What did we learn? Wiscy Edition

We apparently have no answer for the QB run.   The guy wasn't that athletic, but we kept whiffing.  He also had a bad hand which left him susceptible to turnovers had we gotten some decent hits.

We can't seem to find decent kickers or punters anymore. 

Apparently, our OC and head coach think the end of the game last week and this week were the same situation when they were entirely different. 

 
I learned from the national broadcasters that Chubba Purdy had a great fall camp, and the only reason he hadn't been in the QB mix was a lingering groin injury. 

Does anyone here remember Chubba Purdy's lingering groin injury? And being told that was the reason he was an active but unused third stringer? 

 
Learned that the only fans Rhule should listen to our me and my family. ;)

Seriously, I had no problem with actually trying to score a TD at end of last week's game. However, I would not be surprised if the criticism about that interception informed how they treated end of game yesterday. Either Rhule allows criticism to affect the game plan or between him and Satterfield they are just terrible at end-of-half game management. 

 
I learned alot

I learned i dont like watching the games anymore,  Over the past 20 or so years when things have gotten tougher and tougher it becomes harder and harder to watch.  For me personally that comes with a hand full of things.  It was never the end of november when we were deciding of making a bowl game was possible or not.  But the worse and worse the team gets harder and harder it is to sustain things.  And so now we are playing close in games, games in which 7 years ago we were blowing out these teams and now we barely hang on.  Where it used to be just 3 or 4 chest clenchers a year its all 12 now.  And what was worse this year is that it seemed like we had a chance but we fall short.  We always fall short anymore.  

Coach Rhule looks tired.  Even if we lose on friday it would be one of the fastest turnarounds hes had yet.  From seeing the dime nor he has had the past 3 games i think hes tired of us fans s#!t.  He isnt used to being scrutinized this much, that im sure of.  Even if its what hes paid to do you would get sick of turning in the best report you could of done and all your boss does is talk about the grammar.  

I think were ugly fans,  i honestly see how we talk and treat these people on social media is just sad.  I hate how we are ready to string up Sat on the goalpost even though there is no answer on who or what to replace him with.  Just fire him and lets move on but no one has any time or patience for the next guy either.  Ive seen this for years now on here and on social media.

I dont know how much of a fan i am of this anymore,  its not the fact of winning an being a winner if that were the case id just bandwagon any of the other regular top 10 teams.  It can be just as simple as buying a hat and watching a game.  Its that this has me more upset than ive been in a while.  Is that the hope it takes to watch someone fix themselves and all you can do is cheer on the sidelines.  You can truly do nothing to help because there is nothing that you can do.  

I honestly do think we play football just fine, i think there is something else, some type of lingering thing that just keeps holding on here.  None of those trophys they see mean anything to them, none of the past holds any weight here.  In this new place, in our new place.  Theres a reason we are holding on to those losing records, why those things linger.  Like old people talking bout the war that no one was old enough to experience but were to put a dot behind it and put some respect when we talk about it.  I think i like the off season more, because with hope you can at least be surprised by what may or may not happen.  

Lots of Hope but alot of despair also



 
Guy Chamberlin said:
I learned from the national broadcasters that Chubba Purdy had a great fall camp, and the only reason he hadn't been in the QB mix was a lingering groin injury. 

Does anyone here remember Chubba Purdy's lingering groin injury? And being told that was the reason he was an active but unused third stringer? 
Click to expand...


Undone said:
No, to me it seems like it's only come out in the last week and a half but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Rhule has been saying he was "banged up" all season. I think we all assumed it was a shoulder injury or something upper body.

 
Also, I'm genuinely baffled by people accusing Rhule of over-playing for the tie. The playcalls I saw got Nebraska in position for a game-tying field goal, and the following playcalls were the recommended mix of end zone shots, middle of the field opportunities, and avoiding the risks that would prevent the field goal -- the very thing last week's hand-wringing was all about. The announcers even wondered why Fickell wasn't taking time outs in order to give his offense a last shot, suggesting the time management was designed for a couple legit shots at the touchdown while protecting the field goal while allowing Wisconsin no time to respond. Looked pretty much SOP for most coaches in the same position, though many would have QBs who could throw lasers to an overload of talented receivers operating in tight windows in the end zone, where it's either a touchdown, a stopped clock, or an interception. 

I saw a team come out with its third quarterback of the season and suddenly look efficient and reenergized. Then it seemed to come crashing back to Earth as the favored and probably more talented Wisconsin team playing at Camp Randall reasserted itself. But then the Huskers responded with a crisp 2 minute drill to end the half with what should have been a field goal. Then when momentum totally seemed to shift in the third quarter, the Huskers offense and defense put together some ballsy moments to right the ship and force overtime. 

We're a transitional team playing with a third string quarterback, an inherited OL we already considered disastrous, minus our top two running backs and top three receivers.

Sad we didn't win. Glad we gave ourselves a chance. 

 
I learned that we’ll put a fullback in the game and run an iso on 1st and ten but we won’t do that on 4th and 1 when we need a first down.

I think I learned that 2 minutes of game time with 3 timeouts in your pocket is not nearly enough to bother attempting to score a TD from 30 yards away. Everybody is complaining about clock management but I think it was just a horrible decision to play for the FG.

I had it reaffirmed again that I would not want to be tasked with calling plays with this group of players. The OL is a sieve and the receivers can’t block or run routes and get open. The only thing we can do with any intermittent success is run the ball but that goes out the window as soon as defenses realize all they have to do is load the box and apply pressure.

Opposing defenses arrive in our offensive backfield in the same amount of time as it takes the ball to get to our QBs hands but, going the other way, it takes our D two lifetimes to get to their QB….well, get to him only to miss the tackle.

Our current version of the option looks nothing at all like an actual option play. The decision process seems to be the QB deciding if he wants to get tackled for a 5 yard loss or pitch it back the RB for an 8 yard loss. The option doesn’t and won’t work when the line is getting their s#!t shoved in and the WRs don’t block anybody. And it sure as hell won’t work if our QB is angling backwards instead of running parallel down the line.

It was nice not committing turnovers. Would have been extremely helpful to get at least one takeaway.

Purdy looked purdy good.

 
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Yes all of the details of what people are saying I mostly agree with.  But the bottomline is we are a weak a$$ team in in a weak a$$ division.  We need identity, we need culture. We need physicality.  Why we took the air out of the ball when we had momentum to steal the win at a hated rival’s place was a gutless punk-out and not the culture or identity this team needs. I fully expect to now go the other way against Iowa and go for broke. There’s no consistency because there’s no identity.

Whether we go bowling or not, this off season is huge. The BIG and CFB are being realigned and changed. We run a huge risk of being relegated to the kids table for another 20 years unless we fix culture and identity. It must start upfront.  If we are not a LOS team we are a losing football team. That’s one of the great ironies. We want QB’s like Raiola to play here but his very uncles’s OL is the reason he won’t play here. We can’t go into another season with poor OL play. SmashRaid or bust.

Of the 3 units the defense has gained some identity back.  We lack elite pass rushers and ability to get to the QB.  We need better defenders in the secondary. But the defense is not the reason for our losing season.

Special teams is a mess. You have one job and fail most of the time. It’s time to cut players not cutting it.  
 

Rhule has a tough job. Is he the master rebuilder or not? We are the ultimate test. I have given him lots of leeway this season but the fact is there are 4 losses now piled up that have some inexcusable reasons for losing. We should have won 1 or 2 minimum. Now the team is backed into a corner with having to win on Friday or this season was a failure. Coach speak time is over. You say you want physicality, mental toughness then go out and do it.  
 

SmashRaid or bust.

 
I learned fans have absolutely no idea how clock management works.

I also learned not turning over the ball is not sufficient to win.

Beating a few bad B1G West teams gave the impression we were ahead in the transition, but the reality is this is a multiple year program transformation. Everyone complaining about the coaches conveniently leaves out all the injuries this year. Years two and three are when we'll learn if the rebuild is working.

 
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