UW v. UofM: Slaughter For The Axe

[chuckleslove]

Does anyone know if there is video of Brewster not shaking BB's hand at the end of the game? I left well before the end of the game. Brewster is 0-10 in rivalry trophy games, if that doesn't get you fired I don't know what does. Had a great time yesterday despite the loss.

College Game Day is going to be in Madison next weekend. Should be a good time.

I saw it on the Sportscenter highlights this morning. What a whining little bitch, if you don't want a team to do that then stop them. At that point is 2 points vs 1 really running up the score and disrespectful? I just figured they wanted to practice something and get a look against a real defense.

[midranger]

He shook his hand. But he was kind of yelling at him as he did so. Bielema tried to stop him to say something and Brewster just rushed off looking disgusted.

As said, if that's the biggest thing Brewster is focused on with his awful football team, then he should be fired. He is allowing Minnesota to actively regress from an already bad team.

But..... there was absolutely no sense in doing what Bielema did. I'm sure Brewster is not the only Big-10 coach who thinks so. I doubt Bielema is on many of their Christmas card list already with some of the crazy antics he's already pulled (remember the kick-off thing against Penn State?). Worse yet, we're heading into a game against a team that has the ability to completely trounce us. Turn about IS fair play here. If things get going bad, my guess is Tressel will make it a point to embarrass him. There is just no reason for that nonsense, and is a big reason why he's a poor coach IMO.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

From what I can tell it sounds like neither side looks very good because of this. Brewster looks like a whiny bitch and Bielema looks like an ass for going for 2 when the game was in hand.

I don't think Brewster and Bielema have ever liked/respected each other so this isn't surprising.

[midranger]

From what I can tell it sounds like neither side looks very good because of this. Brewster looks like a whiny bitch and Bielema looks like an ass for going for 2 when the game was in hand.

I don't think Brewster and Bielema have ever liked/respected each other so this isn't surprising.

I think Bielema probably ends up looking worse here. The guys on the BTN were not too pleased with him. That said, this wasn't about practicing one play once. It was about showing Minnesota recruits that Wisco is clearly the dominant team, and we know it. Again, I don't like it, but that's the thought process here.

EDIT: I'm not sure that anyone respects Brewster.

[LUKE23]

Never seen more of an uproar over a one point difference in my life. If Brewster's dumb ass is going to complain about going for 2, why isn't he complaining about the Badgers scoring at all? Really, it comes down to Brewster trying to deflect attention from all the problems his football team has by going ape about the 2 point conversion.

[El Duderino]

Can the abortion that is Scott Tolzien as starting QB please end?

What do you base this on that he's a terrible QB?

I think midranger said it best earlier.

Tolzien can't hit a receiver in stride to save his life. On every completion, our guys are contorting their bodies because the ball is two yards behind them. This limits any YAC.

You're both overexageting

Yea, he's not a great college QB, but he's far from terrible or an "abortion" as you put it. That's ridiculous. Tolzien is a very solid college QB and i'm confident that defensive coordinators who face him feel the same way.

He passed for 2700 yards last year on a running team. Tolzien also completed 64% of his pass in a downfield passing scheme that rarely throws easy dump offs to it's backs or a tons of easy to complete bubble screens to receivers like so many spreads offenses do. So far this year he's completed 69% percent of of his passes. Last year he finished with a 92.3 QB rating and so far this year it's 109.4.

As for Tolzien never being about to hit a receiver in stride to save his life, i don't know how many games he's watching because i see Tolzien do it all the time. When someone hates a certain athlete though, it's easy to highlight plays they do poorly and dismiss those that they do very well.

Tolzien is usually very accurate especially when you factor in how many throws are downfield, not glorified passes acting as runs in the spread offenses. His biggest flaws to me are he's not very mobile and his sidearm throwing motion leads to more than usual amounts of tipped passes and last year a some of those got picked off.

[Flames24Rulz]

The O/U was at 57 in this game. Bielema went for 2 to make it 58.

Is that a coincidence or did somebody have a bet going on in this game? Who knows, but it's something that I heard earlier today and there could be some merit to it.

[DH34Phan]

Doubtful on the O/U front.

They could have just as easily let them score another TD if that was the case.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Thought it was pretty funny that Mike Wilbon said Brewster should have punched BB because of that 2 point conversion call.

[Kerb Hohl]

Doubtful on the O/U front.

They could have just as easily let them score another TD if that was the case.

Eh, but if you're a coach with some betting on the line, you can't tell your team to lay down. That is something you can't really control. The Badgers seemed to be aggressively trying to score another one themselves as I think Clay/White were the only starters on the bench for the last 2 minutes...and before those last 2 minutes those guy were still in if I remember correctly.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

I don't buy the gambling motivations, that seems pretty far fetched. I think it was more a combination of embarrassing Minnesota to win over MN high school football players and BB hating Brewster, so much that he wanted to put the last nail in the coffin of Brewster's head coaching career.

[MikeIsGood]

To me, this all started with Brewster to be perfectly honest. The guy took the Minnesota job and immediately started running his mouth, calling out the Badger program and BB, etc. BB isn't exactly the most mature person around either, so it turned into a big feud (despite Punky trying to deny it, which draws a big LOL from me). I think it ended up being BB's farewell to the douche.

I don't endorse it - I wouldn't have done it and I think it was unnecessary, obviously. I would rather BB have been the bigger person and go out, shake his hand, and wish him the best. However, despite that, I'm seriously surprised at the amount of uproar over this. It was one **** point. Get over it. There are more important things to talk about. The convo about it should have ended after the immediate post game, and Minnesota has WAAAAAY bigger problems. It should be a much bigger issue that Brewster never beat BB, Minnesota has been axeless for 7 years, and that the coach is a unique combination of a tool and a dumbass.

[Kerb Hohl]

U of M has some major problems if it wants to win.

1. Low end of the totem pole in money spent on their football program in the Big Ten. I'm not sure how it works out exactly, but for those who you'll hear say "good, they should be focusing on education" I would imagine the football program at UW spends more but also earns a ton. On the other hand, where do you draw the line on the spending?

2. There is too large of a focus on hockey in the state. I kind of joked about it one time but it's just the general feeling I get about it living here and going to a mixed bag school at UW and comparing friends' experiences/opinions. I realize Wisconsin hockey in general has gotten as good or better recently, but the focus on it isn't the same.

3. South/North Dakota schools taking depth players away. Now, I realize UW has a bunch more D3 schools to do the same but it's a lower division so slightly less of a pull. Plus, the recent UW reputation has gotten more kids dreaming about being tackling dummies over starting at a D3 school than U of M.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Number 1 is the biggest problem and why most people want Maturi gone as well. We don't spend nearly enough on our program, at least compared to the rest of the conference. That is really going to hurt our chances of getting a top notch coach. I doubt anything changes though. We'll probably get a middle of the road coach, spend middle of the road money, and end up with a middle of the road or worse team.

[MikeIsGood]

Numbers 1/2 is a bit of a catch 22. Minnesota does indeed spend less on their football program. However, their fans have shown poor support of the football team. It'd be easier to reason an increase in funds if there was great support for the team, but there just isn't. On the other hand, though, who would want to be a fan of Minnesota? No offense to our resident Gopher. So it's kind of deadlocked, I guess, for lack of a better term. In the end, in order for Minnesota to get the program turned around they'll need better leadership and some proactive attitudes - and real ones. Punky was always full of it.

[trwi7]

From the JS chat today.

Q: Shanghai Badger, China - Jeff, Thanks for the great coverage! Much has been made of the fact that WI/ MN is the most played rivalry in College Football. I was just wondering what the overall record of the the two teams is, in this rivalry?

A: Jeff Potrykus - 59-53-8 Minny. But if UW would have converted the two-point conversion it would have been 59-54-8 and Brewster REALLY would have been upset.