• New here? Register here now for access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Plus, stay connected and follow BP on Instagram @buckeyeplanet and Facebook.

Wisconsin - possibly BCS-worthy?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
plum diamonds buckeye planet
Sort by date Sort by votes
IF OSU and scUM weren't 1 and 2 in the nation, I'd say yes they are probably BCS Worthy. They are playing like a top 10 team and unlike some other ranked teams I could mention, they are beating who they should beat.

That said, they won't sniff a BCS Bowl bid unless something drastic happens both in the polls and in the Big Ten. The computers for the BCS clearly don't love them very much (their OOC schedule really hurts them) and they've already lost to Michigan.
 
Upvote 0
The job Bielema has done in his first season is actually quite remarkable.
Wisconsin started the season in the media-free zone known as a 26-50 ranking.
Wisconsin started with significant question marks, particularly in the rushing game, where pundits figured Calhoun's graduation and the loss of Booker Stanley would mute their trademark ground game - well, hello PJ Hill.
Through the first 8 games Wisconsin's rank in key areas is on a par with or ahead of their ranking through the full season and bowl game from last year.
Total Offense
Last Year - 45th national ranking -- This Year - ranked 23rd.
Rushing Offense
Last year ranked 37th with 168.15 YPG -- This year ranked 13th nationally, with 196.25 YPG
Pass Offense is down from last year by 26 YPG at 202 YPG, but merits a ranking of 59th nationally vs 50th last year.
The big change?
Total Defense.
Last year they ranked 92nd nationally (48th in Scoring Defense)
This year - 7th nationally, with a better than respectable 4th national ranking in Scoring Defense.
The one factor acting as a drag on Wisonsin's rise in the rankings? Their SOS. They accumulated these stats against a slate that is more milque toast than murderers row. OOC they have faced Bowling Green (away) and hosted Western Illinois and SD State, they close the season out by hosting Buffalo. In Big 10 play they have victories over Indiana (away), Northwestern, Minnesota, and Purdue (away). Their one loss is to Michigan in Ann Arbor, first half close, second half, meh, not so good.
Remaining on schedule are games against Illinois, Penn State and Iowa (away). Only the last may tell us if they deserve a Top 10 ranking.
As I wondered in the Clemson thread - where should Wisconsin be properly ranked? Top-10? I'm not totally sold on that with the offensive output and SOS questions, but they are certainly going to be higher than the past ranking I gave them of #17, and they have no business whatsoever being as low as #21 on the totem pole (which is typical of their current ranking in the BCS calculation polls).
 
Upvote 0
DaddyBigBucks;640383; said:
have to admit that Wiscy's schedule is a disgrace for a program that won 3 Rose Bowls in the 90s.
Click to expand...


I agree. I looked at Wisconsin's schedule, and I was surprised to see that the only decent team on it was scUM, a game that they lost. They're this year's version of the 2005 Oregon Ducks--a team that compiles a good record b/c they only have one hard game on their schedule, a game that they lose.
 
Upvote 0
buckeyeboy;640484; said:
I agree. I looked at Wisconsin's schedule, and I was surprised to see that the only decent team on it was scUM, a game that they lost. They're this year's version of the 2005 Oregon Ducks--a team that compiles a good record b/c they only have one hard game on their schedule, a game that they lose.
Click to expand...

That's not fair. And Wisconsin was supposed to play Oregon State instead of Western Illinois, out of conference, but Oregon State bailed on that game. I agree that Wisconsin's out of conference schedule was about as bad as it gets, but it doesn't define the team. They aren't who they beat. And they've beat everybody they should have easily. They gave Michigan a game for most of that match. Their defense stands alone and is fantastic regardless of who they played. Michigan was basically gifted points in the first half of that game due to a muffed punt and the referees. In the 2nd half, Michigan couldn't score until their defense forced a few 3 and outs and the Wisconsin defense got worn down. That's what you have to do to beat Wisconsin this year. Wear out the defense by overwhelming the offense with a good defense of your own. Therefore you need great balance to beat Wisconsin this season. Purdue could only do it on one side of the ball, thus they got handled easily by Wisconsin. It was the first time Purdue was held to single digits in three years. The Wisconsin defense is one of the top 5 in the nation, the offense is decent, and I'd feel very confident against one dimensional teams like West Virginia and Notre Dame.
 
Upvote 0
This year, the BCS is expanding to 10 teams for the first time, but that doesn't allow for three from any one conference to make the cut? Seems like the expansion is just asking for more mediocre teams to make the games, especially if a third-place team in the Big Ten, SEC, ACC (traditionally), or Big Twelve (traditionally) cannot participate. It is quite possible for a second-place team in the SEC to have two losses (and make the BCS), but for the third place team to have only one loss (on account of the championship game).
 
Upvote 0
Bernini;640580; said:
That's not fair. And Wisconsin was supposed to play Oregon State instead of Western Illinois, out of conference, but Oregon State bailed on that game. I agree that Wisconsin's out of conference schedule was about as bad as it gets, but it doesn't define the team. They aren't who they beat. And they've beat everybody they should have easily. They gave Michigan a game for most of that match. Their defense stands alone and is fantastic regardless of who they played. Michigan was basically gifted points in the first half of that game due to a muffed punt and the referees. In the 2nd half, Michigan couldn't score until their defense forced a few 3 and outs and the Wisconsin defense got worn down. That's what you have to do to beat Wisconsin this year. Wear out the defense by overwhelming the offense with a good defense of your own. Therefore you need great balance to beat Wisconsin this season. Purdue could only do it on one side of the ball, thus they got handled easily by Wisconsin. It was the first time Purdue was held to single digits in three years. The Wisconsin defense is one of the top 5 in the nation, the offense is decent, and I'd feel very confident against one dimensional teams like West Virginia and Notre Dame.
Click to expand...

I agree that a team's schedule does not define them. But neither does their statistical ranking. Put the two together and you have something. A top-5 statistical ranking against that schedule does not mean that a team has a top-5 defense.

Wisconsin is good, but top 5 in the nation on defense??

I prefer OSU, Michigan, LSU, Florida and Auburn. There are others that I would rank ahead of Wisconsin, but I don't want this thread to become all about that. I just feel that if you claim someone isn't in the top X teams, that you should be able to name X teams that you think are better.
 
Upvote 0
DaddyBigBucks;640711; said:
I agree that a team's schedule does not define them. But neither does their statistical ranking. Put the two together and you have something. A top-5 statistical ranking against that schedule does not mean that a team has a top-5 defense.

Wisconsin is good, but top 5 in the nation on defense??

I prefer OSU, Michigan, LSU, Florida and Auburn. There are others that I would rank ahead of Wisconsin, but I don't want this thread to become all about that. I just feel that if you claim someone isn't in the top X teams, that you should be able to name X teams that you think are better.
Click to expand...

Easily a top 5 defense. I was being conservative when I said that. I'm not basing it primarily on stats, although the stats are great (#1 in the nation in pass defense efficiency). I was hyping up the Wisconsin defense before the season, I predicted them to be great, and they may have even exceeded my expectations. And I'm not a guy who just hypes everything Badgers. I didn't think PJ Hill would be all that great and the passing game would be horrible. But Hill has obviously turned out to be pretty good and the passing game is at least serviceable. But the defense doesn't have one below average player or maybe even average player. When scout went through their rankings of the top defensive players in the big ten by position, 3 of 11 were Badgers (Rogers, Zalewski, and Stellmacher). And they probably haven't been among the top Wisconsin defenders. Those would be: CB Jack Ikegwonu, LB Jonathan Casillas, LB DeAndre Levy, DT Jason Chapman, and DT Nick Hayden. By the way, all 5 return next year, 8 total on the defense, and Elijah Hodge for Zalewski at middle linebacker is pretty much an even switch. Add in a probable upgrade at QB with Kansas State transfer Allan Evridge taking over for John Stocco, with a weapons like Marcus Randle El (returning from injury) and young receivers like Daven Jones (Buckeye planet knows about him); and as a team you have a BCS favorite. If most of Michigan and tOSU players don't jump to the pros next season, we might really see how big of a joke the rule is that the BCS won't allow more than 2 teams from a single conference. Because I would bet that 3 of the top 8 teams in the country next year will play in the big ten.
 
Upvote 0
JonathanXC;641001; said:
i'll be very surprised if Wisconsin ends up 11-1.
Click to expand...

I'd be shocked if they end up worse than 10-2 and lose to Penn St. The only reason that Iowa would beat us is that it's at Iowa and they beat us even when we are better (like last year).
 
Upvote 0
HabaneroBuck;640625; said:
Seems like the expansion is just asking for more mediocre teams to make the games,
Click to expand...

That's exactly what the expansion is for. They made it much easier for non-BCS-conference teams to make it to the BCS. I think all of the non-BCS-conference teams enter a raffle. The winner gets a BCS-bowl game. And if they call the coin-toss correctly, a second non-BCS-team gets into a BCS-bowl game.

I think there should be a cut-off rank for the BCS. If you're ranked 12 or higher, or 16 or higher, or whatever, you don't get a BCS bid. I don't care if you just won the ACC or the SEC or the Big XII championship game - if you have 4 losses and you're ranked #20, you lose out, and that conference loses its automatic-bid. Have fun in the Walnut Bowl. Just my 1-1/2 cents.
 
Upvote 0
Zurp;641187; said:
That's exactly what the expansion is for. They made it much easier for non-BCS-conference teams to make it to the BCS. I think all of the non-BCS-conference teams enter a raffle. The winner gets a BCS-bowl game. And if they call the coin-toss correctly, a second non-BCS-team gets into a BCS-bowl game.

I think there should be a cut-off rank for the BCS. If you're ranked 12 or higher, or 16 or higher, or whatever, you don't get a BCS bid. I don't care if you just won the ACC or the SEC or the Big XII championship game - if you have 4 losses and you're ranked #20, you lose out, and that conference loses its automatic-bid. Have fun in the Walnut Bowl. Just my 1-1/2 cents.
Click to expand...
Come on Zurp, you know it's not all being done to accomodate two non-BCS teams. It's to accomodate one non-BCS conference team and glorious ole' Notre Dame! The ND provision is that they are an automatic selection if they're eight or higher. The non-BCS conference provision is if they're ranked 12 or higher, and it is explicitly stated in the BCS selection/eligibility rules that it doesn't matter how many teams from non-BCS conferences wind up ranked that high, only one will get an automatic berth (except for Notre Dame, of course, because they're special).

Whatever. I don't care. Boise State will get run off the field by a real defense just like what happened at Georgia last year, and Notre Dame in a BCS Bowl simply means 20 million more viewers will witness them get stomped on live TV by an OSU. The Big Ten has been a huge beneficiary of the BCS, putting two teams into BCS bowls in five of its eight years (98, 99, 02, 03, 05). With the expansion to ten teams, the odds of the Big Ten placing two teams in the BCS every single season just got even better. On top of that, stealing an at large BCS slot helps ensure that every bowl eligible team in the Big Ten will have somewhere to play in December or January.
 
Upvote 0
Link

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2] Pete Barth column: Badgers' non-league slate a joke [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]It's entirely possible (maybe even probable) that Wisconsin will win out and finish the regular season with a sparkling 11-1 record ? and a top-10 spot in the polls. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]While that would certainly be a wonderful way for Bret Bielema to begin his career as a head coach, it would arguably be the most misleading, inflated 11-1 record of all time. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hey, the Badgers are playing good football. No doubt about that. And they can't help the fact that the lower half of the Big Ten is as putrid as it's ever been. Wisconsin victims Indiana, Northwestern, Minnesota and Purdue are currently a combined 14-19 overall. This week's sacrificial lamb, Illinois, is 2-6. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But what Wisconsin can help is who it schedules for non-conference games each season. And this year, the Badgers should be absolutely red-faced with embarrassment. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bowling Green (4-4), Western Illinois (3-5), San Diego State (1-5) and Buffalo (1-6) is not a non-conference slate ? it's a joke. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Meanwhile, top 20 teams Texas and Nebraska schedule intriguing non-conference home-and-homes with monsters Ohio State and USC respectively (unfairly falling, by the way, in the rankings after they lose). [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Maybe Wisconsin is smart. A top-10 finish and a handsome bowl berth are great prizes. The end justifies the means, right? [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But the Badgers' fan base should demand better. College football should be about great games, not trumped-up final records. [/FONT]
 
Upvote 0
osugrad21;644915; said:
Link

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2]Pete Barth column: Badgers' non-league slate a joke [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Meanwhile, top 20 teams Texas and Nebraska schedule intriguing non-conference home-and-homes with monsters Ohio State and USC respectively (unfairly falling, by the way, in the rankings after they lose).[/FONT]
Click to expand...

Is he saying Texas should have gone up in the rankings after they lost? They should be the new #1 team?
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top