Wisconsin Badgers Football narrowly avoids DISASTER against Western Michigan

e [Music] [Music] um good evening uh or good morning 12:15 a.m. regardless uh thank you for enjoying it with sixpack Donnie sixpack the only darn podcast where I I have decided to record from uh play at z cman uh uh if you are watching this live you may be doing so on YouTube youtube.com scy 6pack or by following me on Twitter Kedrick stumbris you can also follow the podcast sc6 pack or the latest updates in Wisconsin Sports uh tonight was a bad night for for the Wisconsin Badgers and that is perhaps an understatement perhaps an understatement that the Wisconsin batters did not have a very good night tonight uh defeating Western Michigan but it took a bit of luck in the fourth quarter I think probably would have won regardless of the luck um but we we need to talk about this just a little bit um in my very bad background because I don't have better options right now um Wisconsin narrowly avoids disaster against Western Michigan um look I I have been trying to tell people all I I'll be clearly if if you are a regular viewer of this show you you have seen that throughout this kind of extended season review week I have been giving my very significant concerns about the the defensive line in particular the defensive line in particular was something that to me was sounding something close to alarm bells on and coming out of this game look this was not only very close because of the defensive line but it certainly played a significant role um particularly in in the first half Wisconsin touched the ball three times in the first half with the Badgers offense touched the ball three times in the first half in large part that's because the defensive line allowed Western Michigan to to control the game up front allowed Western Michigan to control the game in the trenches control the pace of play against the Big 10 Wisconsin Badgers football program the staff on this football team had been trying to tell you as fans that this defensive line was not a very good unit think back to Spring Practice coming out of spring practice there there was plenty of talk about we think they need another body on the defensive line after the window for players to enter the transfer portal around the spring window during spring practices um following spring practices wherever Wisconsin struck out on defensive line recruit after defensive line recruit after defensive line recruit over and over and over again until finally they managed to get a commitment from uh Stephen F Austin transfer Brandon Lan from the FCS Rings the second the second FCS transfer on the defensive line that's not a great signal for how this staff felt about this defensive line that is not to say that the staff necessarily thought this defensive line could potentially get pushed around week one again against Western Michigan I I understand that is not necessarily what they thought however rushing away concerns by the defensive line which I think some people tried to do go look at my inventions um was was a mistake and after this game it looks like even more of of of a mistake um that game was not pretty was not pretty against Western Michigan that there's a chance that it looks I mean a little bit ugly against South Dakota even I I don't think that will be the case again I still I still think that that's going to be worse uh R Ryan isers uh mentioning I am sad after watching that game um gonna hit a couple of y'all's comments while we're doing this um yeah reason to be sad although Ryan apparently we're supposed to do a charity fight now uh now that I have uh um some some some bonafides as a balln after my um pregame analysis um T Tyler streber mentioning great great follower great viewer by the way love love Tyler ster uh both lines looked bad tonight our running backs were getting hit in the back field yeah the offensive line wasn't fantastic either and that was certainly a position I had some questions about after the front five to begin with after the top five the first unit to begin with and wasn't totally convinced that the first five was phenomenal anyway um it's yeah the the the offensive line I don't know I I I think I I am not as good a judge of Talent on on the offensive line as I am at other positions which even still not not the greatest but like one game and from the TV broadcast is not easy to figure out how I should think I should evaluate the offensive line however the defensive line when Tyler talks about both lines looking bad tonight and and yeah I'm more on the defensive line because that was where I was sending the alarm Bells more so like I I just it fits the theme of of this show over the past week more it makes more sense to have the conversation um there was just no pressure now Not only was was the defense not really able to stop the run J Jaylen Buckley for for Western Michigan rushed for four four yards per carry tonight uh four four yards per carry and like still though Western Michigan only managed to produce 14 points so so there is some some like level of optimism that this team did Bend but didn't break on defense but if that's going to be the case in other games against other big 10 opponents and I'm not even talking about the organs the world I'm not even talking about Fen states of the world I'm talking about USC which I think has a really good uh transfer running back that I've mentioned from Mississippi State um I'm talking about Iowa right like if you're going to get pushed around by Western Michigan I don't know like it's going to be a problem if it's four yards or carry those those offenses are gonna end up cashing in more often than than some of these other folks I would like to see full full game um I'm trying to go through what I have in my inbox from the Press team um I don't have great resources um but Ryan Ryan also mentioning it wasn't the yards per carry it was the timeliness of the runs gashing runs yeah so this was and this and the same guy who says you keep running um sad yet accurate articles I have no choice one one of the things I mentioned was the the potential right of a few big runs by Jaylen Buckley to really make this a matchup that produces some anxiety and and that seems to be the case here right is a couple of big runs that that came to to convert first downs at at opportune times granted at the very end Aaron wit of all people steps up and stops Jaylen Buckley from converting a fourth in one so So eventually maybe just the look I I don't again I don't think this Wisconsin roster is particularly talented but still more talented than Western Michigan eventually the talent seemed seem to catch up in the fourth quarter a and and make some plays um on the defensive side of the ball regardless of the push overall um and I want to get to the offense in just a second here um but Tyler also asking were you expecting our linebackers uh to I I assume this means to stop more to pop more is what he said uh tonight than they did I was expecting them to look a lot better than last year and for this game I didn't see as big of a jump as I hoped yeah uh so for for you know my concerns about this game that I think I got right that there is seemingly uh perhaps a position that I I am maybe not correct on that I was hopeful for uh which was I think the the position I identifi as most improved on the roster heading into this year compared to last was inside linebacker um I mentioned that you know I I was excited to see what John Pas might do for this team for example and I don't think they they managed much to tonight um you had the first half where the defense comes out in a two-man front and isn't really able to do anything they they come out in a three-man front in in the second half and it looks it looks somewhat better but for everything that I think is really valuable about Mike Trussell as a defensive coordinator uh in his ability to not be ideologically set in stone regardless of his Personnel right I think one of the the big advantages of him and he's been this way since when he had his gig at Michigan State right I did a on this for bad it's like a year and a half ago um is Mike Trussell has has been willing to adapt his his scheme adapt his Personnel according to the actual positional advantages and disadvantages he has on the field what what tonight showed me was that I I don't know that this team necessarily understood what its positional advantages or disadvantages would or maybe doesn't understand exactly how to cover out uh football defense is mostly a weak link system um and so if you have one weak spot offenses particularly in college right where where it's a lot easier to just pick on one guy over and over um you you either really need as a defensive coordinator to really try to cover up that that one spot or you just kind of got to live with it and and in this case I don't think that the the off the defensive staff staff really knows very well how to cover up its deficiencies right now because I think there are maybe more deficiencies than they than they knew about um again this is one data point maybe we're wrong but yeah I I expected more from the linebackers I expected more from I mean even Daryl Peterson who I do don't think looked great tonight um yeah I I I think clearly based on the switch at at times of of their defensive front was based on the fact that they didn't know exactly what they needed to be doing to get the most out of the defense um on offense if you are going to need 16 play drives multiple times in a game to get into the Red Zone let let alone actually punch the ball in for a touchdown you're not going to be really successful against the rest of the schedule if this team cannot generate explosive plays against the likes of Wester Michigan which it did not I I what was the longest play from scrimmage tonight that would be an interesting question if anybody listening uh care cares cares to find that so I don't just have to scroll through uh the PDF that um the athletic department sent me um if you're not able to generate explosive plays against Western Michigan you're not going to win like rough but winnable games against teams like Iowa you're going to have a hard time against teams like Nebraska might have a hard time against teams like Minnesota Grant Minnesota looked awful awful the the um the night prior to to the Badgers game uh against North Carolina but regardless um 16 play drives to get into the Red Zone and not even cash in on all of them oh my gosh granted there is some like Dink and dunk factor that was fun to watch at at times like as as a little bit of like a football sicko Nut Job of seeing like yeah Tyler van djk wasn't phenomenal but but seeing the offense whether it's Tyler van djk find finding folks in short yardage situations it's chz Maly or to toi Walker you know grinding out for a few yards granted they really had to grind out for a few yards and and didn't get a ton of help from their offensive line to do it that there's there's something God like disgustingly enjoyable about that but it just felt like such a slog to watch this offense against the Western Michigan defense that I didn't think was very good this Western Michigan defense remember this Western Michigan defense just lost a first round NFL draft pick the Western Michigan Broncos are down a first round NFL draft pick and this Badger offense barely barely put 28 points up on it Tyler streuber oh my God this is worse number than I thought it was longest play Tyler Van Dyke to will Pauling for 17 yards no way hey are you kidding me 17 yards that's your most explosive play of the night holy moly uh Tyler thank you very much that is bad oh my god you're kidding this not fun um yeah I I I wanted to get it and get get thoughts off my off my chest um Tyler also ask to stress all Jack of all trades master of none is it better to have someone like Leonard who does one scheme really well or have adaptability of trestle I I I don't know I'm not entirely sure I I I think that in in the way that Luke fickle wants to recruit which is getting like explosive athletes on the defensive side of the ball uh I think it's better to have somebody like Trestle who can like mix and match the these these chess pieces and when you have slightly better athletes at one position than another the the idea being that he can take advantage of of those particular positional um advantages better I is is more helpful uh so so I think that's that's the advantage of a Mike Trussell versus a Jim Leonard there uh I'm I'm just going to keep taking a couple more questions um before I wrap up here I'm literally in Kon Haru right now like no reason I should be doing this um longest run tonight was ktie aelia with 12 yards yeah it was a lot of grinding out for ches Lucy and sweet Walker and I said this um in a group chat during during the game which was like if the Batters are going to keep having to grind out 16 yard runs or 16 16 play drives chz Mali is going to get hurt again and not because chz mey is even injury-prone but just because like guys in the running back room are going to get banged up and yeah I think the running back room is deep I think the running back room as a whole might be better than last year's but you really want to test that depth because you can't grind like because you have to grind out drives because you can't break off explosive runs to shorten drives uh uh Chris saysi really don't know how to feel about this it felt so intentionally vanilla that became entirely predictable I if it is the case that is so intentionally vanilla I still think that's an indictment on your football team um I think it's an indictment on the now what seems to be a 2year run of failure by the staff to appropriately and accurately evaluate the quality of its roster this staff should not come into a game against anybody at this point and expect to be able to get that opponent to roll over there's no reason you saw nothing nothing in year one of the Luke fle era to indicate that th this this team can simply dispose of any opponent in the country we we have seen nothing under the staff to indicate that and so if this staff wants to come in with a vanilla game plan and I would need to go back and watch rewatch this game in Frank I don't think we're going to get the chance to before South Dakota and maybe maybe that's a good thing maybe this is a burn the tape game I'm not sure um I'm not going chance to because I'm not even getting back to theit to the United States till late on Monday um but if if this team really thinks that it can get away with the vanilla game plan against anybody in the country you have you have misunderstood what the quality of your roster is you you you haven't understood it and and you need to start figuring out how to not start slow in in games like these and and get and just dispose of opponents that you should be it was like the Nebraska game last year right like similar similar tiers of teams in the Big 10 at this point in time but that Wisconsin team I think was still pretty firmly better than it than Nebraska was last year and required what felt like a miraculous comeback to finish that off like a grinded Out gross game and had a gross game against Buffalo in week one a year ago like it started slow and couldn't get it act together against Washington State uh JM I had tickets to the W versus USC game I just sold them save myself and my family the embarrassment this team is pathetic holy um fair enough not gonna tell you what games to go to not gonna tell you to do with your with your money um I'm not in that business um fair I I don't know what this game game's gonna look like um like I said my season preview episode which oh my gosh I guess it's Saturday now dropped yesterday morning Friday Friday morning uh I I think I I guess going into yesterday I said Wisconsin would win that game but I have it as a W for for win but with more of a question mark than exclamation point to the side of it if if Wisconsin actually looks this bad at the trenches I was not convinced about how high the quality was of USC in the trenches on either side of the ball but if Wisconsin looks this bad I don't think USC is g to look that bad the G is about blocking attack yeah this team is pathetic I I don't know that I'd go that far but it it was not an inspiring performance uh Tyler again at what point is fickle no longer able to pitch his vision to recruits and have it work if the tape keeps looking like this it's not going to be for much longer so yes this is I think the big question about the long-term trajectory of of the program um is how long does Luke fickle get the benefit of the doubt to pitch the hey I brought a group of five te to the four te playoff we can do bigger things at Wisconsin you've heard of Wisconsin they're a national brand you remember not that long ago they were in three straight New Year six bowls you might remember when when you were oh gosh I was going to say you might remember when like you were a kid but I mean at this point these kids are pretty young they might not remember this but I was going to say you might remember when you were a kid the time they went to three straight Rose bows hey we're the best college town in America but like at a certain point the results have to speak for themselves I don't I don't know recruiting is weird um every kid kind of wants something different I I don't know that we have a a perfect answer to this uh lockon Badgers Ryan um he had a great live not tonight as well um USC has more dudes on the defensive line I think that's probably true um I think where I'm I'm interested to see them too is on the opposite side of the ball um in the trenches and seeing their um what the Run game is like because I'm not convinced that like Miller Moss is going to be anything spectacular at starting quarterback for them because he had one really great game um but I am interested to see what the offense looks like potentially for um for Lincoln Riley who doesn't have like a Heisman Contender uh at quarterback for for the first time in forever but if they have a running back um who who can carry the ball really well um and catch the ball out of the back field some too that that might be a big um one up to them uh so that'll be exciting and they also have uh I mean they're coming in replacing good trunk of production from like marshan Lloyd who's now in the Green Bay Packers and Austin Jones um but who who is the um what is the name of the Mississippi State transfer running back that is there I cannot remember right now I talked about him on yesterday's show but I I'll remember it anyway um Ryan also lock b says recing some funny thing good recruiters can recruit they just Al to the pitch playing time becomes the pitch instead of nates yeah I mean that's the thing I was saying before right of you know every every kid kind of wants something something different that's where it's at these days um yeah I don't know oh jaquavius marks that is kid out of Mississippi State um yeah I this was a rough game I I don't I don't know I I don't think this is a burden the tape game I really don't I think there's stuff to learn here um I I I don't think you can burn the Special Teams tape I really don't think you can burn the Special Teams tape in particular and that's not even thing we've talked about you had a a four as much as was actually like for as much as you can say oh Wisconsin got unlucky on special teams maybe they they would have won by more if Western Michigan hadn't pulled off this fake field goal first of all it's not unlucky to be the victim of a successful fake field goal um that means you messed up like schematically someone messed up and I I again I'm on vacation I in Mexico um I haven't gotten a chance to go back and look at you know where where the actual schematic mess up was on on that fake field goal but like most times that's exploiting some schematic weakness on on your team and yeah there isn't a year of tape right now to actually exploit something very specifically on a fake field goal attempt on this team but most of the time if a team is converting a fake field goal like that it's because your your unit has messed up also punt that got bobbled and gave you free possession in the Red Zone also you as the Wisconsin Badgers picked up a uh fumble on your own kick return for for his like fun as tret Kakuna looks on on punt returns and that's and that's great in a Bo special teams too you you can't have anybody going out there and potentially giving away a possession uh on on a crck return that's the worst thing you can do yeah like not not fun any any phase the ball uh Tyler again if you could pick one thing for them to improve on from this week to next week what would it be I think it would be what I had asked for coming into this game on offense was that I thought that Wisconsin could win this game by simply leaning on its Run game and obviously it was a little bit more difficult than um I I thought it would be for them to just win by leaning on the running game but that's kind of how they won and what I wanted to see this week was this team be proficient enough on offense I don't think this happened anyway but for them to be proficient enough on offense that they could challenge themselves to do some things that were a little bit hard like actually establish what passing game looked like a little bit and I think they did do that a little bit later in the game right it seemed like will Pauling settled settled into his routes uh a little bit more cleanly for example Bryson Green looked uh better as the game went on but probably was the best receiver in this game um RIT large uh but I would like to see this team against some of the Lesser competition actually showcase some ability to put the ball through the air um the pun I said to to somebody else earlier today was like I would like to see this offense showcase that it it can get uh it off the ground right metaphorically and literally metaphorically off the ground to a higher tier right uh but by passing the ball off the ground out out of the running game so literally also um that didn't really happen in this game I I would like to see that happen next game I I I I think the defense is just going to be challenged to figure out what its best Personnel groupings are going to be what its best Personnel like alignments by the actual players themselves on the field the names as well as um yeah as as well as the alignments is it going to be Twan front is it going to be a thre man front like whatever I I don't know that that I don't know the number on the front matters as much at this point as the the names on the field but I I think the defense is get to just like has to take some time to figure that out because I don't coming out of this game I'm not convinced that this staff knows very well what what that is and I I don't think that off this one data point we know very well what that best 11 on on the field is either um but so if it's one thing that I have to pick because I don't think the defensive thing is gonna be fixed next week I I I don't it's gonna be it's gonna be rough still I I don't I can't imagine it's gonna be as rough as this as this week against South Dakota but like it'll be a challenge the Alabama game is going to suck uh um and then you go into the rest of these games and hope that like against USC the the defense kind of has an idea of what it needs to be by then uh but next week I I would want them to showcase the ability to pass the ball push the ball downfield generate some kind of explosive plays um because otherwise this this is just G to be bad it's gonna be bad it's GNA be really really really really really rough um yeah I not gonna be fun um anyway uh I'm I'm going to go to bed because it's it's too late uh to do this uh I want to thank y'all for for tuning in live uh this is great uh thank you for tuning into the Scot sixpack podcast wherever you listen to podcasts uh you can find us on YouTube Spotify youtube.com 6pack Spotify uh the scny 6pack wherever you listen to podcast Never Too Late Ryan it is too late when I I am I am on vacation I've been up um partaking in vacation activities all day um um this was fun I mentioned earlier in the feed this week uh for some of our pre-recorded shows that I might have a a green bed Packer season preview out on Monday don't think that's gonna happen but we're going to be back in the feed on Tuesday um um we're gonna be back in feed on Tuesday at at some point in time unless something crazy happens I'm not recording another D podcast from Mexico it's not happening um the fact that I had to do this at all is absurd um I'm your host Kendrick somus I cover the Wisconsin Badgers for all Badgers and Athlon Sports you can find me on the website formerly known as Twitter Kedrick stumbris and follow the podcast at scy sixpack for the latest updates in Wisconsin Sports while you're here hit the like button really helps hit the Subscribe button we've had a lot of growth in the last like a month or so and it's really awesome to see really awesome to see um I really appreciate it really appreciate all of you staying up watching this late uh enjoying your Friday night uh enjoying your long Labor Day weekend like go go have a great time this weekend seriously uh this is one of the best times of the year college football is just starting uh we're gonna have college hockey college basketball very soon enjoy enjoy a good weekend with your family before things get uh really really nuts uh always good to see all of you always good to talk with all you and until we talk to you again on Tuesday I'm Wisconsin