That might have been the worst weekend of football I've ever seen involving my teams. Both the Badgers and Packers completely coughed up a hairball. I could grind my axe about both of them, but thankfully the Packers narrowly avoided that because at the very least the stats reflected what happened on Sunday.
Assuming what it reflected was an ass-kicking, well yes it did. But hope springs eternal, right?
Of course, Geritol Fan! I am still feeling the HYYYYYYYPPPEEEEE!, but what I think about the performance of the Badgers will come at a later time. Good news is that we are going to Milwaukee to see the Brew Crew.
Very excited to see the Brew Crew at American Family Field. My first visit there, amazingly enough. And it will be a fun road trip. But we have work to do....
It's time to pick some games and watch me work.
Colorado Buffaloes (+27.5) vs. Minnesota Golden Elite Rowers of the Boat So PJ's guys have looked pretty good. Granted, both of their opponents were cupcakes, but they took care of business, and you can only play what is in front of you. The Buffs have struggled recently, barring a trip to the Pac 12 title game in 2016 and Mel Tucker's one year before he bolted to East Lansing. The Buffs also lost by 31 to Air Force. Nothing against Air Force, as they have a great group of young men who will do great things against bigger enemies, but a Power 5 team shouldn't lose by that much to a Mountain West team, even if the game was in Colorado Springs. The Gophers should cruise, before Big Ten play will tell a lot more about if they are the favorites to win the West. Row Row Row Your Boat Elitely 59, Buffs 0.
In theory, Colorado should give a better performance than the first two victims of the Gophers, but I'm not sure they have a lot going for them now. Just to be a contrarian... Gophers 34, Buffs 17.
New Mexico State Aggies (+37.5) vs. Beloved Wisconsin Badgers Well, last week was a terrible effort in the second half. If that game was in Pullman, then that's one thing. Honestly, I have no idea how good this team is. The good news is that New Mexico State is terrible. They didn't impress me against the Gophers, but Jerry Kill knows how to build up a program. The encouraging thing was that Graham Mertz looked pretty decent before the end, and that's an encouraging sign. A quick reminder, the Badgers have rallied from early holes to be in contention at the end of the year for their goals. Badgers 49, Aggies 21.
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| Not actually a Badgers fan |
I think Jerry Kill won't be coming back to the Midwest any time soon. Badgers will be angry and will play much better. Badgers 42, Aggies 7.
Minnesota Vikings (+2) vs. Philadelphia Eagles As much as it pains me to say it, Kevin O'Connell had arguably the best debut of the new NFL coaches. Kirk looked better than he has been in a while, and the Vikings looked like they had bought into what O'Connell and his staff were selling. But a trip to Philadelphia won't be easy. The Eagles did what they had to do in the road in Detroit, and we all know that the Linc is a tough place to get a win as a visiting team. This should be a good game in primetime, and could go either way. Eagles 24, Vikings 17.
The league has had a week to analyze what the Vikings did to scheme Jefferson open. The Eagles will have a plan. But as Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Vikings 24, Eagles 20.
Bear Down Chicago Da Bearz Still Suck (+10) vs. Glorious Green Bay Packers Well, that didn't go well at all. I wasn't a big fan of playing zone defense to start against Justin Jefferson. I would have put Jaire against Jefferson in straight man, as he's the guy who has hurt the Packers badly. The good news is that all of the mistakes I saw were fixable and not systematic of any issues. Da Bearz did play impressively against the Niners, but let's see how they do on the road without a monsoon. By the way, Aaron needs to take a good look at himself with how he's treated the rookie wide receivers. I get that it takes time for them to adjust to what Aaron likes to do, but instead of skipping OTA workouts to do interviews on podcasts and take certain substances, maybe he should have taught Watson and Doubs about the offense and what he wants. Freezing out Watson for the drop in the first quarter is a bad look, and Aaron's body language was very concerning and negative. The Packers should win the home opener before the trip to Tampa Bay to face Gisele's husband and all of his merry men that are somehow under the cap. Packers 38, Bears Still Suck 14.
Yeah, how do the Bucs manage that? Anyway, as for da Bearz, they looked surprisingly competent last week. I don't think they will be able to hang with the Packers, but it won't be a rout. Packers 28, Bears 17.
And now, it's time for another Very Special Comment. The Badgers performance last Saturday was a complete joke. It's almost like they expected Washington State to come into the stadium and roll over for them. This loss, combined elements of the 2018 game against BYU, the 2019 game against Illinois, and the 2021 game against Penn State. Bobby Engram's playcalling was very vanilla and predictable in the first half. Why keep running it up the gut when the Cougars had it covered? The concerning thing to me was that I expected him to bring something different to the program based on him spending time with the Ravens and seeing what John Harbaugh does with Lamar and company. I didn't see it.
I used to think that the calls for Chryst to be fired were reactionary and out of touch. Now, I'm not so sure. The offensive line looks terrible, Mertz didn't have a great second half, and the team looked unprepared. It's like the team is unprepared and this time we don't have a JT to cover up some of our flaws. What I think needs to happen is that Chryst needs to be more flexible. Take a look at PJ. A lot of people have said that while PJ is a very good culture builder, his gameday coaching has struggled in the past. So what PJ has done is hire very good coordinators and he has become a better in game coach so far this year. PJ is evolving as a coach and challenging himself to get better. I don't see Chryst doing that. And if things don't improve, then you consider getting rid of Chryst and handing the reigns to someone else. My pick would be to promote Jim Leonhard to head coach and take some of the new Big Ten media rights money to get Joe Brady as Leonhard's OC. If you remember, Brady was able to turn Joe Burrow from a transfer that never panned out in Columbus into one of the best QBs of all time in Baton Rouge. If that doesn't work, then go get Dan Mullen. I just want the Badgers to show some signs of moving forward and quit being stubborn.
Enjoy your football this weekend. Ben out.
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