GT: Badgers @ LSU

[ReasonablySober]

No one is upset about the s***-show going forward. They should be favored for the rest of the season. If they're not it means that something went really wrong.

What has people pissed off is they had an entire offseason to gameplan for their single best opportunity in years and they completely choked. So forgive me if I'm not going to do cartwheels when Gordon runs for 200 against Western Illinois and everyone is saying all the right things when it's November 1st and they're 7-1. The damage was already done and they **** the bed in the only game that mattered.

[Kerb Hohl]

No one is upset about the s***-show going forward. They should be favored for the rest of the season. If they're not it means that something went really wrong.

What has people pissed off is they had an entire offseason to gameplan for their single best opportunity in years and they completely choked. So forgive me if I'm not going to do cartwheels when Gordon runs for 200 against Western Illinois and everyone is saying all the right things when it's November 1st and they're 7-1. The damage was already done and they **** the bed in the only game that mattered.

I have no idea what the final case was. Was Gordon really hurt? Did they want to just give Clement a series on the 2nd last series? My particular gripe is that they tried to throw it, and sucked at it, way too much even against 10 in the box. That gave them only about 15 plays in the 2nd half, and Gordon couldn't be used in enough of them.

All of that said, I think Zag and Herring going out was a bigger deal in their demise. In hindsight, just running a few more times with anybody to drain out the clock might have allowed them to hold on.

Also, they covered against an SEC powerhouse. I'm not claiming moral victory here but people are acting as if GA is so dumb that he can't even carry on the program. They were dominating LSU and this is supposed to be a down roster (admittedly, for LSU as well). Outside of when JJ Watt was in a Badger uniform, the GA regime is as excited as I've been about a Badger defense even though they have a bit less talent this year. They seem to actually understand how to scheme defense.

Going forward, either it's a very painful lesson learned on the Gordon fiasco or maybe he was really hurt. He was chased down on a long run so maybe that one series that he sat out, he wouldn't have done much better than Clement anyways. No argument about passing too much, that was the brutal part in hindsight.

Point being, the language that people like midranger are using seem to suggest this is the demise of Badger football in some way. I'm going to wait until GA hits his 3rd or 4th year to decide that.

A game has never bothered me like it did this LSU one. I usually just chalk up tough Badger losses to the slight talent deficit to South Carolina, Auburn, Oregon, etc. but this one was a bit different.

He can go 10-2 this year or 9-3 or whatever (this roster had way too many holes). Maybe they find their way into a Rose Bowl, maybe not. I don't think this game is a signal of a downward spiral. Bielema had a really **** team when he didn't have a QB in his 3rd year. He almost lost to Cal Poly at home. Alvarez's schemes were too conservative for their own good. He might have pounded Gordon 40 times and won last week but then did the same against Northwestern later in the year and not be able to make a comeback.

I don't know with GA at this point. I had been very positive about him, and I still think with the way he is recruiting, they can break through in 2016 when they are all here. I'm in wait and see mode because right now they don't seem any worse than some of the previous regimes' stuff.

Final point: I'll raise my hand as the only guy that supported creampuff schedules. The 2006 Badgers say hello as well as the 2010 Badgers.

Less losses = less adversity and drop in the rankings, and it's easier to get to the title/playoffs with no losses. That could be different with the playoff, but you guys just got what you asked for.

[ReasonablySober]

I'm 100% fine with creampuff schedules too, but it means that when the rare opportunity arrises to take out a big boy nationally, they have to get it done. I didn't see any kind of moral victory on Saturday night, I saw the Badgers get embarrassed and exposed.

[KidA24]

As DB said though, I don't care too much about the Stave situation. I care much more about the Gordon situation. Unless if the Stave situation led to the Gordon situation, which is big trouble....

Stave gave Gordon the yips???

[Lippo]

I know that he had some fairly high ratings on a few recruiting services, but not that high. Also seems like every coach he's had so far hasn't been that high on him since he's come to Madison.

my bad

7th

"Four-star quarterback Bart Houston out of De La Salle High School in Concord, California verbally announced last night that he will sign with Wisconsin. Scout.com ranked him as the seventh-best high school quarterback in the 2012 class. Houston also had offers from schools such as Iowa, Washington, UCLA, and Arizona."

[El Duderino]

Jesse Temple ‏@jessetemple

Interesting to hear yesterday #Badgers WR coach Chris Beatty say his group didn't break off any routes vs. LSU. Andersen had said otherwise.

Jesse Temple ‏@jessetemple

Beatty: "Those guys made the right decisions. I don’t want to sit here & say that we broke something off when we didn’t because we didn’t."


At this point, you can't believe anything a Badger coach or player is saying. Complete **** show.

Anderson also threw his OL under the bus after the game even though that unit played well, especially given they had a QB playing who couldn't complete a pass and who panicked in the pocket the second any pass rusher got remotely close to him.

[El Duderino]

No one is upset about the s***-show going forward. They should be favored for the rest of the season. If they're not it means that something went really wrong.

What has people pissed off is they had an entire offseason to gameplan for their single best opportunity in years and they completely choked. So forgive me if I'm not going to do cartwheels when Gordon runs for 200 against Western Illinois and everyone is saying all the right things when it's November 1st and they're 7-1. The damage was already done and they **** the bed in the only game that mattered.

Final point: I'll raise my hand as the only guy that supported creampuff schedules. The 2006 Badgers say hello as well as the 2010 Badgers.

Less losses = less adversity and drop in the rankings, and it's easier to get to the title/playoffs with no losses. That could be different with the playoff, but you guys just got what you asked for.

Screw the creampuff schedules. It was very refreshing to see the Badgers finally playing on a huge national stage in a non-conference game with the chance to raise the profile of the program against a very highly thought of SEC program vs playing someone like say Fresno St or worse where nobody outside of Wisconsin cares.

Had they not choked this game, national pundits wouldn't just yawn if the Badgers then were to run over a bunch of crappy Big Ten teams on their schedule.

As a college sports fan, i get really excited to see my teams play in big games like the LSU game was, not so much vs easy cake walk wins. It's why i watch sports. That's why i don't like MSU, Michigan, and OSU all being off the schedule this year. I get amped for those games, not nearly the same to see them destroy crap like Indiana, Maryland, and Illinois. Sure i'll watch those games, but with vastly lower levels of anticipation.

This was also why i was so bummed when the Big East broke up. As a Marquette fan, i looked so forward to playing say Syracuse, UCONN, Louisville, Pitt, etc etc, even though those games had a higher chance of a loss than playing Seton Hall.

That huge game feel is what makes sports the most exciting. Look at Packers vs Seattle, hugely pumped to watch it. Had they been playing Jacksonville instead, just not as exciting.

[Kerb Hohl]

I get really excited to see my team play in big games as well.

Normally that's the Rose Bowl or another big bowl. In this case, they could still go to the Rose Bowl. Their preseason creampuff schedule in 2010 allowed them to hang high enough in the BCS to win that tiebreaker. Their creampuff schedule in 2006, if it wasn't for that bogus rule with teams getting in the BCS, would have gotten them a BCS game. They still finished the season top 5 and played nobody. We were treated to a beatdown in the Cap One Bowl, though. Had they opened that season with LSU, do they still have their name in the National Title hunt?

My ideal (realistic) season is that they beat a bunch of creampuffs and play the same type of game in the playoffs/or Rose Bowl as they did against LSU...except not blow it.

Basketball is different (your reference to the Big East). You can lose plenty of games and still get in the tournament. In college football, one loss dooms you. Now you can maybe have 2 in the SEC. The Badgers will never be a top 15 team talent-wise across the board. Maybe once a decade they get close. I'd rather pull a Notre Dame and beat nobody in the regular season and take my chances in the finals. Would rather not put 5 teams that could beat me on the schedule. You're inevitably going to lose several of those and kill the program's momentum.

[ReasonablySober]

Give me a creampuff schedule in the Big 10 West every year with one really good early season out of conference opponent.

This isn't NCAA basketball. Marquette could lose to UConn, Syracuse and Louisville and it wouldn't make a difference. If the Badgers lose two games their season is essentially over.

[El Duderino]

I get really excited to see my team play in big games as well.

Normally that's the Rose Bowl or another big bowl. In this case, they could still go to the Rose Bowl. Their preseason creampuff schedule in 2010 allowed them to hang high enough in the BCS to win that tiebreaker. Their creampuff schedule in 2006, if it wasn't for that bogus rule with teams getting in the BCS, would have gotten them a BCS game. They still finished the season top 5 and played nobody. We were treated to a beatdown in the Cap One Bowl, though. Had they opened that season with LSU, do they still have their name in the National Title hunt?

My ideal (realistic) season is that they beat a bunch of creampuffs and play the same type of game in the playoffs/or Rose Bowl as they did against LSU...except not blow it.

This team isn't a national title contender with no QB anyways.

We aren't going to agree on this because for me, it's not just about getting to the best possible bowl game at the end of the year. The journey is just as important. Playing in multiple really big high anticipation regular season games matters a lot to me, not just the last game/bowl game.

If UW was say in the SEC and thus regularly was playing in big games vs the likes of Bama, Georgia, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, etc etc, i'd be all for a bland non-conference schedule. Playing our weak asss Big Ten schedule though just bores me for the most part, regardless if it will result in a lot of wins and potentially a quality Bowl game given most college football fans will really only care about the national title game.

I get why some disagree, but i'm just not of that point of view.

[humanrefutation]

Absolutely...but just like the McCarthy/Rodgers injury-gate where no matter what McCarthy would say it is a "PR disaster" (either he was throwing his QB under the bus or he wasn't being clear enough to the media as the fans feel they are entitled to every inch of medical history).

Obviously, that has ravaged the Packers this year and I'm not sure they'll be able to recover. I'm not saying GA handled it perfectly and I still don't know all of the information, but it's really not going to matter that much in a short while.

Damn it, Kerb, we get it, you don't see this as a big deal. You've made your point. I don't see how thumping a bunch of **** B1G teams is going to somehow make up for losing on the national stage to LSU in embarrassing fashion, but I guess my memory isn't as short as you think it is.

[midranger]

Melvin Gordon has been informed that the hip flexor injury he didn't know he had has now resolved. He'll be a full go on Saturday unless texted otherwise.

[Buckrageous]

After the LSU debacle the last thing i cared about was Western Illinois and the upcoming creampuffs. But after watching the Brewer collapse and last nights Packer game Im ready for this. Ill take any win. Bring on the Leatherbacks (necks?)! Ill take anything, any port in a storm.

[Buckrageous]

Melvin Gordon has been informed that the hip flexor injury he didn't know he had has now resolved. He'll be a full go on Saturday unless texted otherwise.

Anyone word on Stave's shoulder injury?

[midranger]

Melvin Gordon has been informed that the hip flexor injury he didn't know he had has now resolved. He'll be a full go on Saturday unless texted otherwise.

Anyone word on Stave's shoulder injury?

He has no ongoing injury. He stated that he could 100% go this week if allowed.

[Buckrageous]

Melvin Gordon has been informed that the hip flexor injury he didn't know he had has now resolved. He'll be a full go on Saturday unless texted otherwise.

Anyone word on Stave's shoulder injury?

He has no ongoing injury. He stated that he could 100% go this week if allowed.

I was just trying to make a joke about the whole tuesday press release fiasco. Perhaps my wife has been right all along, Im not as funny as I think I am.

[neiLz]

I'm 100% fine with creampuff schedules too, but it means that when the rare opportunity arrises to take out a big boy nationally, they have to get it done. I didn't see any kind of moral victory on Saturday night, I saw the Badgers get embarrassed and exposed.

Totally agree. The badgers could have beat a top 15 team opening the season and run the table easily. But they blew an opportunity to make a statement. Beating LSU with no passing game whatsoever would have given the program a boost.