New Year, New Thoughts

The state of the sports world currently calls for a random, classic Larry King style post. Here goes:

- An early report states that the Packers are firing defensive coordinator Bob Sanders. By all accounts, Sanders is an excellent human being. Unfortunately, his defensive tactics, while occasionally very effective, are somewhat simplistic and predictable, and he hasn't shown much ingenuity or flexibility during games. With workaholic players and coaches flooding the league, more and more it feels like you need a defensive scheme that will confuse the other side. The Packers haven't had that. So it's probably time to try something new. What'll be especially interesting to see is who replaces Sanders, and what kind of defense that coach will bring. And, of course, how much personnel turnover the new system will require and how quickly the players will be able to pick up the new scheme. Remember, one of the worst defenses in recent Packer history came in the first (and only) year of a new d-coordinator (Bob Slowik).

- If reports are true, Sanders will be joining Packers Special Teams coach Mike Stock on the way out of town. The sextagenarian Stock opted to retire a few days ago. This was probably a good reading of the tea leaves, as the Packers' kickoff coverage unit was awful this season and directly contributed to some close losses, particularly the loss at Chicago and the home loss to Carolina. Plus, Crosby seems to have stalled in his development, and some of the blame for the atrocious decision to release punter Jon Ryan and rely on (and stick with) the horrid Derrick Frost fell on Stock's shoulders. Of course, some blame must go to Thompson, who jettisoned Ryan, stuck with Frost for more than half the season, and released several special teams leaders, like Tracy White. Hopefully, he learned some lessons as well. Trivia-- did you know Stock had been the head coach at Brown?

- This year's Badger men's basketball team just doesn't let you get comfortable, do they? After a very solid victory over a pretty darn good Michigan team in Ann Arbor, they have to duke out a close one against Penn State in Madison. Yeesh. PSU is definitely improved over last season (although it'll probably be a one-year blip, as Pringle and Cornley are seniors), but still. A double digit victory would have been nice.

- Speaking of UW hoops, does it just feel like every game some guy goes off from long range against the Badgers? I mean, there was that swingman from Va Tech (6 for 9), this guard from San Diego (5 for 8), McShneal from Marquette (4 for 7), Zack Novak at Michigan (5 for 8), and on Saturday, Stanley Pringle (4 for 6, with all the makes in the second half). Last season the Badgers were at the top of the league in three defense, and were in the top 25 nationally. This year they're in the middle of pack nationally--174th out of 340 odd teams. They lost Michael Flowers, who was a great perimeter shot contestor, and the line has been moved back, which might actually have increased the shooting percentage on long-range attempts by creating more space (and by reducing the raw number of threes taken). Anyhow, the numbers (and personnel) say they're worse on the perimeter defensively compared to last season. But at the same time, I can't remember a lot of uncontested threes. It seems like guys (especially the guy at Va Tech) have just been on fire at times. So maybe it's luck? Whatever it is, I hope it turns around.

- Speaking of random stats, here's Ken Pomeroy's statistical summary of Wisconsin's season so far. Things look fine offensively, though you'd like them to grab a few more offensive boards and shoot a little better from the line. And the lack of steals and turnovers will always be a black mark against UW's defense, as they're far more focused on avoiding stupid fouls than nabbing stray passes. (Flowers' departure also hurts here though.) But what really sticks out is the opponent's free throw percentage-- against us, opposing teams are nailing their free throws. Totally weird. (The Texas loss and their ridiculous free throw shooting come to mind.) Hopefully, that rate will return a bit closer to the mean sometime soon.

- Did anyone reading this not love watching the Cowboys look like total garbage 8 days ago? Man, that was hilarious. And they can't get much better-- they gave away almost their entire 2009 draft for Roy Williams, the receiver, "offensive guru" Jason Garrett may very well abandon his head-coaching apprenticeship for a real gig somewhere else, and the front office still has the team-killing headache of Terrell Owens and the underperforming nuisance of Pacman Jones to deal with. That's totally the way you want to transition to a billion dollar stadium (one built with $475 million of tax money) that still has a stupid hole in the roof, where you'll be asking many fans to cough up 100 grand for a personal seat license. And it's not like the economy is not awesome or like the wealthy have seen their net worths shrink by half. Oh wait. Smooth moves, Skeletor. And it couldn't happen to a nicer, more humble guy.

- The playoffs have been very odd so far. Arizona winning a game? In the playoffs? The Dolts get a bunch of lucky scores, but still can't beat the 8-8 Chargers and their formerly sieve-like defense, even with LT on the sidelines? Weirdness. The ViQueens lines looked pretty dominant against the Eagles, but they give up two huge plays and thus lose. Fitting that their special teams looked like garbage, as it has all season. (They tied the record for most punt return touchdowns given up in a season-- thanks in large part to the Pack's Will Blackmon.) Personally, I'm rooting for Jimmy Leonhard and the Ravens. Even with the lack of talent on offense, at least they try to be entertaining on that side of the ball, employing lots of bizarre shenanigans.

- Did anyone else laugh when former Ohio A&M cover boy Ted Ginn, Jr. dropped the (admittedly stressed) exchange on that fourth quarter end around, effectively sealing the Dolphins' playoff loss? Thank goodness the AFC East has been eliminated from the postseason. That division was dreadfully overrated this season, mostly due to a flaccid schedule. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of the national media's East Coast-centricity.

- I still can't bring myself to write about the UW football team. The beatdown is too fresh, the program seems adrift, wandering in the wilderness, as it were. Maybe I'll hold out until national signing day, hoping for some encouraging developments.

Pulling Out of the Nose Dive, Sort Of

First off, phew. The University of Wisconsin football team avoided their first five game losing streak since the beginning of Barry Alvarez's tenure almost twenty years ago by beating the University of Illinois 27 to 17. Thank goodness. It's always nice to beat Illinois and the annoying Ron Zook, aka the Zookster. Not only because doing so reaffirms the right of all residents of the state of Wisconsin to refer to Illinois residents as FIBs, but also because it should help the Wisconsin coaching staff in their ongoing battle with Illinois for Chicagoland area recruits.

But I only feel somewhat relieved, not totally. And I think it's because, despite getting the win, Wisconsin didn't look that good today. They won the game because the offense didn't turn the ball over, Garrett Graham and David Gilreath made some big plays, Dustin Sherer played passably, and the defense only bent so much and got some big turnovers. The thing is, two of the biggest turnovers were pretty lucky-- that tipped pass that Niles Brinkley snagged, and the duck that Nick Maragos smartly grabbed and returned. And those turnovers led to the winning margin-- 10 points. But the special teams, besides Phil Welch who gets my vote for Team MVP, were poor, giving up a huge return to Benn that let Illinois get right back into the game after the Badgers had scrapped to a 7 point lead. And the offense, except for the two big pass plays to Gilreath and Graham, continued to look pedestrian. (Plus, Beckum got rolled up on by Clay, and, I'm totally guessing here, will be out for the rest of the regular season.)

To me, the game was two decent but mixed-up teams duking it out. Illinois made significantly more errors, in penalties and turnovers, so Wisconsin managed to get a win, though it was very close until the last three minutes. Don't get me wrong. Given what we've seen on the field the previous two Saturdays, today's performance is a huge improvement. But the Badgers aren't back in any way, and they don't look like a good team to me. They're just a lot less awful than they were the last two weeks. Given how this season has broken so far, that's certainly a positive development, and it's definitely way better than a loss, especially to a team as annoying as Illinois.

Akron/UW -- Upon Further Review

Due to my attendance at a wedding in Colorado, I was unable to see Wisconsin's first football game of the season live. Thanks to the miraculous nature of DVRs and the Big Ten Network however, I was able to watch the game on delay last night. Here are some random thoughts---

- I know that it's very early, but boy does John Moffit look like a dramatic improvement at center. That one running play where he pulled hard to the left, and Zach Brown followed him, eventually hurdling over him for a gain of 9, was impressive stuff and pretty typical of his performance. Plus, he can snap the ball properly in the shotgun. (I still cannot believe that Coleman was unable to perform a shotgun snap. Ridiculous.)

- Clay looks like the real deal. Big, good vision, fast, strong. And he should only get better. Brown looks a bit quicker than last season and has excellent vision. I'd like to see him shake off a few more ankle tackles though.

- So everyone's been complaining about Gilreath's drop in the end zone. And verily, that was a bad blunder. A good route, a solid throw, a nice touch play for a score. And then he craps the bed by juggling the ball. Ugh. Shape up, Dave. You know as well as the rest of us that you have yet to score a collegiate touchdown. End that drought already.

- Newkirk's one sack was all Jason Chapman-- Chappie made his trademark quick first step, beating the guard trying to block him, and nearly grabbing the QB. Regardless he flushed him forward, right into the arms of Newkirk. A good sign for Chapman's health.

- Randy called me on Saturday, assuming I had watched the game and demanded to know how Wisconsin had given up 17 points. Of course, I hadn't seen the game then. But after watching the entire game, I think it should have been 7. One touchdown was on a legit drive by Akron. Then a field goal after that horrible Evridge pass and long return, which he has admitted he should have thrown out of the end zone. (Or ran for it.) Then the final touchdown against the back-ups, which came with less than a minute left, on a screen where a Badger second-stringer had the ball carrier perfectly set up for a vicious hit, but totally whiffed. The Akron player jogged into the end zone from 15 yards out. I think the UW defender makes that tackle, the game ends without a second Akron touch.

- Another common source of complaint is Evridge's interception. Yes, that was a poor throw and decision, especially in the red zone. But what confused me was the previous play, where Evridge scrambled to the one. On that play, he looks around, rolls slightly left, and then runs straight ahead (just left of the left hash), getting sandwiched between two defenders after gaining about 8 yards. But what was bizarre was that had he kept going left he could have scored easily. Kyle Jefferson had outside position on his defender, the only guy near that area, and even with some half-hearted blocking, Evridge could have gone right to the pylon and scored easily. That's the kind of running read Tyler Donovan would have made instinctively. Plus, on that run Evridge never really seemed to put his foot on the throttle. Had he floored it, I think he could have scored, even taking that contested route to the end zone. Now I know it's been more than two years since he last played a college snap. He's going to be rusty. But that was a clear mental error that ended up costing the team a touchdown. I hope as the season progresses, we see him shaking off the rust, and playing more naturally.

5 Things To Be Glad About

1. With Favre now reinstated and reporting, this whole thing is going to end soon, one way or another. I really hope that the Packers relationship with Favre isn't damaged irreparably.

2. Ryan Grant has signed his deal and is due to report to camp today. As the wise Mr. Man predicted, he signed a heavily incentive-laden deal. He also gets a big chunk this year, which it sounds like was the sticking point from the beginning. It seems to me that he wanted to be compensated for his performance last year, which is fair enough. Congrats Ryan, and may you continue to run fools over this year.

3. Javon Walker did not quit football. I know that there has been some animosity between Walker and Packers fans, but he is a decent enough guy and has had about the worst 2 year stretch that anyone could have and still be alive. After a New Years Eve loss to the 49ers that cost the Broncos a playoff berth, Walker had to watch his best friend on the Broncos die in his arms after being shot in their limo after a New Years Party. Then, he injured his knee again and had an incredibly disappointing season. This off-season he was found unconcious in an alley in Las Vegas after being abducted and beated senseless. He almost walked away from football and offered to return $11 million of signing bonus. Al Davis talked him out of it, and he is in camp. I don't usually have a lot of space for a) people who whine there way off my favorite team, or b) Oakland Raiders in general, but I hope the best for Javon. Nobody deserves to go through what he has.

4. The Badgers are not in the top 10. Why is this good? It means they don't have inflated expectations from everyone else, and thus can be driven from within by motivation rather than via external pressure to meet expectations.

5. Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Hill is Out

For tomorrow's 11 am showdown with the stanky Wolverines, and their multiple first round draft picks (Long and Manningham). This means that Lance Smith (Rance Smith!) and Zach Brown will share carries. Zach had some decent runs against OSU and Lance is quite explosive. However, Zach is averaging less than 4 yards a carry, and neither he nor Lance have shown PJ's ability to pick up tough yards after contact. And since we are not a spread offense, there will likely be plenty of contact from the Michigan defense.

Seriously folks, I don't know how the UW offense will match-up on the Michigan D. I haven't seen Michigan play enough this season, but I do know they have some solid talent, like LB Shawn Crable. I'm worried about stumpy guns, aka Tyler Donovan, turning the ball over when the Badgers are forced to pass, as they probably will be. And I'm worried about the line protecting him (they gave up 10 sacks, not 9, last weekend). I like Beckum, Hubbard and Jefferson, and I like Donovan running more than passing. Seriously, I want more QB runs than passes this game. Historically, Michigan tends to look like a guy with his pants around his ankles who forgot to lock the bathroom door when confronted with a mobile quarterback. That said, they did defense "The Juice is Loose" Williams decently a few weeks ago. But Williams is such a terrible passer, maybe they could just write him off as a threat to throw.

I think the game, unfortunately, will turn on how the Badgers' undermanned defense responds to Michigan's offense. After two fine defensive performances against Northern Illinois and Indiana, they played admirably for about 60% of the game in Columbus, and then totally wore out. And now Chapman and Langford are out. I like Aaron Henry as Langford's replacement, and I like seeing Newkirk back at tackle in place of Chapman. But both absences create further depth problems, or force iffy players into more playing time. I would not be surprised to see Michigan run at whatever defensive end replaces Newkirk, and throw at whichever receiver is covered by the new nickel back. Plus, the lack of depth will only exacerbate the D's lack of stamina. The defense will need to play a great game, and need the offense to control the time of possession, if UW is going to win. And unfortunately, I don't see that. I hope it's not so, but tomorrow could be ugly.

Things That Should Be Left Unmentioned

You know what I'm talking about. Something involving a second half lead of a touchdown, and then a total pants-crapping to the tune of three turnovers and 28 straight points. Ahem. Anyway, moving on, the UW football Badgers host their last home game of the season this Saturday against Michigan. And alas, due to the thing that will not be mentioned by name, the team is pretty banged up.

Starting right tackle Eric Vanden Heuvel is out with an ankle injury. Starting defensive tackle Jason Chapman and starting cornerback Allen Langford, both juniors, are out for the season with knee injuries that will require surgery. If my math is right, this means that UW is missing one-third of their projected starting line up from August. Langford, Chapman, Vanden Huevel, Swan, Crooks, Andy Kemp, and Jamal Cooper. Ouch. To top that off, PJ Hill may still be out. Plus, starting DE Kurt Ware has been hurt all season, and has been unable to play much, Elijah Hodge missed several games, key back-up linebacker Jaevery McFadden is still out, and Paul Hubbard missed half the season. And Cooper was kicked off the team, while Lance Smith can't play road games. Tabulating all of this makes the team seem like some sort of walking triage unit. And Wisconsin is not a deep team, at least not yet. It's a program that takes kids and develops them. It just doesn't have the depth of some of the bigger named programs. If there's any one factor to blame for the team's relative underperformance this season, loss of personnel to injuries and suspensions may be it.

The question remains, can the team rally at home against Michigan? The Wolverines have won eight straight games after losing their first two of the year in embarrassing fashion. They haven't beaten a great team in that stretch, but they did take out Illinois in Champaign without Mike Hart playing, and they held a Penn State team that bombed UW to less than 10 points. The biggest positive signs for the Badgers are where this game is, both time-wise and geographically. That is, the game is at home, where the Badgers have played far better this season and where Lance Smith can play. And, for Michigan, it's the second tough road game they'll play in a row, after their comeback win over Sparty last Saturday. And there's a very good chance they'll be peeking ahead to their showdown with OSU the following weekend. If they beat us, knocking off the Ohio A&M College would earn Michigan a Big Ten Championship and a Rose Bowl berth. What Wisco needs to win is some impassioned defense, a fired up Lance Smith, and a Michigan team that is looking ahead.

Didn't I Predict This?

Right, I did. More than once. I am the Big Nostradamus! Anyhow, Lance pled guilty to a few misdemeanors, but entered a first offender program, and the charges will dismissed if he completes it. Hopefully, he will. Boo Wade had the same deal, failed to complete his program, didn't get his charges taken away, and dropped out of school. Don't make the same mistake, Lance.

The Zookster Throws His Team Under The Bus!

Ron Zook, aka "The Zookster," head football coach at the prestigious "University of Ill-uh-noise" (as he pronounced it at his first press conference) apparently has no confidence in his team.

Specifically, in response to a question about Illinois being a three point favorite over Wisconsin according to Vegas, he told the media that "I think that is ludicrous" and that "I don't think there is any way possible a team like us could be favored over a team like Wisconsin." Then he voiced a conspiracy theory that Wisconsin alumni controlled betting lines, saying "I think that's probably somebody from Wisconsin trying to get them upset or get them fired up." (See here.)

Right... That's not just about the silliest thing I've ever heard. Hell, if Wisconsin alums controlled Vegas, then the lights would have stayed on at the UW-UNLV game three years ago!

You'd think Zook would be proud of the line, and how it demonstrates that people have noticed their success and think they're a good team. But apparently not. Is he uncomfortable playing any card but the underdog one? Is he too unoriginal to think of any motivation speech but the "no one respects us" standard? (I guess he's been giving that one for two years now, so maybe he's forgotten all of the others.)

Anyhow, how would you respond to these types of comments if you were an Illinois player? To your coach telling the world that the team you're playing is better than you? I'd be pissed and upset. At him. It's one thing for a coach to be realistic. But it's another to crap on his own team's abilities. Nice coaching, Zookster.

State of Illinois Week!

So as fate and scheduling would have it, the Badgers play the Fighting But Never Existed Indigenous Peoples in Shampoo-Banana (Champaign-Urbana) at 11 am on Saturday, while the Packers host the Bears on Sunday night. So it's the State of Wisconsin v. the State of Illinois all weekend. As a born and raised Wisconsinite, but currently a guilty resident of the Chiccy-G (those Chicagoland women are tempting vixens!), this has me especially nervous.

First off, the Badgers, although so far undefeated, are struggling. They edged a banged up Iowa team, and let a somewhat talented Sparty make their defense look like warm brie. And they're injured and shallow at key positions. Hubbard is out for at least a few more weeks, Andy Crooks has played one snap all season, Lance can't play road games, Jackie I. has missed two entire games with various ailments, Jefferson was recently concussed, the linebackers are gimpy, and the d-line is as shallow as a kiddie pool. (Anyone seen Kurt Ware on the field lately?)

Yes, yes, they've gutted out victories. And Sparty may have been the most talented offensive opponent Wisconsin has played to date, but the problem is, Illinois may be even better talent-wise. Benn was one of the top wideout recruits in the country and, after enrolling early, is playing like it. Rashard Mendenhall was the top running back in Illinois his senior year of high school, and has been excellent this season. Juice Williams, the Illini's QB, is going through a bit of a sophomore slump-- he's still an effective runner, and has a strong arm, but his accuracy is up and down, even with Benn running routes. Illinois runs a version of the shotgun spread, also used by the Indianapolis Dolts, UNLV, and the Citadel. They run out of that formation most of the time, but throw in a lot of bells and whistles. Unfortunately, the Badgers have struggled (hell, they've struggled against everyone except Iowa) against this type of offense this season.

Illinois also has a tough, fast defense, led by graduate student/linebacker J Lehman (shortening your first name to a letter is, for the record, retarded), and Vernon Davis's little brother, Vontae, an excellent corner. That defense injured PJ last season, if you'll recall. I don't think their D is up to Iowa's level, but it's not that far behind. Plus, this will be the Badgers' first tough road game of the season. No, playing in front of a half pro-Bucky crowd in Vegas doesn't count.

Given all this info, it's not surprising that a fun post in a chat room already claimed that the Badgers are the underdog against Illinois according to the sports books, even though Wisco is ranked 5th and the "Looks like University of Illinois!" football team is still "receiving votes." The Communist Times seconds that info. That seems deserving given the way the two teams have been playing. But that's only if you view Penn State as a good team. Besides that close victory at home, Illinois lost to Missouri (currently ranked #17) in a close game, and beat the 'Cuse, Directional Illinois, and Indiana.

I do think the Badgers can win this game, and I'm not convinced they should be the underdog. Illinois' running game is good, but Williams is not a scary passer. The Badgers should stick Jack on Benn, and otherwise focus on stopping the run--forcing Williams to beat them. (He actually got pulled against Penn State last week.) The offense shouldn't be hard to figure out--runs up the middle and options with Mendenhall, end arounds and wide receiver screens to Benn, and occasional play-action passes. Call it a 70% run, 30% pass mix. It's an easy way to let athletic, non-braniac guys do some damage. Hopefully, UW can figure it out, and shut it down.

On defense, Illinois will be pretty tough. However, I don't think they have anyone who can match-up with Beckum, and the offensive line should be able to open up holes. The Badgers won't have Lance, but it's not like they were giving him the ball that often anyway. (Which is too bad, since he's quite good.) PJ stays intact, and Donovan holds onto the ball-- the Badgers have a good shot at the victory.

I'll hold off on discussing the Bears game until Chicago's injury report becomes clearer. If Vasher, Tillman and Briggs are still out, that could change things significantly.

Knuckles, not Fingers

Over the past few months, I've read a bunch of books by this English "mystery" writer, Lee Child. The best term to describe his books is "embarrassingly entertaining," meaning that you enjoy the books, but realize they're completely ridiculous and you probably shouldn't talk to other people about them. Nearly all his books feature this enormous, uber-bad ass ex-MP protagonist/narrator given the hilarious name of Jack Reacher. Anyhow, there's a scene in this one book, Killing Floor, where he's in a state prison and gets jumped by a group of neo-Nazis. Reacher is getting choked from behind by some enormous skinhead, but is able to peel him off and ends up kicking the skinheads' asses. Reacher later explains that the skinhead messed up by choking him with his fingers extended. This enabled Reacher to grab some of the skinhead's fingers and break them, thus freeing himself. Had the skinhead instead bent his fingers in, and choked him with his knuckles, Reacher admits, he would have been unable to pry off the attacker's fingers, and been killed.

This seems like an apt metaphor for the Badgers thus far this season. They're the skinhead-- they've ambushed the opponents, it's time for the kill stroke, and they can't deliver. Now so far, they've still managed to win the fight, no one has done a Jack Reacher on them--come back all the way to beat them--but if they keep letting people off the hook it's going to happen.

Consider last week's game-- Badgers are up ten, toward the end of the third quarter, the defense sacks the Sparty QB, actually forcing a three and out and a punt, and UW gets the ball at midfield. A good team marches down and scores, and puts the game out of reach. Wisco had just scored a touchdown on their opening drive of the second half, and had marched down the field to kick a field goal at the end of the first. They're moving the ball well on offense, their defense has actually done something, and it's time to firmly take control of the game. Things start out promisingly, with Hill running for five, Donovan scrambling for a few more, and PJ churning out a first down.

The ball is now at the Sparty 45. Twelve more yards, and Taylor's in field goal range. The blood should be in the water. The hands are around the neck, so to speak. But UW then starts going backwards. MSU defenders pile on Hill for a short loss. Donovan forces a pass to a double-covered Beckum, and the Sparty DBs break it up (and, alas, other players were open on this play). Then the Badgers run a swing pass to Hill, who's closely covered and tackled for a four yard loss. Boom goes the punt, which unfortunately goes into the end zone for a touchback, and the fingers are pried off the neck. Sparty has new life, and they score a touchdown on their next drive, suddenly making the game close again.

I don't know if the Badgers lost focus, or a few play calls went awry, or if Donovan made an iffy decision or what. And I know that Jefferson and Randle El were both out of the game at this point, so the passing attack was in semi-disarray. But they had the ball in opposing territory with a ten point lead late in the third quarter. That was the Badgers chance to put the game out of reach, and they went backwards. If UW wants to continue to win and start being taken seriously, it needs to take advantage of those opportunities. Stomp on opponents when they're down. Take your kill shot when you have it. As Jack Reacher would advise, use the knuckles, not the fingers.

If they can win like that . . .

than they Badgers should be alright. I know the game was at home and Iowa is green and had a bunch of injuries. But Wisconsin turned the ball over three times, and in bad areas on the field-- each turnover resulted in Iowa having great field position, and Donovan's fumble, in particular, killed a likely Badger scoring drive. By doing so, the team essentially spotted Iowa points. And the defense didn't get even one turnover to even the margin. How many teams usually win with a -3 turnover margin? Almost none, I'd wager.

The reason this was possible is that the defense, with the exception of forcing turnovers, finally stood up and played a solid game. Even with those three terrible turnovers, Wisco only allowed 13 points, and the touchdown came on a fluky play that was Michael Irvin-esque pass interference. Finally, guys looked assignment sure, and the linebackers played like the studs they are-- Levy, especially, looked awesome, though he did drop that pick. And coach Hankiwitz and the rest of the defense staff finally opened up their bags of tricks-- how many times did the nickel back, Aaron Henry blitz? Hell, I think he's now the team's sack leader. Did you see the zone blitzes UW ran? (Shaugnessey had his almost interception on one of them.) They weren't totally dominant, obviously-- Iowa had a couple decent drives, and UW failed to create a turnover. But generally, the D stalled Hawky when it counted, flew to the ball, and made excellent tackles. Well done, defense.

The offense was a different story. I didn't want to mention it in the pre-game post, but until last night, Donovan hadn't turned the ball over all season. Yeah, that ended pretty quickly and in irritating fashion when Donovan stood and watched a blitzing linebacker run right at him and hit him at fully speed on Bucky's first offensive possession. The ball went flying out, and Iowa recovered twenty or so yards behind the line of scrimmage, killing what had looked like a solid scoring drive. Sadly, what happened here was symptomatic of Donovan's main problem as a quarterback-- he has tunnel vision. He doesn't see the whole field, and apparently, doesn't even see things right in front of his face. On that fumble, PJ had left the backfield and was split out wide. He was open. The Iowa linebacker saw the backfield was empty, realized no one would be there to pick him up , and blitzed. Throw the ball to PJ! He's your blitz release valve, as it were. That's a recurring problem-- Donovan forces middle-deep balls and misses wide open guys in the flat. We have pretty good skill position players-- give them the ball short and let them run.

Also, although Donovan's passing did not inspire confidence, fans should take heart-- the Badgers were able to run the ball against an excellent defense. I'm going to be positive, and take this as a sign that the offensive line is finally rounding into shape. Because I don't believe there's a better defensive line than Iowa's in the Big Ten. So if UW can run on the Hawks, that bodes very well for the rest of the season.

So I'm playing Professor Positive with this game-- the passing game was bad, UW drastically lost the turnover battle, but still the Badgers triumphed. I think that shows improvement, as bizarre as it may sound. Hope that continues.

Slip Sliding Away

The Wisconsin Badgers football team has sunk two slots in the AP poll-- to 9th nationally. The team remains 7th in the Coaches Poll. There are a couple things to take away from this--

First, this is definitive proof that the media pays more attention to every game than assistant coaches or athletic department sports information assistants, or whoever else actually fills out the Coaches' Poll. That's because the Badgers, again, looked quite good for about twenty minutes on Saturday, but appeared seriously flawed the rest of the time. I've watched almost every snap this season (I missed the first three minutes of the UNLV game) and I'd rank them in the 10-15 range. There's potential on defense, but the team's defensive players often have the sort of slow reactions that come when you don't really know what you're doing. Not good. The running game is only ok because the offensive line is only ok, and the guy who may be our most talented running back can't play away games; the talent at tight end is excellent, but the wide receiver depth is iffy, and Donovan is dangerously mediocre at quarterback-- decent mobility, but lacking size, arm strength, accuracy, and good vision.

Second, despite all that, isn't it funny to win twice and move down four spots in the polls? Weirdness. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Hawaii, formerly the 25th ranked team, spanked UNLV in Vegas, winning by five touchdowns, while the Badgers barely beat the Rebels on the same field only a week earlier. (Maybe the Badgers' last minute win broke their spirits?) On a happier note, Washington State has beaten the two opponents it's played since losing to Wisconsin, putting up big offensive numbers against San Diego (aka Whale's Vagina) State and the University of Idaho Vandals. It's never too early to start rooting for the teams that your team has already beaten. Who does the Citadel play next week?