Badgers lose Rose Bowl To The Ducks

[FlaPack]

I look at where the Badgers came from, over the last two decades. We went from a door mat to a competitor in the Big 10. The program has grown slowly, and may or may not have peaked. I don't know for sure. But I do know one thing. I wouldn't trade one year of Wisconsin's high standards for a national championship.

To me, seeing the Badgers make it back to the Rose Bowl in a year most people saw them winning 8 games proves that the program may not be the best "football mill" in American, but it's sure one helluva scrappy bunch of people on the field, and sidelines, and that's what it's all about in my eyes.

I took no pride in watching our American NBA basketball players going to the Olympics for the first time. Watching them humiliate other teams because they were seasoned veterans, playing against guys that mostly did it for pride. It didn't make me feel good about myself, and country.

But, what did make me feel good was our 1980 US Men's Olympic hockey team. Watching them beat the Russians, and win the gold, was the most memorable thing I've ever seen in hockey, and amateur sports. I was with several friends, and as big and tough as we all were, being cops, not one of us had a dry eye.

I see the Badgers in that light. The guy that's trying to get up that hill. If he don't make it, and he's doing his best, to me, his story is more important than the story of a team of idiot jocks who can't even sign their name, lining up to play for Football U, and actually thinking they really played as a team of guys who achieved something special.

My cousin played for the Badgers in a Rose Bowl. He died a bunch of years back. But to the last, the #1 thing he had outside of God and family that meant so much to him was being part of a bunch of guys who made that elusive trip, which too few Badgers have ever made.

Anyhow. Call me a homer if you want. I'll always hope for better recruiting, but never hope for lower standards, because when you win, with high standards, you're special.

I get that and I agree on most of this but your not sacrificing higher standard to allow partial qualifiers. We did in the 90’s and early part of this decade but stopped that practice.

 

[oakleaf]

Correct me if I don't have these college rules right...

(1) If a DB gets in front of the receiver and pushes the receiver, the receiver cannot touch him, he must go around him or it’s offensive PI.

(2) If a ref determines there was an “intent to hold" by a DB on a receiver it's a defensive PI.

I think I'm getting it!

 

[57packer]

I tend to not trust star ratings, so much is what schools offer that some 3 star kids especially in the south tend to be overlooked so more upside. I just think allowing partial qualifiers gives you a better shot and might put more kids in play

I don't trust star ratings to tell me how an individual player will turn out but you have to have some way to measure. Plus, if you look at the team ratings by someone like 247 Sports things have some fair correlation. The teams in the playoff are almost always teams who have more 5 and 4 star recruits. Teams that don't make the top-10 in the team rankings consistently, are rarely seen in the playoffs.

Now, what they don't tell you is how a program will rise or fall from those rankings. There are consistent under-performers like Texas, Michigan, Ole Miss and Florida State. It's clearly more than just recruiting highly ranked kids. You do need consistent coaching and team building. Some teams, like Wisconsin, seem to consistently rise above their recruiting rankings. Still, in the end the stars will give us a rough indication of who will be in the playoff hunt. Odds are high it won't be a team that ranked in the 20's the past 4 years.

 

[Crease Creature]

The penalties called and not called at the end are what's going to linger, what'll burn more for me on this Rose Bowl is that we were the clearly better team but couldn't stop giving the ball away, and then tack on all the (legit) penalties on top of that. The Badgers were good enough to overcome Oregon and the officials, so long as they didn't shoot themselves in the foot. Well, they did. Four times. That'll hurt.

 

[oakleaf]

The penalties called and not called at the end are what's going to linger, what'll burn more for me on this Rose Bowl is that we were the clearly better team but couldn't stop giving the ball away, and then tack on all the (legit) penalties on top of that. The Badgers were good enough to overcome Oregon and the officials, so long as they didn't shoot themselves in the foot. Well, they did. Four times. That'll hurt.

I have never, in all my long years of enjoying football, seen a punter drop the ball like that. And then the next fumble was the killer. The dagger was the called OPI.