Posts Tagged ‘Wisconsin’
All’s Fair in Love, War and Recruiting
By Paul Myerberg // Feb 3, 2012
Forget about the fact that Urban Meyer has only been at Ohio State for two months, because it doesn’t matter. Ignore the fact that he’s still seven months away from actually leading the Buckeyes onto the field in a game that counts, because it doesn’t mean a thing. Meyer may be new in town, but that hasn’t stopped him from climbing into the head of nearly every coach in the Big Ten, thanks to a national signing day haul that left all but Michigan’s Brady Hoke in the dust. It’s Hoke, after all, who went toe-to-toe with Ohio State’s newly-minted recruiting giant and more than held his own; it’s also Hoke, reached for comment yesterday, who told an Ohio television station that recruits who have given another program their verbal commitment are still fair game.
Tags: Brady Hoke, Bret Bielema, Mark Dantonio, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Recruiting, Urban Meyer, Wisconsin
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Bielema Trusts His Sources on Canada
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 18, 2012
Bret Bielema may know fairly well Matt Canada on a personal level, but it’s what he’s seen and heard of his new offensive coordinator that separated Canada’s candidacy from the 11 other coaches Wisconsin interviewed for this key vacancy. Canada, formerly of Northern Illinois, will replace Paul Chryst in title but do his best to keep the Badgers’ Chryst-led train running at full steam; reached for comment by the Journal Sentinel, Bielema may it patently clear that Canada will not run a spread offense, such as he did with the Huskies, but rather a familiar pro-style attack.
Tags: Bret Bielema, Dave Doeren, Matt Canada, Northern Illinois, Paul Chryst, Thomas Hammock, Wisconsin
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Criticized, But O’Brien’s Move May Pay Off
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 18, 2012
Tom O’Brien is often criticized for his cautious approach, so it was ironic that the catcalls and criticism continued when he played things fast and loose, exchanging Russell Wilson for Mike Glennon after the former failed to heed the line drawn in the sand. To O’Brien, if you recall, Wilson’s place on the team hinged on his availability for spring practice; Wilson, in turn, exchanged 15 practices with the Wolfpack for another shot at minor league baseball within the Colorado Rockies’ organization. When Wilson failed to show up, O’Brien cut him loose — and six months later, Wilson was setting N.C.A.A. records as the quarterback at Wisconsin.
Tags: Mike Glennon, N.C. State, Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
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Alonso Works His Way to Rose Bowl Hero
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 3, 2012
The Rose Bowl’s staid history has never seen an offensive explosion quite like the show put on by Oregon and Wisconsin: 83 combined points, a bowl record, 1,129 yards of total offense, one single yard shy of the bowl’s record, and little in the form of defense, minus three big moments from the Ducks over the game’s final 16 minutes. The Oregon defense? The offense did the heavy lifting, yes, but the defense stood tall when it counted. These defensive stands provided the tipping point, the moments that tip the balanced scales in the Ducks’ direction, and none stands taller than Kiko Alonso’s interception of a Russell Wilson pass in the third quarter.
Tags: Chip Kelly, Kiko Alonso, Nick Aliotti, Oregon, Rose Bowl, Wisconsin
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Offense Leads, But Defense Wins Games
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 2, 2012
Good pitching may trump good hitting, but good offense — a great, otherworldly pair of offenses, actually — trumps good defense. Except when it counts, in the late third and early fourth quarters: Oregon’s defense chose that time to button things up, turning a rapid-fire offensive shootout into a Rose Bowl that quickly turned in its favor. The game still ended with a Rose Bowl record for total points, 83, not to mention more than 1,000 yards of total offense. Oregon’s offense still rolled like the juggernaut it has become over the last three seasons. Wisconsin’s wonderful one-year rental continued to exceed all expectations. But there’s a valuable lesson to take from Pasadena: defense wins games.
Tags: Chip Kelly, Darron Thomas, Kiko Alonso, Oregon, Rose Bowl, Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
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Rose Bowl Halftime: Oregon 28, U.W. 28
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 2, 2012
It’s true that you can’t settle for field goals against a team like Oregon, but that raises a key question. What does it mean to settle, anyway? Settling means calling on the field goal team from the doorstep, with the nose of the bull inches away from Oregon’s goal line. Right? Settling does not mean taking points when they’re offered; say what you will about taking field goals over touchdowns, but when you’re playing an Oregon, doesn’t every point count?
Tags: Darron Thomas, Kiko Alonso, Louis Nzegwu, Mike Taylor, Oregon, Rose Bowl, Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
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So What if it Was 1997, Not 2011?
By Paul Myerberg // Dec 8, 2011
On Monday, Boise State’s Chris Petersen told local reporters that “everyone was tired of the B.C.S. system.” Petersen is wrong: not everyone is tired of the B.C.S. system. Why, Frank Beamer likes it just fine, thank you. As does Michigan and Brady Hoke. Alabama adores the B.C.S., as you’d think, and so does the SEC as a whole. The entire B.C.S. conference landscape has little issue with the B.C.S. in its current formation, and this year’s B.C.S. slate has done little to diminish those feelings of content. It’s the little guys, the Boise States of the world, who aren’t exactly tickled pink. But what if the B.C.S. didn’t exist? What if we were back in the old bowl system, the pre-B.C.S. days? Would that make everyone happy?
Tags: Alabama, Arkansas State, B.C.S., Boise State, Chris Petersen, L.S.U., Louisiana Tech, Missouri, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Wisconsin
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P.S.R. 1-120: Week 15 Re-Ranking
By Paul Myerberg // Dec 5, 2011
With the weekend in the books, here’s a look at how the country ranks — using the original rankings as the starting point, with the season’s results as rationale for any movement. The top 25 teams land a one-sentence breakdown. The rest? Not so much. Part of the perks of being one of the best. Think your team is too low? Feel another team deserves more credit, less credit? Let’s hear it below. It’s a delicate ranking process, but with one games left in the regular season, this is just about as good as it’s going to get.
Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Boise State, Houston, Iowa State, L.S.U., Oklahoma State, Oregon, South Carolina, Southern Mississippi, Stanford, U.S.C., Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Wyoming
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