OT: Wisconsin Badger Football 2014-2015

RookieOfTheYear · Post #1 » by **RookieOfTheYear** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 2:42 am

AP Poll came out today and Badgers are ranked #14.

If we can somehow get past LSU in the first game of the season, the rest of the schedule looks quite favorable with only Nebraska (at home) and @Iowa being tough challenges. Maybe @Northwestern?

What do you guys think?

Mags FTW · Post #2 » by **Mags FTW** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:35 am

I still have a sour taste in my mouth from the way the Penn State game was coached last year. I'm taking a wait and see approach with this team.

LUKE23 · Post #3 » by **LUKE23** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 3:36 pm

I'm actually not that high on this team at the moment, primarily due to:

1. QB play. Stave to me killed us in big games last year, and overall is a pretty inaccurate QB. Abby bailed him out several times last year. Unless he's improved SIGNIFICANTLY, I don't consider that a strength.
2. Wide receivers. Do we have any? I know there are a lot of young athletes but we have literally zero proven guys on the roster.
3. Defensive replacements. Lost a lot of seniors last year in the front 7. I can't see that portion of the defense being better than it was last year realistically. I do think the secondary will be strong.

Obviously, our running game with Gordon/Clement will be awesome. I just see significant holes in terms of us trying to contend for the BTT. Our division is pretty easy overall, and we get our toughest BT opponent at home, but I just look at the roster and I'm not that impressed. Hope to be proven wrong.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #4 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 3:46 pm

Haven't been following the Badgers in camp thus far. Is Stave pretty much guaranteed the start against LSU? Seems like that wouldn't be the best environment to start a new QB.

Kerb Hohl · Post #5 » by **Kerb Hohl** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:36 pm

They are "picking" the starter after today's scrimmage.

There was another comment that they'd have packages for the guy they don't pick. I've assumed it's Stave all along, but doesn't that guarantee it? If McEvoy won the battle, why would you have packages for Stave?

Stave, to me, has an NFL arm 7 out of 10 throws. The other 3 out of those 10 he's horrendously inaccurate and all over the place. He's also immobile and frail. Oddly enough, that still puts him up there as about effective as a lot of the pre-Wilson guys, but still could be much better.

Luke, didn't Stave play well @OSU and pretty decent @ASU? I seem to remember Stave's best game by far being against OSU, even though he did throw a bad ball late if I am remembering correctly.

Post #6 » by **ReasonablySober** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 9:13 pm

Whoa, Joe Mixon was suspended from OU for the entire season. Allegedly he punched a woman in the face in late July. What a dirtbag.

Kerb Hohl · Post #7 » by **Kerb Hohl** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 9:18 pm

Yeah, the story was pretty bad. He was on the run for a while when it happened, I believe.

I was wondering how they'd handle it. Looking at it through the "the teams will do anything for wins" lens, isn't it basically like a redshirt year? I don't know if he has to stay away from the program or anything or can he still practice?

Post #8 » by **ReasonablySober** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:47 am

Kerb Hohl wrote:Yeah, the story was pretty bad. He was on the run for a while when it happened, I believe.

I was wondering how they'd handle it. Looking at it through the "the teams will do anything for wins" lens, isn't it basically like a redshirt year? I don't know if he has to stay away from the program or anything or can he still practice?

I think he's essentially been kicked off the team and if he makes it through the semester without any hiccups he can make it back onto the team in the spring.

emunney · Post #9 » by **emunney** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:21 am

ReasonablySober wrote:Whoa, Joe Mixon was suspended from OU for the entire season. Allegedly he punched a woman in the face in late July. What a dirtbag.

Whoa what did she do?!?!?! /Stephen A. Smith

gbmb34 · Post #10 » by **gbmb34** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:30 am

I'm also not as high on this year's squad, at least not in comparison to the past 4 or 5 seasons. But the schedule is incredibly favorable, so if they manage to knock off LSU, who I think is also overrated, I could see the Badgers running the table. Which unfortunately means they will lose to someone terrible like Penn St again.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #11 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:19 pm

Braxton Miller could be out a while. He reportedly re-injured his surgically repaired shoulder and there was no contact, he was just throwing a pass. That would really make things interesting in the B1G this year.

RookieOfTheYear · Post #12 » by **RookieOfTheYear** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:21 pm

I think making it to the Big Ten Championship game is a very realistic possibility. Winning that game is another story, but anything is possible.

Kerb Hohl · Post #13 » by **Kerb Hohl** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:26 pm

They are the odds-on favorite to do it from the West. I'll echo most other opinions that I'm not as high on the roster.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #14 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:50 pm

Wisconsin's schedule is really easy. If they can find a couple of WRs and reload in the front 7, they should win the West. If they have trouble finding answers at those positions then it could really be up for grabs.

Kerb Hohl · Post #15 » by **Kerb Hohl** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:53 pm

Yeah, that's why Vegas has them as the favorites. I tend to trust predictions such as that on the whole, but from a fandom standpoint, I can't envision some of these guys stepping up. Of course, they normally do.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #16 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 5:16 pm

Braxton officially out for the year.

SeaLORD_0318 · Post #17 » by **SeaLORD_0318** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 7:16 pm

I dunno I'm really encouraged with this team more so then last year's. QBr shoes have me tense as I am not a Stave guy but if he has improved then that's a plus. While the WR's are in question the young guys did have a great fall camp. The front 7 while senior laden did not fit DA's scheme, i think the guys moving into those spots will be an upgrade and allow DA to flex more of his plays. With Melvin and Corey running and our SOS we should easily chine out the West setting up a date with either MSU or OSU...OSU will still be dangerous without Braxton. Either way the east will be one tough gauntlet to make it though

Bernman · Post #18 » by **Bernman** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 10:17 pm

This is one of the more volatile squads in recent UW history with all the turnover. It reminds me of '06 and '12 in that way.

'06 was a great year for the program, even though they didn't win the B1G. '12 was a terrible one, even though they did win the B1G.

This is a potential team, so they could go in either direction, but I'm feeling they will fare much closer to how they did in '12 because of all the Wisconsin kids projected to be starting. Half or more of the starters on the '06 team were from Wisconsin, like this team which currently has 14 of 22 #1 on the depth chart. That '12 team had more like 6 or 7. It's a pretty common occurrence for the teams with high Wisconsin quotients to overachieve their preseason expectations and low ones to underachieve. And it's pretty understandable when you figure the Badgers get more plan A kids in state and more plan B outside. They can also sneak a ton of intriguing walk-ons because they are the only d1 team in state and there aren't many that are close either.

Also, the QB play should be significantly better from the beginning. Stave was solid in his midseason stint in '12. And I expect more that type of play, and maybe for him to build on it, this season. Last winter was one of the all-time worst in the midwest and that adversely effected Stave's play directly and then I think indirectly from it hurting his confidence.

We'll see. They'll be thrown into the deep end from the beginning. It would be nice if they could start in the shallow end as beginners, but I suppose LSU is in the same boat.

Kerb Hohl · Post #19 » by **Kerb Hohl** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:13 pm

You're right, I've been talking with all of my friends about how the winter affected Joel Stave. Also a main topic on BTN.

Allanon23 · Post #20 » by **Allanon23** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:52 pm

I'm not too concerned about the team. Our offense is going to be stellar with our running game, and at least one of the three freshman wideouts will be a solid contributor. While we lost our front seven, we still have players with solid experience there.

Our kicking game should be less frustrating since the Italian kicker we have has been a beast in camp. I predict 10 wins with losses to LSU and a random team late in the season. I have no clue how the title game will end up though