UW-Indiana halftime thoughts

You know me: it's tough to be satisfied with the halftime score when we should be up something like 31-7 or even 31-0. Indiana is every bit as unimpressive as Purdue was last week, but the fact that this game isn't over yet is an indication of just how well we played last week and how flawed we've been today.

-Seems like it's time to get David Gilreath off returns for a game or two, it's clearly not working for him this year. That fumble couldn't be blamed on blocking.

-Scott Tolzien started shaky, the touchdown pass to Isaac Anderson notwithstanding, but got better. Of course, that's when Garrett Graham and Anderson got the dropsies, pissed away our great field position, and led to Indiana's second touchdown.

-We should be running the ball up the ball every play. John Moffitt had a terrific block on John Clay's first long run. On Clay's touchdown run, Kevin Zeitler had a nice initial combo block with Peter Konz, then moved on to the linebacker and Clay ran into the end zone untouched.

-Did you notice O'Brien Schofield and Chris Maragos make the play on kickoff coverage? I like the move to play our best guys on special teams.

-What an athletic play by Maragos on that pick. Bad decision and pass by Ben Chappell, but Maragos showed his old wide receiver skills to haul the pass in.

-This is the best Montee Ball has looked thus far, although it's probably just because the blocking is better.

-Indiana's pass defense really is horrible, our guys are wide open consistently. And yet their run defense appears to be worse.

-Interesting that we've only see the end around once so far, to Gilreath. After last year's success with this play against IU, and last week's success with Kendricks running it, you'd have expected to see it more. But that's probably what makes Paul Chryst such a good offensive coordinator.

-Around the conference, I see Iowa is losing at halftime, undoubtedly setting them up for yet another second half comeback that analysts can hyperventilate about.

-Finally, another shoutout to our rookie of the year, Chris Borland. He makes tackles for loss, stops runners short of the sticks, returns kickoffs into the other team's territory. What an awesome find by the coaching staff, can't wait to see him get better and better during his time in Madison.

Let's step on their necks early in the second half. They've had success attacking Niles Brinkley, it would be nice to not let that snowball.

Line not offensive at all

After thinking about it, I thought the offensive line played perhaps its best game of the year against Michigan State. The first two series were rocky (Jim Polzin reported that John Moffitt offered reporters $15 not to mention his early whiffs, funny stuff), but after that the play was really solid. We ran the ball effectively against what was by far the best run defense we've faced this year, and Scott Tolzien was given time to throw.

The interesting thing is, that wasn't the offensive line as it was projected at the beginning of fall camp. In fact, only the starting tackles were as projected. As far as I could tell, the line shaped up like this:

LT: Gabe Carimi
LG: John Moffitt
C: Peter Konz
RG: Kevin Zeitler
RT: Josh Oglesby

His camp injury aside, Carimi is a given, although the hold he was called for against MSU was pretty ugly. The fact that Oglesby has been largely unmentioned thus far can only be seen as a positive. The quality of competition he's going to face is about to getting dramatically better, hopefully he's built up enough confidence to play well against the likes of Ohio State and Iowa.

The interior spots are most interesting, though. Apparently Jake Bscherer has settled into a career as a backup. Is Travis Frederick healthy enough to go, or has Konz just played well enough to keep him on the bench? Same goes for Bill Nagy and Zeitler at right guard.

Tough to say. Without extensive video review it's often hard to determine the effectiveness of individual interior linemen. But it seems clear that Bob Bostad has about eight starting-caliber linemen at his disposal. Even better, not one of these linemen is a senior. As well as the offense has played so far, it's not a stretch to say that with just about everyone scheduled to return next year, the Badgers' 2010 offense could be one of the best we've had.

Wisconsin-Fresno State halftime thoughts

First thought is that I'm grateful we're only down four points at halftime. It seems much, much worse than that.

If you're Fresno, why wouldn't you throw the ball every single play? Even if your quarterback is throwing jump balls straight up in the air, there's a 50-50 chance there won't be a Badger within five yards. Then again, we're not tackling all that well on running plays, so pick your poison.

Not much to be encouraged about here.

-Chris Borland showed nice athleticism early, he's a keeper. Blake Sorensen made a nice play behind the line of scrimmage. O'Brien Schofield's been active again.

-And that's about it for kind words about our defense. Devin Smith just got flat toasted by Wylie on that touchdown. Antonio Fenelus bit hard on a mediocre move on Fresno's third touchdown. That followed marshmallow-soft coverage on the first drive.

-Thank God Philip Welch finally made a field goal. My initial thought was lining him up for a 55-yarder that he'd probably miss would hurt his confidence even further, but maybe this will get him going in the right direction.

-Bob Griese sounds drunk. Maybe just old. Twice he talked about Chris Maragos being here for five years. Crack open a media guide, Grease. Also, Dave Pasch, didn't realize Travis Beckum left early for the NFL.

-Liked how Chris Spielman pointed out the excellent blocking on our two touchdown runs. On Zach Brown's, Lance Kendricks, Kevin Zeitler, and Kyle Jefferson executed well. On David Gilreath's end around, Garrett Graham blocked two guys on the same play. Well done.

-On the other hand, it's concerning that thus far this season the only success we've had running the ball has come wide outside the tackles. Again, some of this is probably attributable to Bill Nagy and John Moffitt being out, and Jake Bscherer being new. But it's troubling nonetheless, and has to improve.

-Scott Tolzien's passes thus far have not appeared tight. Passing game has been OK, though.

-Kevin Claxton has a block in the back on a punt that is not fielded. Delay of game coming out of a change of possession. (Another one preceding the first play of the second half!) Ugh.

Please, Badgers, pull out this win because I really, REALLY don't want to hear any more about what a bad-ass Pat "Anyone, Anywhere" Hill is. It's really getting on my nerves.

Travis Frederick

Last fall when Big Foot played Wautoma for the Division 4 championship, I zeroed in on Travis Frederick. He looked enormous, which wasn't really a surprise, and fairly mobile, but it was still hard to get a read on how his size and skills would translate to Division 1 college ball.



Pretty well, it seems. Now Frederick is being mentiond in the same breath as Cory Raymer, Bob Winckler, and Dennis Lick. Not bad company.


With John Moffitt still laid up we'll get a chance to see how good this kid is right away. I expect he'll struggle at times, but how often is that painfully obvious with a center? Unless Northern Illinois has the MAC version of Albert Haynesworth, I bet he holds his own.


With Moffitt, Bill Nagy, and Gabe Carimi all missing time this camp because of injuries, guys like Frederick and Kevin Zeitler are getting a lot of reps. That can only help the O-Line's depth, and here's the best thing: all 10 guys on the two-deep return next year. If things go right we could be looking at one of those really, really good Badger lines.

Bowl practice goals

As the Badgers' season turned into a struggle just to become bowl-eligible, much was made of the importance of the extra practices that come with playing in a bowl game. "It's like another spring practice" they say, although I find that hard to believe it's as effective.

Coaches give guys off for awhile after the last regular season game. Then practice attendance is spotty during finals time. So it's not like the kids are getting solid, uninterrupted practice time.

But it's better than not getting any additional time, and given what we're staring at next season, the practices are imperative for keeping our bowl streak alive in 2009. Here's what I'd like to see addressed in December:

Quarterback
Dustin Sherer played much better as time wore on, seemingly shaking off the rust. Outside factors played a role. The schedule got easier; the wide receivers -- Isaac Anderson, Nick Toon, David Gilreath -- all grew up to an extent; Travis Beckum's season-ending injury forced him to look for other guys.

Still, I think we all want to see what Curt Phillips can do. From the little we've seen of him, he seems like a kid who can make plays with his feet, a skill that will come in handy behind an inexperienced offensive line next season.

Should Phillips be getting more work than Sherer in bowl practices? I say no. After such a disappointing season, we need to win the bowl game, and getting Sherer as prepared as possible is important. Phillips will benefit from the experience, and maybe you give him some of the backup reps, but at quarterback, prepare for the bowl game first, not 2009.

Offensive line
Kraig Urbik, Andy Kemp, and Eric Vanden Heuvel all depart after this season, leaving behind just Gabe Carimi and John Moffitt. Who will be the new starters at left guard, right guard, and right tackle next season?

There are plenty of good candidates. At tackle, Josh Oglesby got off to a good start but struggled later. Jake Bscherer has the credentials and spent this year redshirting so he could retain eligibility once EVH and Urbik left.

At guard, we've got Kevin Zeitler, Bill Nagy, and Jake Current. Nagy seems to have a leg up here, having played extensively this year when injuries hit. I could see Oglesby sliding inside to guard, as most of his struggles this year stemmed from dealing with speed edge rushers.

In any event, the path to sorting out which of these five guys ends up in those three spots starts now.

Defensive line
I am worried sick about our '09 prospects at this position. Who replaces Matt Shaughnessy, Jason Chapman, and Mike Newkirk? I feel OK about defensive end. Louis Nzegwu will be OK, sort of like O'Brien Schofield was this year.

It's tackle that looks bleaker. Right now the incumbents would be Patrick Butrum and Jeff Stehle. Neither one stood out in their playing time this season. Dan Moore needs to show he can play tackle, which is where he was recruited to play.

Someone from the group of Eriks Briedis, Anthony Mains, Brendan Kelly, J.J. Watt, and Tyler Westphal has to emerge as a contributor. I like Watt, seeing him at Family Day he looked the part. Briedis and Mains had nice frames for tackle as well, Kelly was drawing positive reviews in fall practice, and Westphal was the most highly-recruited of this bunch.

Unlike quarterback, where I feel Sherer needs all of the work to get ready for the bowl game, on the D-Line the focus on the future needs to start now.

A look at the Badgers' football recruits

Bret Bielema signed his latest recruiting class when I was still recovering from my Germany jet lag, so I've been remiss about commenting on our latest round of new Badgers.

Maybe that's because this class didn't have the pizazz of some of our other classes — no John Clays or Josh Oglesbys. Maybe it's because my least favorite Big Ten coach, Tim Brewster, signed what is being heralded as a terrific class at Minnesota.

Or maybe it's because I've finally come to realize that, while it can be fun to follow, getting really worked up about football recruiting is pointless. It would be one thing if we were players in the Terrelle Pryor derby, but we're not. Here is my take on football recruiting in a nutshell:

-We will never rank near the top of the Big Ten recruiting rankings. Ohio State and Michigan will always be 1-2, and Penn State will usually be third. Some school like Iowa or Minnesota or Wisconsin will sneak into the #4 spot on occasion. That doesn't always translate into wins - the core of Iowa's last two disappointing teams was a recruiting class considered the school's best-ever, while their success preceding that came with players who may have flown under the radar in the recruiting process.

-If you get a lot of capable kids and coach them up, you'll have a chance, even against all the bandwagon-jumping mercenaries suiting up for the Buckeyes and Wolverines.

-Getting the key in-state kids to come to Madison will always be our top priority, and with a few exceptions (Adam Stenavich) we've been outstanding in this area since Barry took over. This year is no exception.

-Complementing the signees with solid walk-ons is critical.

-Our best teams have not been led by highly-ranked recruiting classes, but rather by deep classes that didn't have many busts.

So what about this year's class? I like Tyler Westphal, the defensive end from Menasha. Iola-Scandinavia scrimmaged Menasha this year, and my buddies who saw it said Westphal just threw our kids around - and we were state finalists.

The offensive line signees - Neenah's Peter Konz, Wisconsin Lutheran's Kevin Zeitler (left), Joe Schafer of Minnesota, Jake Current from Ohio - seem poised to carry on our tradition up front. I like that we signed so many defensive backs from Florida and Texas, and loaded up on defense in general (14 of 23 signees).

We signed a junior college transfer, Dan Moore, to help immediately on the defensive line. Thankfully, we haven't relied on Juco guys too much over the years, but sometimes you need them to plug holes. Clearly we're thin on the defensive front, so Moore will get his shot.

Curt Phillips (right) has already enrolled in school, will take part in spring practice, and might have a chance to compete for the starting quarterback job this fall (although my money would be on Allan Evridge). I'm excited about this guy. And the kid who may have the biggest immediate impact is Brad Nortman, a highly-regarded punter from Brookfield Central.

An interesting side note: Jim Polzin wrote an interesting story fleshing out something we touched on here a couple months ago. Basically, Jim points out that we signed six players from SEC states, three from Texas, and none from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. This is because the current batch of assistants doesn't have ties there like past staffs had. Let's just hope Florida, Texas, and the other warm weather states we're now mining are as good to us as New England has been.