If we win turnover battle, we beat Wisc going away

Bigdsrip said:
Sparker said:
knapplc said:
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.
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Knapp with facts! +1
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I was referring to games since 2010, not just this year. I also used the teams final rankings as I feel they are much more accurate then midseason rankings based on preseason expectations.

2010 OSU #1 31-18 UW

2011 TCU #2 21-19 TCU

2012 Oreg #3 45-38 Oreg

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.
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The calls for a blowout stem from the fact that as a fanbase, we are just waiting for this team to explode with a mistake/penalty free game where we execute our sh#t well for 4 complete quarters. No disrespect to Wisconsin, they are a solid football team. But if Nebraska does this, it does not matter how Wisconsin plays, they dont have a prayer in hell. We've seen enough flashes of brilliance on both sides of the ball to suggest this as fact.

 
Thats understandable but I disagree. Oregon played a great, clean game it took everything they had to win, and this NU team doesn't hold a candle to them. OSU mopped the floor with you guys and it took everything they had to beat us. UW doesn't let teams play perfect, clean games, we bring the game down into the dust cloud with us. If we both bring our A+ games it should be a close game coming down to the last possession.

I'm not sure what about the two games we have played convinces you that you are more talented then us. We were a complete train wreck when we played you at your place and we were up by multiple touchdowns for a good portion of the game. I see two very well matched teams that want to establish their will through physical D and strong ground games. Nothing I've seen this year suggests that NU is on a different level then UW. It's not like we have played a perfect game yet either, maybe Indiana but they don't really count, and we dropped 60+ on them.

 
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Bigdsrip said:
Thats understandable but I disagree. Oregon played a great, clean game it took everything they had to win, and this NU team doesn't hold a candle to them. OSU mopped the floor with you guys and it took everything they had to beat us. UW doesn't let teams play perfect, clean games, we bring the game down into the dust cloud with us. If we both bring our A+ games it should be a close game coming down to the last possession.

I'm not sure what about the two games we have played convinces you that you are more talented then us. We were a complete train wreck when we played you at your place and we were up by multiple touchdowns for a good portion of the game. I see two very well matched teams that want to establish their will through physical D and strong ground games. Nothing I've seen this year suggests that NU is on a different level then UW. It's not like we have played a perfect game yet either, maybe Indiana but they don't really count, and we dropped 60+ on them.
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But what is your basis for this thought. The kicker is, Nebraska has not played that A+ game yet. Of course the other side of the coin is that maybe Wisconsin hasnt either. But what I do know, is even after all the mistakes in the first matchup that allowed Wisconsin to get the lead to begin with, it was Nebraska's inability to finish their last 3 drives (winding up in only 6 points) that kept that game that close, instead of 45-27 that looked like it was going to become.

This scenario has held true for this Nebraska team all year. "if we just play a clean game, we roll" Issue is, we dont do it. The Ohio St game is kind of irrelevant in comparison to this team now. Bo himself would probably claim that that was the worst his team has played as a whole since he's been here.

 
That inability to finish had a lot to do with UW stepping up in crunch time and getting stops when they had to have them. After watching our gimpy, third string QB lead a depleted O on a clutch, game tying drive in the last minute two weeks in a row it is clear that this team knows how to step up when the game is on the line. On paper we had no business playing toe-to-toe with OSU yet we outplayed them for about 45 mins in that game. Good teams make clutch plays when the pressure is on. Obviously this UW team is not a great team or they would have won one of those 3 OT games, but they do have that winners mentality that makes every game close.

Much of your argument is solid, but it relies on hypotheticals. NU may play that perfect, mistake free game, but thats not what we have seen on the field. Based soley on objective results, we have seen NU get waxed multiple times in the two B1G years. UW on the other hand, has not. Even when nothing is working like us fans would like, we have been in every game. The actual product on the field shows that NU can lay an egg from time to time and they get smoked, while when UW lays an egg we lose in OT. Thats what I'm basing it on.

When I was watching that UW-NU game through my rose colored glasses, I saw it as us getting ultra conservative with the lead and handing you guys the game on a platter. I didn't see that as the 'true' NU waking up and a superior team coming back to win. We gave you guys that game by changing our O in the second half so as to avoid the game changing mistake and it just stalled completely. My point there is that its a two way street when it comes to 'what if's'. I just don't see any tangible support for the idea that NU playing great means that UW doesn't have a prayer in this game.

That being said in my gut I feel that NU wins this game. Nothing has gone right for the Badgers this year and I don't know why that would change now (using my own, tangible, logic against my biased heart). The NU injuries give me a little hope (though I wish both squads were 100%) but this year the ball has just not bounced our way.

 
I generally don't enjoy banter with opposing teams before a game, but it's a slow day.

Bigdsrip said:
Based soley on objective results, we have seen NU get waxed multiple times in the two B1G years. UW on the other hand, has not.
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This really is true, and is pretty easily explained by the fact that your defense has been steadier than ours over these past two years. We've been changing that over the second half of this season...but we're generally not there just yet on defense.

Bigdsrip said:
When I was watching that UW-NU game through my rose colored glasses, I saw it as us getting ultra conservative with the lead and handing you guys the game on a platter.
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Technically...and I apologize for being so blunt here, but your defense got stomped on during our comeback. The leash came off of our multiplicity of options, and the conditioning of our line (and Ameer Abdullah) allowed us to sustain long drives.

 
All I know is that if Nebraska loses and allows a 7 - 5 team to play in the venerated Rose Bowl, every football fan in the U.S.A. will hate us.

And they will have a point.

A must win game if we want the respect we often feel entitled to.

 
Q_Many said:
Bigdsrip said:
Based soley on objective results, we have seen NU get waxed multiple times in the two B1G years. UW on the other hand, has not.
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Good thing we aren't playing in Madison, Ann Arbor, or Columbus.
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10-2. Lost to an undefeated OSU and a now highly ranked UCLA playing in their division ichampionship n our second year. So far, Wisky 1-1, OSU 1-1, Sparty 2-0, Penn St 2-0, Iowa 2-0, MIchicken 1-1. Our 2 biggest comebacks were against OSU and Wisky. Yea we suck................................

Stop their running game win the game. They have improved offensively and we have as well. Their D is still very good. I do not expect much improvement there. Our D has improved a lot. Unfortunately, Baker's loss is very big. However, we have not improved in the "shoot yourself in the foot" department. This will need to be greatly improved. In our first meeting we gave them 2 drives of 25 yrds do to fumbles. This has got to stop. IMO, they will go for the strips first and wrap up second as we are prone to fumble. Hold the ball and get the extra yrds.

IMO, we also show things they haven't seen all year ie traps, misdirection, jail break screens and more designed Martinez runs. Catch their D leaning in.

Another intangible, we have found ways to overcome deficits and win. We have learned to actually win where they have not been able to seal the deal on some very close games.

I predict a big NU win or a very close loss.

 
Looks like Boren will be back after missing the OSU and PSU game, could have made the difference there. Abberderis will be playing too. Looks like they'll be the healthy team out there.

 
Danimal said:
Looks like Boren will be back after missing the OSU and PSU game, could have made the difference there. Abberderis will be playing too. Looks like they'll be the healthy team out there.
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As far as the turnover battle goes we seem as turnover-prone as ever but the D has improved in terms of creating turnovers. If we can break even I think we probably win.

 
Danimal said:
Looks like Boren will be back after missing the OSU and PSU game, could have made the difference there. Abberderis will be playing too. Looks like they'll be the healthy team out there.
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This is why I'm worried about this weekend. We had troubles with a banged-up Wisky, and save for their QB situation, they appear to be better off than they were in Lincoln.

Plus, their third-string QB isn't that bad. Kid knows his stuff, and he can at least get the ball to Abberderis.

I've got a bad feeling about this one...a feeling very similar to what I had before UCLA, when everyone was spewing derp about blowouts. We could be in for the fight of our lives in this one.

 
We've lost a couple of very key players last week, but don't forget that we'll have Rex back. He can be a difference-maker--even if he carries just 10-15 times on Saturday. I expect Chase to know what he needs to do and will step up and treat Ball like a towel dispenser.

Minimize turnovers please. Taylor, either keep the ball and run or hand it off!

 
I've got a bad feeling about this one...a feeling very similar to what I had before UCLA, when everyone was spewing derp about blowouts. We could be in for the fight of our lives in this one.
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Yes but tell the truth--how many times have you had a "bad feeling" before one of the 10 games we won?

 
Maxconvert said:
I've got a bad feeling about this one...a feeling very similar to what I had before UCLA, when everyone was spewing derp about blowouts. We could be in for the fight of our lives in this one.
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Yes but tell the truth--how many times have you had a "bad feeling" before one of the 10 games we won?
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All ten. haha. Felt pretty good before Ohio St. I'm not worried.

 
Maxconvert said:
I've got a bad feeling about this one...a feeling very similar to what I had before UCLA, when everyone was spewing derp about blowouts. We could be in for the fight of our lives in this one.
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Yes but tell the truth--how many times have you had a "bad feeling" before one of the 10 games we won?
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Four IIRC: Northwestern, Michigan State, Michigan, and Wisky. And save for Michigan, thanks to Denard going out and Hoke just pissing the game away, they were too close for comfort.

Honestly, I'd love to be able to come back Sunday and say "you were right, there wasn't anything to worry about!" while celebrating Nebraska's blowout 2012 B1G Football title. I honestly would. But we lost a key defensive piece that we're having to piecemeal together while relying on Thad's titanium knees...all while Wisky's ground game is showing signs of its 2011 form.

 
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