.

I'm sure that's at least part of the plan, we put up a lot of passing yards on them last year despite missing an open Mo a few times. Baun has been better than I thought he would be, but he's their only pass rush threat and he's no Chase Young.

Yeah with how often our corners bail and LBs come running late, I'm pretty sure the LB has the flats and just didn't get there. Happens with the OLBs too - Domann gets out there well and Davis does sometimes but not a lot.

All 3 of their qbs have sucked, I just hope we don't make them look good. The 3rd stringer looked the best, but Wisconsin was letting him have some throws to avoid a big play.

Heard from fans or people close to the program? I'd love to see that, I figured Green would pick up some snaps and Deontre/Stille/Carlos would play slightly more snaps. But working in Robinson or Wildeman/Rogers would be cool.

#1 is huge. They really don't have ideal size on the line this year, but they work hard and the LBs pick up a lot of the slack. I was skeptical about their LBs going into the year, but they've had some guys step up as usual.

Haters gonna hate, but Jackson is easily out best DB at the moment. It could be Taylor-Britt, but I think he's been a little less effective as a safety than when he can move around. Jackson got burned on a double move against OSU, but outside of that he played well.

I think some of that has to do with misinterpretation of his answer. They asked Walters why we didn't go back to it later, not specifically the next drive IIRC. So the reason we didn't go back to it immediately could've been the look the defense was giving us, and the reason we didn't go back to it later was because at that point it was more out of reach than 21-0.