Wisconsin is beatable

[SickAndTiredOfLosingToWI]

They have been quite unimpressive thus far, clobbering their usual slate of patsies, just barely beating Arizona State, and losing to MSU's assistant coach. They are a lot better on paper, but balls bounce in funny ways when the axe is at stake. We'll need near flawless execution, a lot of luck, and John Clay to come down with severe food poisoning on Friday night, but we do have a chance.................

 

[thailleagle]

And that will mean nothing come this Saturday...

We were better last year with a solid defense & couldn't hold Clay so I'm pretty concerned about *THIS* Defense especially the way NIU ran the ball...

IMO...

 

[Buck the Fadgers]

Write it down, John Clay will look like Ron Dayne on saturday.

 

[alphagopher]

beatable, of course

by us, not so much

i realize hope springs eternal, but it's time to be real-we are staring down the barrell at 1-11 peeps-to say we can beat the best teams on our schedule while losing to the worst ones is really self defeating and delusional

 

[MrGopher]

I'm not very optimistic about this game, but even though I would not predict a Gopher win, it certainly is possible.

Way crazier things have happened in college football.

I have serious doubts, but i still have hope that this will be the beginning of a Gopher-dominated decade for the Axe.

 

[GopherHomer]

While beatable, Wisconsin is easily the second best team we've played so far this year (it could be argued they are better than USC). Unless we figure something out, and give a performance like none other so far, the outcome will not be pretty.

 

[NateDawgUM]

Write it down, John Clay will look like Ron Dayne on saturday.

I'm more worried about him looking like Anthony Davis, 2002.

 

[50PoundHead]

White scares me more than Clay. He has shown me several times this season that if he makes the corner, it's a race to the end zone.

Count me among those predicting a dour outcome this weekend, but stranger things have happened and if you give me 48 hours, I can think of something stranger than us beating the Badgers this weekend.

 

[ruralgopher]

Beatable? yes. By us? ugh. Ask me tomorrow, Wednesday is turn-around day on my attitude toward the Gophs.

As of now, while still being logical and not tainted with the maroon koolaid I'd say our chances are not good.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

White scares me more than Clay. He has shown me several times this season that if he makes the corner, it's a race to the end zone.

Exactly. A race that our DB's would likely lose.

The Badgers have some excellent players. JJ Watt could be an All American DT if he stays healthy.

One of my favorite games in Madtown was watching Chris Darkins and the boys (1994?) hand it to Wisky. A huge upset.

 

[ruralgopher]

If I were Horton, back in camp I would have installed a watered down wishbone triple option set that included the triple option, a counter, and one pass with a wheel route out of it. I would've told the team we are going to install this now, and break it out for the WI game like Miami breaking out the 'wildcat' against the Patriots a few years ago.

We need to do something different to try to steal a win before this spirals any further out of control.

 

[Too Long in the Wasteland]

RBtL of your post...

They have been quite unimpressive thus far, clobbering their usual slate of patsies,

At least they've beaten their patsies.

just barely beating Arizona State, and losing to MSU's assistant coach.

I'd trade MSU our head coach for their OC even up in a heartbeat. I'd even throw in a jacuzzi and a weight bench.

They are a lot better on paper,

and on the field, too.

but balls bounce in funny ways when the axe is at stake.

true, but those bounces never seem to go our way

We'll need near flawless execution,

which would be the opposite of our two minute drill in the NW game

a lot of luck,

Not to sound like Knute Rockne, but winners make their own luck

and John Clay to come down with severe food poisoning on Friday night, but we do have a chance.................

I think Clay could run for 150 yards on us even if he had to wear a Depends. I feel your pain, but I don't see how we win this game, unless all of the above happen, AND we catch UW looking ahead to the bucknuts. Do I think a 21.5 pt spread is high? Yes, but best case is we keep it close and then have to put up with another postgame presser where Brewster tells us how the team is improving and we're "this close to being 6-0".

 

[MrGopher]

Brewster tells us how the team is improving and we're "this close to being 6-0".

If he does this again to us, and says that we are "this close to being 6-0".....

I'm gonna find his house, and leave a note on his door that says "I was this close to not doing devastating donuts with my car in your lawn..... so it's okay!"

 

[Schnauzer]

I'm done trying to predict what the Gophers will do against Wisconsin. I will post my guess, but I wouldn't bet on my own prediction. Really, it doesn't look good and anyone arguing with that has not been watching our rodent lads stumble around the field this year. With that in mind, I do see a few silver linings to this cloud...

1. Sure, Wisconsin has a lot of that offense back that beat up on the Gophers last year. But, I do wonder about the chemistry situation with the Badgers. They looked like a team in decline in '08, proved everybody wrong last year and instead looked like a powerful team on the rise, and seem to have spent much of this season with something 'off' in their alignment. Is it going to be another underachieving year for them?

2. I can't explain why, but all three games with Wisconsin under Brewster have been tight, competitive games - and that includes one on the road, where Mason's teams often layed eggs in Madison. Perhaps Brewster finally gets the wagons properly circled for a HUGE surprise.

Well, that is the silver lining material. That is about all I have in that department. A victory would be a shocker, no doubt. Like someone mentioned yesterday, Brewster's team has not given up on him yet and we may see that at some point. When we do, one or more of those 55-0 type games will appear. Currently, those types of losses are just sitting there in the waiting room, reading an outdated SI. Although I will always maintain hope that silver lining 1 and 2 will conspire for a Gopher victory, I think it is actually more likely we see that call to the waiting room. If the recent past is any indication, my best guess is we see a Gopher team play 'okay' against Wisconsin and make the game competitive - but end in a non-moral-victory-loss.

 

[GVBadger]

They have been beatable in 13 of the last 15 against the Gophers and we all know what happened.

The Badgers played poorly on Saturday, especially on offense and were still in the game. It was a disappointing loss, but certainly not a season killer. The defense is much better then it is being given credit for, especially in Madison. Look for Watt to have a huge game on Saturday.

At some point, the way the season is going, the Gophers are going to get drilled. I hope it is Saturday, but you never know. The only thing that would shock me is the Gophers actually winning.

I have never seen this board as down as it is right now. It is like a funeral in here. I have not even been able to post. It does not seem right to pile on at this point.

 

[Art Vandelay]

They have been beatable in 13 of the last 15 against the Gophers and we all know what happened.

The Badgers played poorly on Saturday, especially on offense and were still in the game. It was a disappointing loss, but certainly not a season killer. The defense is much better then it is being given credit for, especially in Madison. Look for Watt to have a huge game on Saturday.

At some point, the way the season is going, the Gophers are going to get drilled. I hope it is Saturday, but you never know. The only thing that would shock me is the Gophers actually winning.

I have never seen this board as down as it is right now. It is like a funeral in here. I have not even been able to post. It does not seem right to pile on at this point.

The Gophs got "drilled" by NIU. The final score may not tell the story but given the quality of the opponent (MAC school) and the venue (night game at brand new stadium) and a garbage TD at the end, that was just about as bad as it gets....

 

[Ole]

I'm sorry, but as beaten down as the fan base is, I still don't see wisky being a frickin juggernaut, IMO they are a much worse team than NW.

Listen folks, we're not very good, but we were awful in 07' and somehow Brewster got that team to play hard enough to make it a very close game. Weber too, for some reason has had his best games against wisky.

There's no rhyme or reason why we could win on Sat, but I think wisky is exposed. Poor special teams play, a mediocre run defense, sloppy offensive execution, and an all world running back who seems just not quite as dominant as he has earlier in his career.

Would a loss surprise me? No. Neither would a win to be honest.
It's going to come down to getting wisky off the field, and scoring enough points late to hold on. We haven't done either of these the lst 2 years, either giving up too many 2nd half yards/points, or simply not having a counter punch to finish off the game. We've had the lead in all of the previous games going into the half under Brewster.

I think we have a big return at some point and Weber has an efficient game.
If we win, it's because Anthony Jacobs learned from his A whoopin he got last year and stuffs the pulling guard on those traps and counters, and Tinsley goes off on John Clay Iowa style, penetrating and hitting guys at the line or behind it.

If we lose, it's because we either couldn't stop them on O in the second half, or we failed to counterpunch when they make a late run.

Will good conquer evil in Madtown? It's just crazy enough to believe.

 

[monk10]

We'll win 11tybillion to zero.

 

[Silvio]

Wisconsin is a good team, above average in the Big10. The perceived decline and resurgence are a product mostly of their schedule. BB is 5-11 against ranked teams in his tenure. While he has struggled against ranked teams, they have not struggled against unranked teams. Which has not been good for the gophers.

 

[chi-town gopher]

There's no rhyme or reason why we could win on Sat, but I think wisky is exposed. Poor special teams play, a mediocre run defense, sloppy offensive execution, and an all world running back who seems just not quite as dominant as he has earlier in his career.

I'm pretty sure Badger fans could say the exact same thing about the Gophers, and also add that the Gophers have an awful pass defense. Nobody would describe Bennett as all world, but his injury has made him not as dominant as well.

Even if Wisky is exposed, and I'm not sure they are, are we good enough to take advantage of their flaws? There are plenty of individual players on the Gophers that are talented enough to outplay their Wisconsin counterparts, but we've never seen the Gophers beat a team that is better than them during the entire Brewster era. How can you expect that after the way this season has started? I really hope the Gophers go off and destroy them, but I just don't see it happening.

 

[Seany]

Hey, if Jacksonville State can beat Ole Miss in Oxford, and North Dakota State can beat Kansas in Lawrence, and James Madison can beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, and South Dakota can beat uhmmm us , and Gardner Webb can beat Akron, and Liberty can beat Ball State....then you have to believe that ANYTHING is possible, and that is just the list of FCS upsets from the first two weeks of this season.

So an upset is always possible. The chances of it are probably not great (but they never are, otherwise it wouldn't be considered an 'upset'), but there is always at least a chance of it. Win or lose, I just hope we go in there and play very hard and as well as we are able to and that the players and fans represent the school and state equally well, and that no one on either side suffers any significant injuries. That's what I'm hoping for. I would LOVE a good, close, competitive and hard-fought game in what is one of the most historic rivalries in college football.

Brew's done quite well against Sconnie too. He's not beaten them yet, but he's had us right there in every game against them to where those games were winnable for us, so there's always that too.

 

[Goofer]

"Brew's done quite well against Sconnie too. He's not beaten them yet, but he's had us right there"

LOL.

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

I hear a lot of John Clay-fear here, and its unwarranted. The fear should be of Wisconsin's large and experienced O-line. It won't matter who's running the ball, Clay, White, Ball, whoever, if there are holes the size of State Street opened up.

My one hope is that Brewster has always managed to play Wisconsin tough, home or away, during his tenure. Hell, we were even leading at the half last time we were in Camp Randall. Maybe, finally, we can put 4 quarters together?