Sept 6 | Wisconsin

[CoachB]

I was watching some Wisconsin film and I feel they are being overlooked by many. They were tough by season's end, especially on D. They have upgraded their roster significantly. The QB and RB are burners. I think we will invest a little heavily in the box. I would say to man up all game, but that is sometimes dangerous with mobile QBs. Wisconsin is no joke, though. I would be happily surprised if we cover the 20.5

 

[Dale]

They were tough by season's end, especially on D.

I am showing they lost 8 of their top 11 players in the F7 as well as all 4 of 5 secondary starters though.

D had 7 UDFAs and as well as a transfer to both IU and OSU.

Sama and Joseph are nice, but I would look towards the OL, who like the F7 lost 5 of their Top 8 including a UDFA, transfer to IU and to Illinois.

 

[CoachB]

Watching their pods, they feel they have heavily upgraded the talent on their D. Offensively, they are not confident. I am hoping we dominate their O line.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

It seems like a perfect game to play man on the outsides while swapping spy responsibilities on the QB, depending on how they attack in the 1st and 2nd quarters. I would expect an LB to be assigned most often but maybe they occasionally drop a safety. Going to be a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Dale]

Watching their pods, they feel they have heavily upgraded the talent on their D. Offensively, they are not confident. I am hoping we dominate their O line.

Unless they uncovered a bunch of NFL picks in the portal from mostly not highly sought after players, that would surprise me. But ND should have tabs on either LB for next year if needed.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I'm not all that worried about Wisconsin. If this ND team is even half as talented and deep as we believe they are, ND should cover comfortably.

I think LAX alluded to it on the previous page; I could see a competitive first quarter or half just based off of emotions and rust both being pretty good equalizers of talent. However, I fully expect ND to grind them down on both sides of the ball and pull away by the 4Q.

It seems odd that we are talking about all of these Wisconsin transfers now, but they didn't really seem very notable or worrisome back in Jan/Feb when they were rolling in.

It's a historically solid program. Lambeau Field will be cool. ND/Wisconsin is fun on paper, but I don't think the talent is very equal across the board at all, as Dale noted.

 

[RudyVerse]

I think this Wisconsin opponent is the perfect week 1 game. Not a juggernaut, if we're a contender we'll roll, and they're respected.

 

[Dale]

Expected LT Haywood is day to day after injury over the weekend. Torn ACL last year

 

[DONTH8]

This guy has been playing against his own defense for a week and thinks its easier than going against G5 opponents...

 

[jerseyborn1971]

We missed the context. 'We're gonna score a lot of points...starting week 2."

 

[sixstar]

This guy has been playing against his own defense for a week and thinks its easier than going against G5 opponents...

OFEI rank #99 last year
Last time Wisconsin had an OFEI in top 50: 2019

 

[Irish du Nord]

OFEI rank #99 last year
Last time Wisconsin had an OFEI in top 50: 2019

The long shadow of Jack Coan looms large over Wisconsin football...

 

[irish4ever]

We missed the context. 'We're gonna score a lot of points...starting week 2."

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

 

[tirishman505]

The long shadow of Jack Coan looms large over Wisconsin football...

Man, they fumbled that so badly.

 

[Padomer9]

If anyone has the BTN (B1G Network), they’re going around to all the training camps. Sunday night they were at Wiscy. That’s where the above clip is from. I watched it Sunday night and then again last night after watching the PSU episode.

I know those guys are paid to pump up their league and not say anything bad about teams. But, they are really optimistic about the badgers. They brought in the 3rd most transfers in the B1G with 33. They were also saying how they have some key players back that are healthy. Then, they were really pumping up this ODU transfer QB. At the end during the breakdown, Jake Butt says that he’s going to create problems for NDs defense in Game 1 because of his dual threat capabilities. Sure, he might create some plays by extending them when everything breaks down. But he’s never seen this type of overall speed and athleticism from a defense before. Let alone experience.

The last tidbit: they were pounding the fact that Wisconsin under Fickell is 15/16-0 when they rush for 150+ yards. The O coordinator likes to run the football and do option tendencies and designed QB runs. With our beefed up interior and speed at LB I think we should be alright against that.

 

[rtrn2glory]

I'm going to regret saying this but I still just don't believe their roster is good enough yet to be competitive at the level they want to be

 

[stlnd01]

I'm going to regret saying this but I still just don't believe their roster is good enough yet to be competitive at the level they want to be

I generally like Wisconsin and Fickell and think it would be great - for them and for us - if they could go, say, 9-3. Which, with their schedule, is not out of the question if they can get their offense sorted out.
But we would have to massively screw up for our game to be at all close, and given the experience and talent we're bringing back on the defensive side of the ball, I just don't see that happening.

 

[Dale]

With every game this year, it’s gonna be on defense:

A) Can they pass the ball?

If no - answer is no for Wisconsin -

B) can they dominate us running the ball

and the answer to that is also no as I don’t think their OL is good enough

So short of losing a 13 - 10 game, I don’t see it.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

Outside of IU, teams that bring in 30+ transfer genuinely don't do anything of note.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Wisconsin brought in 33 transfer portal commits....and their class ranked 38th in the nation. Woah, big number...that means squat if they aren't high impact players. Of those 33, only 3 were "four star" transfer prospects. Their top rated player coming into this class was 158th.... Comparatively, ND's class was ranked 11th overall, with only 7 additions.

Wisconsin lost 23 transfers, two of whom were four stars and both were higher rated than any of the 3 they brought in. They netted one 4 star player.....

 

[OrlaNDomer]

I hope Wisconsin has a great year, just not week 1.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

Outside of IU, teams that bring in 30+ transfer genuinely don't do anything of note.

Didn't Miami have a ton of transfers last year? I was expecting them to struggle out of the gate because of all the new faces.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Didn't Miami have a ton of transfers last year? I was expecting them to struggle out of the gate because of all the new faces.

They had 18, but half of theirs were 4 stars and top 100 guys. Including Carson Beck.

 

[Dale]

Wisconsin brought in 33 transfer portal commits....and their class ranked 38th in the nation. Woah, big number...that means squat if they aren't high impact players. Of those 33, only 3 were "four star" transfer prospects. Their top rated player coming into this class was 158th.... Comparatively, ND's class was ranked 11th overall, with only 7 additions.

Wisconsin lost 23 transfers, two of whom were four stars and both were higher rated than any of the 3 they brought in. They netted one 4 star player.....

They also while having nobody drafted, had double digit guys sign as UDFAs. And no clear “high end” talent added, though a few could develop internally. It still means likely a team that is as talented as last year, and QB health is likely main improvement we see.

 

[CoachB]

I said it before and hope I am wrong, but Wisconsin is going to be better than people think. I think this game is annoyingly uncomfortable for at least 2 1/2 quarters.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I said it before and hope I am wrong, but Wisconsin is going to be better than people think. I think this game is annoyingly uncomfortable for at least 2 1/2 quarters.

Based on what, exactly? Vibes? Is there a particular one of their seemingly average, on paper, transfers who really jumps out to you? Because I'm not necessarily scared of the 85th ranked SP+ team from a year ago, with the 122nd (!) ranked offense, and they didn't exactly overhaul their talent/production levels based on what I'm seeing.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Maybe instead of hot garbage they'll just be garbage

 

[402puck]

I said it before and hope I am wrong, but Wisconsin is going to be better than people think. I think this game is annoyingly uncomfortable for at least 2 1/2 quarters.

If this team has legit title ambitions, this game will be uncomfortable for exactly three minutes

 

[MeanGreenBeans]

Based on what, exactly? Vibes? Is there a particular one of their seemingly average, on paper, transfers who really jumps out to you? Because I'm not necessarily scared of the 85th ranked SP+ team from a year ago, with the 122nd (!) ranked offense, and they didn't exactly overhaul their talent/production levels based on what I'm seeing.

Yeah I'm just not seeing it. Their roster is not impressive. I guess they could end up with a decent record based on their schedule. Maybe they knock off USC at home and go 8-4.

 

[OrlaNDomer]

In the BK era this game would be uncomfortable for 2.5+ quarters. This is a different era.