All season long, Lee Corso (photo on the right, preparing to suck up to one of his favorite teams) at ABC has railed against the Badgers. He has said that the Badgers do not deserve a high ranking as they did not play Ohio State this year and doesn't care about anything else that the Badgers are doing. Great logic, USC hasn't played them either, but you're willing to sing their praises all day long. Prior to today's game, he was asked who he thought would win, he just said "I really like Iowa in this game". Gave no other reason than that to support his view. Just a loud-mouthed know-nothing who gets national media attention just because he's "entertaining". He's a joke who just hams it up for the home crowd they are at each week and says outrageous things for the sake of doing it. I'm glad UW has stuck it to him time and time again this year.
The Badgers pulled out a close 24-21 win over the evil Hawkeyes. The Badgers D gave up some uncharacteristic big plays, but they nevertheless frustrated Drew Tate(r Tots) for a 10-31 day. No doubt Iowa played with passion today, as a win would have saved their dismal season. But given they loaded up against the run, Tyler Donovan, in his first start for the injured John Stocco shredded the Hawkeyes D and with 228 yds and 2 TD on 17-24 passing to go along with his 61 yards rushing. How good are Badgers that they can beat a team with a winning record with their backup QB?
Great job by Bielema to rest Stocco if he didn't need to play. In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if Stocco was saved until the Capitol One Bowl game in January as the Badgers get the lowly Buffalo, err Buffalos next week at Camp Randall.
Judging by all the losses in the top 11, with 5 teams losing, the Badgers could very well jump to possibly #11 themselves in the newest polls. This Badger team could go down as one of the best ones ever when all is said and done. They are now 10-1 and have a shot at 11 regular season wins for the first time.
The Badgers head off to Iowa and face the Hawkeyes (6-4) in their final Big Ten game of the season. This is a huge game as the Badgers are 0-4 in their last 4 meetings against them and a win tomorrow would make the Capitol One Bowl a stone cold lock.
The Hawkeyes have an average defense that has the ability to completely break down at any given time. Many Hawkeye fans realize that their Def Coord is behind the times and don't care for him. Thier offense is nothing special either and the Badgers D should have some good success in holding the Hawkeyes in check.
The big question mark is at QB for the Badgers though. John Stocco is apparently a game-time decision and this is going to make things interesting. With a healthy Stocco, this offense can explode at any time. With Tyler Donovan at QB, the WI offense has to be more run oriented and a bit more predictable. Tyler can run better than Stocco, but he's no Troy Smith Juice Williams or anything like that.
I would expect that Stocco will start if he is able to, but that the run will be heavily emphasized. Look for PJ Hill to get a lot of carries and for the Badgers to go for a ball-control heavy offense. I say the Badgers win by 13 in a low scoring game.
Even though the Bills loss stings me like... a stingy thing does, I am still not giving up on the Pack. Not when the opponents are the Minnesota Vikings this week. Rivalry games are always great and this week is a desparate week for both teams. So today I am doing a complete 180 from yesterday's post. Let's review why the Packers will win this game.
10 - The Vikings offense is horrible and couldn't even come close to scoring more than 3 points against the woeful San Fran D.
9 - The Vikes new unis are silly looking, and silly looking teams don't win football games.
8 - The Packers new running attack will continue it's success and wear down the Viking defenders.
7 - The toughest guy the Vikes have is their mascot, Ragnar. He was seen crying while watching the Oxygen network this week.
6 - It bears repeating, the Vikings offense is horrible.
5 - The Packers DB's will eat up the Vikes so-called WR corps.
4 - Ryan Longwell will realize he loves the Pack too much and will intentionally miss the game winning FG.
3 - God hates the Vikings and loves the Packers.
2 - Even though the Packers have lacked that killer instinct, the Vikes don't have it either.
I haven't written about the Packers' embarrassment from Sunday against the Bills as whenever I tried, I got too pissed off and stopped. Whether it was Brett having a ball snapped off his face, or 2 completely ill-advised throws to a covered Donald Driver on a quick slant, or the defense just giving up after that 2nd INT, it just all did me in.
It's the 3rd game this year where the Packers should have won and didn't. The Packers lack that something that winning teams have. Some may say it's experience or talent. I say it's this: killer instinct. For example:
End of the 2nd Q, Packers driving and have a first and goal from the 5 with 10 seconds left. Wells snaps the ball to Favre who is simply looking to the right. He's not calling a play or shouting instructions, and the ball goes right off his face mask because he's not paying attention. The rest of the offense moved at the snap except for Favre.
Start of the 3rd Q, the Pack have busted off some huge runs, but then decide to quit running the ball, and 3 incompletions later, waste an opportunity inside Buffalo territory.
4th Q, the Packers D has owned the Bills offense all day. They have forced a 2nd and 20. Inexplicably, the secondary (Al Harris and the safety) do not cover Lee Evans, Buffalo's best WR and thus, a TD is scored.
4th Q, the Packers had been running the ball at will against the Bills in the 3rd and 4th Q. They had a first and goal at the one. The killer instinct would have been to give the ball to Green, step on the Bills throats and score the TD to tie the game. Instead, they step off of the Bills and call a foolish pass play that turned out to be the finishing blow against the Pack.
Time and time again, the team had prime opportunities to score points, and failed. The defense, while very good all day, failed miserably in the 4th Q, when the team needed them most. Some of it is play calling, other times it's miserable execution. But you don't see good teams meltdown like this as often as the Packers do. It's not as easy as just blaming the overall youth of the Packers, as the young kids did well enough. Simply put, the Packers don't know how to win right now, and it's showing.
Yeah, I'm sure this title will be used by a lot of other posts about the Badgers 13-3 win over Penn State, but I like it anyway.
This Badger defense is incredibly good. Say what you will about the level of competition, but they are dominating that competition. The PSU offense did nothing all day.
The offense did a fine job moving the ball and keeping the Badger D rested. PJ Hill had another solid day and showed why he is going to be a Heisman candidate next season. The injury to Stocco is very concerning though. I think there was no reason to call for that pass play that knocked him out of the game. The Badgers just needed to run the ball and take time off the clock. Why throw on 1st down? Bielema is going to be kicking himself for that move and will likely get an earfull from Barry during their Monday walks that they have. Hopefully Stocco is not seriously hurt, but I have a feeling this is not good.
Next week is the final Big Ten game against Iowa. Even if Stocco is unable to play, I expect the Badgers to roll over the Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes D is terrible and the team is unravelling this year. A win next week solidifies the Capitol One Bowl for the Badgers.
The Bucks manhandled the Detroit Pistons in their opener last night 105-97. Did I mention this was at Detroit? Against the team marked to possibly contend for the Eastern Conference and NBA title? Bogut was brilliant and is showing why he was the #1 pick last season now that he is in his proper position. Mo Williams played his usual turnover-free game. Villanueva gets 16 pts and 12 rebounds which is exactly why the Bucks traded Ford for him, a solid inside presence to compliment Bogut. Then there is Michael Redd, the scoring machine. The man drops 37 on a defensive-minded team on 63% shooting, that's all that needs to be said. Just a great showing all around.
The Bucks are being picked to be in the cellar of the division and I have seen 1 writer out of about 20 pick them to be the #8 seed in the playoffs. This is hogwash. These Bucks are going to surprise a lot of writers this year and be the #6 seed at least. I don't think a 46-36 record is out of the question for this year. This team is arguably better at every position than they were last year. It's all about staying healthy this season and living up to their potential. Last night was simply a great start.
Some may wonder why I am plugging a Dallas Cowboy QB of all people on the Oracle of Cheese. They say "Hey, he's a stinking Cowboy! He's one step short of a Bear, Viking or pondscum!" or "He's a one game wonder. He'll never make it as a legit starter in the NFL."
I put him on as I want to point out his bio on the Cowboys website (you'll have to actually click on his name for a pop-up window). Go ahead and open it and read it and come back here, I'll wait.
Ok, are you done reading it now? (and checking out the cheerleading squad) If so, you would have seen that he is from Burlington High School in Burlington, WI (the Demons). Coincidentally, this is my hometown and high school. Not too often does a kid from a town of 10,000 people make it in the NFL, let alone become a starting QB for a high-profile team. Damn proud of this. The Oracle is officially cheering for Tony to make it big in the NFL. He certainly seems to have the tools to be successful. And no, I don't know him as I graduated many years prior to him.
You may now return to the Cowboys site and view the swimsuit calendar, and you're welcome for the link.
The Packers looked like a professional football team for the 2nd straight week with a 31-14 win over the Cardinals. They had a running attack, a pass offense and even some defense today. The special teams, well, not so special.
The Packers did one of those rare feats where they have 2 100 yard rushers in the same game (Green 106 yds and Morency 101 yds). That OL sure looked good out there. The holes were huge and both the backs took full advantage of them. This zone blocking thing really is starting to work ain't it? Favre had a good day and didn't throw anything close to an INT that I saw. I must say that the only thing uglier than Favre running is the "Lambeau Leap" Favre. Now we know why he's never done it before. Favre has been the biggest benefactor of the recently improved running game. Favre no longer feels he has to force the issue to make a big play. He justs stay within the offense, and it is working out.
The defense was good today. Kampman had a very good 2 sack day, Hawk was solid against the run. Heck, even Barnett had a solid outing. Anyone notice that Woodson had nothing completed on him? He had a shut down day and came up with a INT even. He is certainly having a season of redemption so far this year. He's been everything the Packers could have hoped for when signing him. Plus, his punt returns have been very good, you just get that feeling that he is going to bust one all the way sometime this year.
Some may scoff at 2 wins in a row, but I shall not! Besides, this gives me a chance to put Carmen Miranda up on the Oracle. A winning streak is worth dancing about. Let the dancing begin!
Bucky dodged a bullet on Saturday with a 30-24 win over Illinois. The first half was just atrocious as Dave Heller at the Journal Sentinal pointed out during the game: "One press box member responded that the Badgers are playing more like the No. 17 team in the Big Ten". That was a fairly accurate description. Then the second half happened.
The Badgers dominated the second half by scoring 20 points getting almost 200 yards of offense, getting 2 turnover (on on downs), having over a 5 minute TOP advantage and limiting Illinois to just over 80 yards of offense. Illinois was only in the game due to an INT for a TD and a fumble inside the Badger 30. They didn't earn much of their scoring by any real offensive prowess. Great comeback by the Badgers.
The Badgers were almost caught looking past a much lesser team, but they survived and got the W. Now, onto hosting Penn State (6-3) in a huge game. Bucky cannot come out with the effort they had in the first half against Illinois in the game against PSU. Look for a much sharper, more focused team this coming Saturday.
I just noticed that on ESPN they released the pre-season college basketball rankings and the Badgers are ranked #9! Hell, the Badgers are ranked higher than Duke. Let me say that again, THEY ARE RANKED HIGHER THAN DUKE! To accomplish this task over the most evil college basketball program ever is quite the day-brightener.
That's what happens when you keep over 90% of your scoring and rebounding and you get your #6 & 7 players back from suspension. I haven't been this excited about Badger basketball in quite some time. They went over to Italy and played a 5 game exhibition schedule against some pro and semi-pro teams and went undefeated. This was well noticed by the writers and I'm looking forward to yet another great Big Ten season and March tourney.
Just a break from the football season with this news.
Ok, break over. The Badgers should stomp the living hell out of the damn FIBs and the Packers should do the same to Arizona. Badgers by at least 24 and the Packers by 10.
Today the Oracle shall answer a question from a loyal reader:
"O Great Oracle: Let me begin this humble request for information by noting that it was my pleasure to see Mrs. Oracle for a brief time when I was visiting the home of your esteemed neighbor last week. Unfortunately, you were not at home. Let me also apologize for defeating you in Fantasy Football, although please note that I really needed a win!
My question regards Brett Favre and the near-constant speculation regarding his future. I note that he needs only 16 touchdowns to pass Dan Marino on the all-time list. Do you think this record means anything to him? If so, do you think he would come back next year to break the record, assuming that he does not do so this year? Perhaps you feel that the record has no impact on his decision whether or not to play after this year. I would be most interested in hearing of your views in regards to these questions.
Thanks much and take care.
Curt in Grand Forks"
Well Curt in Grand Forks, you do raise some interesting points.
First, let me say that my wife was pleased to see you as well. I am saddened to have missed being in your prescence, but it could not be avoided as the great Seer of Bratwurst was in need of assistance.
Second, you are welcome with the fantasy football win. I saw that that would be a good time for you to enjoy some modicum of football success and granted it to you.
Third, on to Brett Farve. This year there is definately a different Brett Favre than we have seen in years past. For the last 4-5 years, he has been a far more stoic Brett, content to keep what he feels on the inside. He was simply existing on the football field and going through the motions of playing it seemed. This year, he is noticably more excited and frankly looks as if he's having fun. I know this is a cliche in regards to him however, hear me out. He is showing far more on-field leadership and encouragement to his teammates than he has in years past as well. His running up to Driver and carrying him around last week was testiment to that. He has particularly been very encouraging to the rookie OL in front of him during games. He knows how far his encouragement can take a player and has dished it out quite effectively this season as the OL has responded with better and better play as the season has gone along.
Perhaps he feels that this is his final goodbye and is wanting to do the most with it, or maybe he has rediscovered an old fire. I believe it is the first part, and he wants to go out fighting. He has always said that the TD record is not what he is going for, but I think he really wants it, but is giving it this year as his last chance. I did say after last season that he would not come back and I was wrong. However, not even the great Oracle can see into the havoc that Phil Simms can bring, as nobody can understand his logic.
So gentle Curt, regardless if Favre breaks the TD record or not, I do not see him returning. I appreciate your inquiry and may you have safe journeys in life.
Finally the Packers and Badgers win on the same weekend. Sorry for the delay in my postings as my folks were visiting for the weekend, so blogging had to wait.
The Badgers started off with yet another extremely good defensive effort in demolishing Purdon't 24-3. The defense held the #11 offense in the country to under 300 total yards and 3 measly points. PJ Hill had yet another awesome game of over 160 yds and likely will be a Heisman frontrunner next season.
The Badgers are getting some great national love as they are now #17 in the AP Poll, #18 in the coaches and #18 in the BCS. As I said at the beginning of the season, it looks to be another Capitol One Bowl for the Badgers this year.
The Packers showed some great signs of life in their 34-24 beatdown of the Dolphins. Green's hamstrings proved durable when he broke off a 70 yd TD run early in the 4th. The pass defense was still spotty at best, even with the 3 INTs they got. WR were still running free and Harris was clearly beaten for a TD had Harrington not been the QB for Miami. Given that Miami had to throw over 60 times in the game the pass numbers are a bit inflated so I shouldn't be too hard on the unit.
Was there any better sight in sports than Favre picking up Driver and carrying him around after his spectacular TD catch? It's moments like that which can spark the morale of a team for the rest of the season. Yeah, I'm drinking the Green and Gold Kool-Aid big time today, and I don't care how it looks.
Koren Robinson has been suspended for 1 yr by the NFL effective immediately stemming back to his "incident" in MN while speeding drunk from the po-lice. His time here went by fast, faster than a speeding cop car (almost). So, what does this mean for the Packers? Several things:
1 - We now need yet another #3 WR and KO returner 2 - No hit at all on the salary cap 3 - Guess no Super Bowl trip this year
I have been so wrapped up in the Packers and Badgers that I forgot about our Milwaukee Bucks. Shame on me. The Bucks have had some injuries already, but this is a deep team and luckily the injuries happened early enough in the pre-season that Bogut and Simmons won't miss much playing time.
The injury to Bogut is unfortunate, but given that just means that Gadz gets more time, it's not so bad. Gadz is one of the fan favorites and deservedly so as he simply hustles his tail off. Which is a good thing as a tail could be a detriment on the floor. Certainly I'd rather have Bogut on the floor, but Gadz is not a bad fallback position as the team can function just fine while giving Bogut plenty of time to heal.
Anywho, for the naysayers who jeered when Patterson was brought in, the injury to Simmons shows why he was signed. Not only will Patterson fill in nicely while Simmons is out, but he could push Simmons for the starting spot. We saw last year how Simmons seemed to be mailing it in and just didn't live up to the hype and contract. Patterson should help Simmons realize that he needs to step his game up.
Looks to be a great season brewing up for the Bucks. Playoffs seem a certainty as does a winning record. I'm going with a 46-36 record for them this year.
In front of 82,010 fans, the Badgers absolutely bitch-slapped the Goophs 48-12 to keep Paul Bunyan's Axe and win Homecoming. Redshirt Freshman phenom PJ Hill gets 164 yds and 2 TD, while getting the 4th Q off. John Stocco has yet another fantastic game going 12-19 193 yds and 4 TDs.
The Goophs (they are still a D-I team right?) were pathetic in every aspect of this game, even the radio announcers were terrible. I live in MN, and had to listen to the game on the radio here. The announcers actually said just after the Badgers scored to make it 35-3, "The Gophers need to do something before this game gets out of hand." What? I started laughing my ass off at this comment. The game was already out of hand at that time, hell, it was out of hand for the Goophs when they arrived at the stadium.
I stated 3 weeks ago that this stretch of games against Indiana, Northwestern and Minnesota were easy wins for the Badgers and they were as they outscored their opponents 141-38. Next game is at Purdue, which is going to be a tough one as they can score. I originally had that as one that could go either way, but man the Badgers have been impressive.
Very impressive win today as the Badgers flat out dominated yet again. I'm going to play my WI marching band CD tonight and have a couple in celebration.
To continue our YouTube Badger week, I give you the greatest finish to a game ever. This is better than the "Hail Mary" by BC over Miami, which was simply total luck. The Cal punt return? Please, play never should have counted as there were band members on the field. Nope, the 2005 Badger/Goopher game at the Metrodump is unequivicably the greatest finish ever. If you look closely, you can actually see the Goophs punter sh!t his pants when the Badgers come at him. So sit back and enjoy! Oh and...
"I came to get down, I came to get down So get out your seats and jump around Jump around Jump around Jump around Jump up Jump up and get down. Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump"
It's Homecoming Week! This week's victim will be the Minnesota Goophs. Those poor Goophs, they simply just aren't ready for the insanity that awaits them. I almost feel sorry for the poor bastards... almost.
Tune in tomorrow when we will have a WI/MN special video.
You've said it all! This week I've decided to put some some great You Tube videos of the Badgers in honor of it being Homecoming week. And yes, I do have THE video which will be up in a couple of days, just be patient. For now, just enjoy the greatest college band in the USA, the UW band!
The Packers lose a heartbreaker to the Rams 23-20 falling just short on the comeback attempt. This would be game #2 that the Packers had a legit chance of winning this year, but just didn't do enough to get the job done.
Some may point here or there for the reasons: not enough experience on the team (but the rookie OG sure did a nice job opening gaping holes for Noah Herron didn't they?) or that Favre got cold in the 2nd half (he did have the big TD to the Rookie Of the Year Greg Jennings and had a great 4th Q). True, the fumble killed them, but how about some pass blocking there? Still others will comment on the 3 dropped INT's by the D (how could you drop that one in your chest Al Harris?). But for me, I'm going with the non-existant pass rush.
Sure, point out that they had 2 sacks, but other than those, there was virtually no pass rush. On many of Bulger's pass attempts there was nobody in his face or even making him move around. Our secondary and overall pass defense is poor enough without the opposing QB getting so much time to choose that he can play some Jacks, a game of Euchre and then throw the ball.
Can we bring back Ezra Johnson and Sean Jones please?
Tomorrow the Badgers get game #2 of their 3 game streach of games they should win, this week's victims are the Northwestern Wildcats. This season the Wildcats are anything but fierce, in fact they are a bunch of pussies, pussy cats I mean. They have lost to the powerhouses that are New Hampshire and Nevada and they barely beat Eastern MI. Last week they were trounced by Penn St 33-7.
NW is poor against the run and gee, that would be the Badgers modus operandi. Look for PJ Hill to once again have a huge game. I would expect about 150 yards and 3 TD from him. The NW team is young and they are starting a freshman QB for the first time this week. The Badgers D, while not playing consistently themselves, should be able to eat him up.
This won't be as bad as the Badgers whipped Indiana last week, but a 3 TD win is certainly not out of the question and frankly quite likely. Look for Hill and Stocco to once again get the 4th Q off.
All season long, Lee Corso (photo on the right, preparing to suck up to one of his favorite teams) at ABC has railed against the Badgers. He has said that the Badgers do not deserve a high ranking as they did not play Ohio State this year and doesn't care about anything else that the Badgers are doing. Great logic, USC hasn't played them either, but you're willing to sing their praises all day long. Prior to today's game, he was asked who he thought would win, he just said "I really like Iowa in this game". Gave no other reason than that to support his view. Just a loud-mouthed know-nothing who gets national media attention just because he's "entertaining". He's a joke who just hams it up for the home crowd they are at each week and says outrageous things for the sake of doing it. I'm glad UW has stuck it to him time and time again this year.
