HEARTBROKEN AGAIN
by John Veldhuis on Oct 30, 2011 12:58 AM CDT
in Wisconsin Badgers Football
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PrintBadgers rally... again, but lose... again
The Wisconsin Badgers needed to win Saturday night if they wanted to control their own fate in the Big Ten after last week's shocking upset by Michigan State. And while the Badgers managed to come back from a 12 point deficit in the fourth quarter to re-take the lead, the Buckeyes had the last word.
With 20 seconds left in the game, and the Badgers trying to hold on to a 29-26 lead, Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller rolled to his right, and found a wide-open Devin Smith for the game-winning touchdown, locking in the final score at 33-29.
The loss drops Wisconsin to 6-2 (2-2 Big Ten), and likely ends their hopes of returning to the Rose Bowl for a second straight year. The Badgers are sitting in a three-way tie for second place in the Leaders division with Ohio State and Purdue, and they trail Penn State, which has yet to lose in Big Ten play.
While the new division alignment helps the Badgers remain in the Big Ten title picture, losing to Ohio State makes that road much narrower, and takes some control out of their hands. While they still play Purdue, Illinois, and Penn State from their division, they no longer have sole control of their fate in the conference. It would take a lot of luck and the Badgers' winning out to see them play in the inaugural Big Ten championship game after Saturday's loss.
The game started off as a defensive struggle, with the Buckeyes trying and succeeding to stop Wisconsin's powerful running game. The Badgers only amassed 89 net yards through the entire game, and held just a 7-3 advantage heading into halftime. The Buckeyes got the ball to start the second half, and put the Badgers in too deep of a hole for them to fully recover.
Buckeye tailback Dan Herron broke off a 57-yard run to Wisconsin's 18 yard line on the first play from scrimmage, and five plays later Miller scrambled for a one-yard touchdown to put the Buckeyes ahead 10-7. The Badgers got the ball back, and quickly went three and out after a false start pushed them back five yards. But the Buckeyes blocked Brad Nortman's punt after Robert Burge let an opponent past him for the second week in a row. The Buckeyes recovered at Wisconsin's 1 yard line, and Jordan Hall punched in another touchdown three plays later.
Now down 17-7, the Badgers had some good luck come their way for what seemed like the first time in two weeks. After forcing the Badgers to punt on their next possession, Hall fumbled the punt and Andrew Lukasko recovered it on Ohio State's 27. Momentum in hand, Montee Ball was able to bring the Badgers within three points of OSU shortly after.
In the fourth quarter, Ohio State tacked on another field goal to bring the score to 20-14, and Braxton Miller rushed for a 44-yard touchdown. Now down 26-14 after a failed two-point conversion, the Badgers needed something short of a miracle to get back into the game. What they got was Russell Wilson, and he seemed to do just fine.
Wilson led the Badgers on a four play, 66-yard drive that ended with a touchdown reception by Jared Abbrederis. The drive lasted only 50 seconds, and gave Wisconsin 3:42 left in the game to get another stop, and score another touchdown. The Badgers forced a punt, and got the ball back with 2:36 left in the game and no timeouts. Wilson found Abberderis again four plays later for a 49-yard touchdown, and the Badgers had retaken the lead after a two-point conversion put them up 29-26.
But as it turns out, the Badgers scored too quickly on their final scoring drive. With 1:10 left and two timeouts, Miller lead the Buckeyes to a first down, before completing the game-winning touchdown pass to Devin Smith. The Badgers got the ball back, but there wasn't enough time left on the clock or magic tricks left in the bag for Wisconsin to come back one last time.
For the second week in a row, the Badgers have had their hopes shattered in the last few seconds of a major road game. They host Purdue next Saturday, and will likely be happy to play in Camp Randall again for the first time in two weeks. But it might be too little, too late for Wisconsin, which will need a lot of help to play in the first ever Big Ten Championship Game, salvage their season, and defend their Big Ten title.
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Rooting Interest Here on out:
Nebraska over Penn State, Ohio State to lose one more game (Michigan maybe?) and win out.
If Nebraska beats Penn State, then I hope PSU beats OSU.
If Wisconsin’s going to win the division, we have to beat PSU, which means we’ll have the tiebreaker. But we need help wrt OSU.
I just want to watch the world burn.
by Bob Genghiskhan on Oct 30, 2011 10:40 AM CDT up reply actions
How is that going to happen
We have to travel to Illinois. I have seen nothing that leads me to believe that we will win that game on the road.
Two things
Not a night game and they dont have the home field that the Buckeyes and Spartans have.
Yeah.
I have a feeling things will sort themselves out sooner or later. We fell victim to a very incomplete team AND our own stupidity last night. Ohio State does not have a championship caliber offense, but with the shoddy job the run defense did, we were sunk.
Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
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by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Oct 30, 2011 9:57 PM CDT up reply actions
We are better than this. So embarrassing.
Don’t know what to say other than we shit the bed 2 weeks in a row and the special teams had a huge hand in it. This is like ’08 all over again.
FREE AIRWOLF!
ROHLFING!!!!!
To the casual observer we look like pretenders.
On another note, it appears that home field advantage is huge in the B1G, especially yesterday.
Awful special teams, defensive lapses, laughable playcalling
That is poor coaching. Period
by Big10freak on Oct 30, 2011 7:44 AM CDT via mobile reply actions
Same stuff different year.
Same mistakes year after year in the BB era. Vanilla defense giving up huge plays and terrible special teams play. Nothing changes but the year. Wisconsin had a huge chance to take advantage of Ohio State’s off the field problems and even with a top rate quarterback gift wrapped, they screwed it up. This coaching staff can’t coach big time games on the road. They abandon the run way too soon and do not prepare the team. Same breakdowns year after year. Wisconsin will not achieve elite status under this coaching staff. The have “jumped the shark”. So much hope and opportunity. Thank God for the Packers.
This reads just like....
what’s going on at BHGP w the Hawks….
Except you had legit expectations.
We’re just a dumpster fire (per RossWB) raging out of control….
ugh.
Finish strong, Bucky….
by Ordinary Joe on Oct 30, 2011 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions
wait
You think they should have run More last night? I can’t say I agree with that at all. Ohio State had the run stuffed for the whole game and yet the Badgers kept going back to it. They got 2 or less yards on half their running plays.
And they inexplicably wouldn’t move away from the outside run. When they moved east and west, they were getting nowhere, yet on that important 4th and 2, they went for a sweep. The inside run with Ball was so successful against MSU, why did they stop using it last night?
The lack of adjustment last night annoyed me. The run game wasn’t working like it normally does for the Badgers, but they kept running the same plays and assuming/hoping it would work itself out.
by Nicole Haase on Oct 30, 2011 12:02 PM CDT up reply actions
What was annoying
was they kept running stupid plays. The outside sweeps were completely ineffective, but Chryst insisted on running a billion of them. Montee Ball had a gigantic run off a draw in the 2nd half that got us into good FG range.
Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
#FireCraigJames
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by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Oct 30, 2011 9:46 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Pathetic
This team deserves to go to the Toilet Bowl. And that’s it.
BB has won exactly ONE big game in his tenure. That’s all. I’m done bleeding for this coaching staff. Color me skeptical until they win at least one big game.
Maybe OSU is just a better team than their record. They have almost all back except poesy anf pryor. Miller should have started against Akron. I was a Wisconsin believer till till I saw OSU shut Nebraska down for 3 Q. The B1G is flat this year. You do not want to go to the Rose bowl, neither should OSU. Let Nebraska go get whooped by Stanford. That is if their defense can hold Ore to 35 points. I hope you get a good bowl and win. Hopefully its against a SEC team, same for OSU. People think it will be years for OSU return but it wont be. PSU will find it hard to score on OSU. Braxton will only get better.
Whatever
WI was supposed to be the class of the league. They are not, and it’s the coaches fault.
Fire Bielema and start over
2-5 in Bowl games, One signature win in six years. Special teams disasters. What a joke. Until he can prove he can coach on the road in a big game, Badgers will never get to – and win – a BCS bowl game. Bring Barry back.
That's a rational response, right there.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 30, 2011 5:36 PM CDT up reply actions
I agree Bieleman needs to go.
He is a good coach, but has under achieved. This team has the talent to compete for a National Championship. The Badgers have been really good talent wise for 8-10 years and what have they gotten out of it? As a Badger fan I expect greatness now, Alvarez brought this team from nothing to respected. Now it needs to go from respected to Champions. Alabama, Ohio State, USC fans don’t accept a “good season” the expect major bowl games and bowl wins. Bielema hasn’t been able to deliver either. Time to find someone new.
You apparently missed the sarcasm train, my friend.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 7:49 AM CDT up reply actions
No I was trying to reply to sdbadger
I have not been impressed with Bielema from day one. Great teams, mediocre results.
I'm confused as to what last year was, then.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 7:56 AM CDT up reply actions
But TCU was a great team, and they lost by 2.
11-2 with a loss to an undefeated team? That’s great to me.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 7:58 AM CDT up reply actions
My point is that I think all of our expectations are based on 20 years ago
This team is viewed as a top team, but no one seems to expect that. Every one is ok with losing, and going to average bowls, and then losing them too. Top Contending schools expect more from there coaches, and Badger fans should too.
Alabama, USC, Florida, Ohio State
All would fire there coach if there teams performed like the Badgers have under Bielema. They have a tradition of greatness. Why should we accept less? Just because it’s better than 20 years ago?
No, its because the Badgers arent Bama, USC, Florida, or OSU.
And you’re acting like the Badgers were expected to win the national championship, and are barely struggling to get bowl-eligible.
Alabama was ranked No. 1 coming in to last year, and they ended up at 10-3 in the Capital One Bowl. If your logic is right, why isn’t Saban coaching somewhere else now?
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 8:11 AM CDT up reply actions
When Bielema does it at Wisconsin everyone makes excuses.
We want the team to be great, but no one expects it. Why not?
Bielema has a record of 55-18 in his first head coaching job.
The Badgers’ worst season under him was 08, where they went 7-6 and still made a bowl game.
Since then, they went 10-3 and 11-2. This year has a fluke loss and a game where they got outplayed. It happens.
The Badgers are not Ohio State, Bama, Florida, etc. Bielema has a better chance than anyone else out there to get them there (or as close as the Badgers can get to it.) Two losses do not mean someone should be fired.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 8:18 AM CDT up reply actions
I guess thats my point
Why arn’t the Badgers OSU, or Bama, or Florida? Someone needs to help them move into that area code. Brett hasn’t yet.
It's because it takes a while. A long while.
It’s understandable to want it, but one step back after a year of two steps forward does not mean Bielema cant do it.
They’re getting there. The might have their best recruiting class ever coming in this February, and if all of the other factors keep getting better but the Badgers aren’t winning, I’ll change my mind.
One year or two losses don’t define you. If this stuff is happening in 2015 or 2016, where they can’t seem to get to the top even with more talent in the program, then you’ll have a point.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 8:29 AM CDT up reply actions
Another note
All of the teams you reference are THE football program in a state with fertile grounds for recruiting. Wisconsin’s high schools have produced what, one consensus five star recruit in the last decade? USC, Florida, or Ohio State isn’t the proper analog for Wisconsin, Nebraska is. It took Tom Osborne 20+ years to win one consensus national title, and that was after taking over a program that had won a consensus national title just a couple of years before he took the job. Bielema’s done a very good job. Not an amazing job, but a very good job. Wisconsin’s nationally relevant. No team ever looks at a game against Wisconsin as an automatic win.
I just want to watch the world burn.
by Bob Genghiskhan on Oct 31, 2011 9:57 AM CDT up reply actions
Josh Oglesby?
Was he a 5-star? He’s about the only one I can think of who would have been in that discussion.
Author at Acme Packing Company
That's who I was referring to.
I just want to watch the world burn.
by Bob Genghiskhan on Oct 31, 2011 11:35 AM CDT up reply actions
So much facepalm.
The Badgers have lost back to back games on what are essentially hail maries, at night, on the road, against last year’s B1G co-champions. Are they disappointing losses? Yes, they are. But they aren’t embarassing losses. They aren’t “walking into Spartan Stadium 9-0 and losing by 30” kind of losses, losses to sub .500 Northwestern squads. Bielema has advanced the team over where it was under Alvaraz, post Dayne-era. The dismay, depression, and disgust we’re all feeling right now is what happens when you are a legit conference and BCS title contender, but you lose.
I just want to watch the world burn.
by Bob Genghiskhan on Oct 30, 2011 7:49 PM CDT up reply actions
Time to stop making excuses for failure
This team needs to make the step from Respected to Great. That means winning the games you are supposed to win. Under Bielema this has happened every year.
I dont see the failure here.
2011 was going to be a down year until Russell came along. Yeah, that changes expectations, but two losses in the last minute with one coming on a fluke play doesn’t change the nature of a team/coaching staff.
How quickly people forget that Bielema won at Iowa, and at Michigan last year, in addition to beating Ohio State.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 7:52 AM CDT up reply actions
30 PPG over the last two games,
with a QB who has thrown 5 TDs and 2 INTs on the road. That’s pretty good, isn’t it?
However, the running game foundered last night in particular after being outstanding against EMMM ESSS YUUU.
However, the defense? It’s given up 4 passing TDs and 0 INTs, and allowing opposing QBs to complete 67% of their passes. 2 of those TDs ended up costing us the game at the end of the day. Quite obviously, that is horrible. We need David Gilbert back BADLY; Brendan Kelly has amazing penetration skills but was totally ineffective at the most important part: tackling the opposing player.
Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
#FireCraigJames
Follow @GSchofield50
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Oct 30, 2011 9:54 PM CDT reply actions
Biggest thing to take away here:
Adam had a good point in a tweet earlier- re-read the last page of Badger Kickoff from this year. The Badgers just aren’t at the point where they can reload every year and not miss a beat. Don’t for get that they lost two first round picks, an excellent college guard, depth at receiver, and their most consistent QB in history. It’s proving to be just too much to overcome.
They’re getting to that point. Russell might not be able to bring home a national championship, (or even a second straight Big Ten title,) but he’s brought a lot of exposure to the team and kept them in the national spotlight. And that’s what Bielema is good at too. He knows how to use the media to keep his team in the spotlight, and that’s a very important factor when it comes to recruiting.
Two losses don’t make a coaching career. They were heart-wrenching and gut-punching, but it’s ridiculous to suggest that Bielema needs to go for them. Look at what happened to Glen Mason at Minnesota- he brought them higher up than they ever thought, and they canned his ass just because they felt they could do better.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
Your right, but Minnie is the Badgers 15 years ago
They are on the way up. The Badgers have been at or near the top for a while. So should expectations.
They've only been at or near the top for this year and last year. And '06, but that was Bielema coaching Barry's team.
That’s hardly long enough to change long-term expectations.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 8:05 AM CDT up reply actions
Not true, they have been in the mix for a while now
Not every year are we talking National Champs, but being at the top of the Conference is expected. How many years have we waited for this team to take the next step, prove all the a-holes at ESPN wrong. Another season were we settle for the Capital One Bowl or somthing.
Um, they took the next step last year.
You don’t jump from pretty good to perennial national championship contender in one step. It takes a few steps forward, one step back, etc, etc.
You remember they went to the Rose Bowl last year, right? And that the Badgers can still go back there with help this year? The world has not collapsed on itself.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 8:13 AM CDT up reply actions 2 recs
I understand, the season is not lost
With help it could still be ok, It just feels like the Badgers should be Title contenders all ready, and they cant seem to figure it out. Maybe I’m being unrealistic, I just feel like as fans we have let Bielema have plenty of time to improve on what Barry built and he hasn’t really done much better. Think of what the Badgers were before Barry and what he brought them to. Bielema hasn’t even come close to moving the team forward. He hasn’t gone backwards, which is something, but it could be more.
How has he not moved them forward?
They almost won a Rose Bowl last year, and the Badgers are getting better recruits than ever.
It’s like I said before- becoming a national powerhouse takes more time than it does to re-build a bad program. It has taken Boise State about 10 years to get where they are (meaning an actual chance to play in the title game,) now Boise and Wisconsin’s situations are different, but the point is this stuff doesn’t happen over night.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 8:25 AM CDT up reply actions
Hey man, I hope Brett proves me wrong
I don’t dislike him, he is a good coach. He has been the coach for a while now though. It’s not like he took over last season.
I know, but I think the two of us have different ideas of what progress is
And how long it should take to jump between the college football echelons.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 8:31 AM CDT up reply actions
Maybe your right
Maybe going from chumps to respectable takes a little less time than going from there to the level of Bama or OSU.
Even if they did fire Brett, I don’t have a clue as to who could come in and do better. I just get tired of everyone always making excuses when the team under performs. There should at least be more anger about these losses, it feels like a lot of apathy, or worse kinda expected.
Here's my two cents from the upper deck at the Shoe...
When you don’t run the ball in the Big Ten, you lose.
When you don’t stop the other team on 3rd down, you lose.
When you don’t convert your own 3rd downs, you lose.
As for specifics:
The stretch play did not work once all night. No clue why they called it again on 4th down in the 4th quarter.
I love Chryst’s gameplanning, but he seems very hesitant to make in-game adjustments (see above) when it’s not working well. As soon as we opened it up in the passing game (down 12 with 4 minutes left), we moved the ball. Would liked to have seen that more and earlier.
With the naked eye (from the north end zone), I was 100% convinced that Miller was over the line of scrimmage on the TD, even screaming for it when the pass was in the air. Haven’t watched any replays to confirm or deny though, as it still hurts too much.
Final observation: work is gonna suck more for me today than any of you. There are times I hate living in Columbus.
Author at Acme Packing Company
Godspeed, sir.
You have the weight of the world on your shoulders.
Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!
If it made sense, it wouldn't be the BCS.
by John Veldhuis on Oct 31, 2011 8:26 AM CDT up reply actions
ouch..
feel for you. I can empathasize somewhat as a Packer fan working in Chicago. Fortunately the Pack has usually had the better of it
I love wins. Wins are good for the soul.- Barry Alvarez Sep 25, 2005
We expect to win.- Ted Thompson July 28, 2011
FTFY: No clue why they called it [the stretch play] seven billion times after the first five attempts were proven useless.
Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
#FireCraigJames
Follow @GSchofield50
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Oct 31, 2011 9:16 AM CDT up reply actions
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