Wisconsin Opens at #21 in the USA Today Coaches Poll

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60's Guy

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USA Today Poll

#2. Michigan
#4 Ohio State
#7. Penn State
#20. North Carolina
#21 Wisconsin
Minnesota is in the middle of the clump of schools receiving votes. Iowa was #26
Future matchups:
USC #6
Washington #11
Oregon #15
UCLA #31
and the ghost squad somehow is invisible in the rankings with no votes? What did Frostie do?
Nebraska was always ranked pre-season the last half a dozen years.
 
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UNC’s week 1 opponent, South Carolina, is #27. UNC should get a decent bump to the mid-teens if they win.
 


The annual reset down. Such a predictable part of August that there should be an annual exhibit for it at the State Fair.

I consider the Vegas rankings to be the most data-driven and meaningful ranking set in 2023. These are used to set nearly all point spreads.

In the money rankings at the end of 2022 (TeamRankings)...
USC 14
Oregon 16
Minnesota 18
Washington 19
wisconsin 28
UCLA 29
iowa 30
S Carolina 39 (since they were mentioned here)
UNC was 44

So the Gophers yet again are the only one moving down (22 spots!) on speculation. I really want legal sports betting in my state. Thanks Ron.
 


Oregon State at #18. Not a push over any more. A 9-4 Notre Dame comes in at #13...:unsure:
 

60's Guy said:
USA Today Poll

#2. Michigan
#4 Ohio State
#7. Penn State
#20. North Carolina
#21 Wisconsin
Minnesota is in the middle of the clump of schools receiving votes. Iowa was #26
Future matchups:
USC #6
Washington #11
Oregon #15
UCLA #31
and the ghost squad somehow is invisible in the rankings with no votes? What did Frostie do?
Nebraska was always ranked pre-season the last half a dozen years.
Click to expand...
Sconnie has taken over as the pre season darling that doesn’t deserve it. The Nebraska preseason stupidity finally stopped after about 3 years of Frost and the underperforming squad.

Fickell will probably get a similar grace period where the worthless preseason rankings will keep putting the Badgers way higher than they deserve to be.

Honestly it is proof of how dumb those rankings are when you see Iowa and minnesota both below Wisconsin. Makes no sense.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Oregon State at #18. Not a push over any more. A 9-4 Notre Dame comes in at #13...:unsure:
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They will be if not able to find a conference. Notre Dame apparently has on paper possibly best qb in decades might be the reason although I think Ohio St wins in South Bend.
 

People must be ranking Wisconsin based on the easy schedule.
 



PMWinSTP said:
Oregon State at #18. Not a push over any more. A 9-4 Notre Dame comes in at #13...:unsure:
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Oregon state won 10 last year and added a big name QB transfer

I am not sold on him but he is a big name
 








From what I have been able to read in The Athletic about the WI fall camp, that through the portal WI has loaded up at their prior weaknesses at QB, WR, and CBs.
And Fickell has a great reputation.
Will any of this matter when the games begin?
Only time will tell.
 

Wisconsin always wanted to be the “next Nebraska”.

They are doing a good job! Except it’s Nebraska circa 2018. Not Nebraska circa 1994.
 

Plato said:
From what I have been able to read in The Athletic about the WI fall camp, that through the portal WI has loaded up at their prior weaknesses at QB, WR, and CBs.
And Fickell has a great reputation.
Will any of this matter when the games begin?
Only time will tell.
Click to expand...

Mordecai didn’t enter the draft after he received bad feedback. He sucked at the spring game. Absurdly bad. Inaccurate, avg to weak wobbler arm, horrible decisions. Four interceptions. That doesn’t mean he won’t finish the season as the #1 but it’s a red flag now that he’s up against legitimate defenses.

CJ Williams has the tools but one has to wonder why he transferred out of USC. Is he a difference maker. Same with Bryson Green ( Seth’s brother) who isn’t a burner but more of a possession guy.

New defensive scheme. We’ll see.

The other transfers, who knows. Full disclosure I’m not sold on the Gopher transfers either until we see them in action but they have a history of bringing in producers.
 
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Plato said:
From what I have been able to read in The Athletic about the WI fall camp, that through the portal WI has loaded up at their prior weaknesses at QB, WR, and CBs.
And Fickell has a great reputation.
Will any of this matter when the games begin?
Only time will tell.
Click to expand...
Mordecai had 4 INTs in the spring game, and one was highly touted transfer CJ Williams having stone hands and volleying one directly to a defender. They've upped their game at a few positions, but will likely downgrade on D (especially with the loss of Leonhard). They are also really thin at RB after you get past Allen. Fickell has a good track record, so the long term projections being high are warranted. However, implementing a totally new system doesn't happen overnight, and thus them being in the preseason top-25 is laughable and shows how much worth preseason top-25 rankings have.

edit: with that said, looking at their schedule, it's very soft. If they can win at Wazzu, they'll likely be 5-0 when they play Iowa.
 
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Didn’t Wisconsin have two net yards rushing versus Illinois. Plato?
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Mordecai didn’t enter the draft after he received bad feedback. He sucked at the spring game. Absurdly bad. Inaccurate, avg to weak wobbler arm, horrible decisions. Four interceptions. That doesn’t mean he won’t finish the season as the #1 but it’s a red flag now that he’s up against legitimate defenses.

CJ Williams has the tools but one has to wonder why he transferred out of USC. Is he a difference maker. Same with Bryson Green ( Seth’s brother) who isn’t a burner but more of a possession guy.

New defensive scheme. We’ll see.

The other transfers, who knows. Full disclosure I’m not sold on the Gopher transfers either until we see them in action but they have a history of bringing in producers.
Click to expand...
and check out how he plays in losses vs wins

You know who else lit it up against bad teams?
Mertz
 

I feel like the top 20 up, sometimes even the upper teens are a crap shoot most of the season and even at the end anyway.

Wisc has a favorable schedule and a history of winning so I don't see this ranking as very surprising. Anyone else up there is speculative too...
 



forever a gopher said:
Mordecai had 4 INTs in the spring game, and one was highly touted transfer CJ Williams having stone hands and volleying one directly to a defender. They've upped their game at a few positions, but will likely downgrade on D (especially with the loss of Leonhard). They are also really thin at RB after you get past Allen. Fickell has a good track record, so the long term projections being high are warranted. However, implementing a totally new system doesn't happen overnight, and thus them being in the preseason top-25 is laughable and shows how much worth preseason top-25 rankings have.

edit: with that said, looking at their schedule, it's very soft. If they can win at Wazzu, they'll likely be 5-0 when they play Iowa.
Click to expand...
When you wish upon a star, dreams come true.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Mordecai didn’t enter the draft after he received bad feedback. He sucked at the spring game. Absurdly bad. Inaccurate, avg to weak wobbler arm, horrible decisions. Four interceptions. That doesn’t mean he won’t finish the season as the #1 but it’s a red flag now that he’s up against legitimate defenses.

CJ Williams has the tools but one has to wonder why he transferred out of USC. Is he a difference maker. Same with Bryson Green ( Seth’s brother) who isn’t a burner but more of a possession guy.

New defensive scheme. We’ll see.

The other transfers, who knows. Full disclosure I’m not sold on the Gopher transfers either until we see them in action but they have a history of bringing in producers.
Click to expand...
As I wrote, the proof of the transfers is their game-time performances.
 

forever a gopher said:
Mordecai had 4 INTs in the spring game, and one was highly touted transfer CJ Williams having stone hands and volleying one directly to a defender. They've upped their game at a few positions, but will likely downgrade on D (especially with the loss of Leonhard). They are also really thin at RB after you get past Allen. Fickell has a good track record, so the long term projections being high are warranted. However, implementing a totally new system doesn't happen overnight, and thus them being in the preseason top-25 is laughable and shows how much worth preseason top-25 rankings have.

edit: with that said, looking at their schedule, it's very soft. If they can win at Wazzu, they'll likely be 5-0 when they play Iowa.
Click to expand...
I think they are thin at RB after Allen and Chaz Melluzi, who is pretty good. I think Fickell might find that the running game serves him better in 2024 (than air raid), because he doesn’t have right personnel yet. We’ll see. If Wisconsin has a drop off on defense, they will suffer some losses even with its weak schedule.
 

forever a gopher said:
Mordecai had 4 INTs in the spring game, and one was highly touted transfer CJ Williams having stone hands and volleying one directly to a defender. They've upped their game at a few positions, but will likely downgrade on D (especially with the loss of Leonhard). They are also really thin at RB after you get past Allen. Fickell has a good track record, so the long term projections being high are warranted. However, implementing a totally new system doesn't happen overnight, and thus them being in the preseason top-25 is laughable and shows how much worth preseason top-25 rankings have.

edit: with that said, looking at their schedule, it's very soft. If they can win at Wazzu, they'll likely be 5-0 when they play Iowa.
Click to expand...

If Fickell is really going to attempt to fully roll out the spread offense this year the area I might be most interested in is the O-Line. I think a lot of the current players were brought in to be more road graders in the run game than operating in pass pro for 35-40 snaps a game. If they try it it will be interesting to see how they hold up against some of the better pass rushers in the league.

I know PPF puts out a college offensive line ranking and provide scores for both pass and run. However, they only publicly provide the list of the top ten for free. I think you need a subscription to see the full list which would be interesting.
 

with all of the player movement in college football, I think the pre-season ratings just don't mean as much as they used to.

and that is especially true for teams that have new head coaches or coordinators.

It's easy to say "so-and-so was good last year, so they'll be good this year." but if a team has a new HC, a new coordinator, and is bringing in multiple transfers, it takes time to put all of the pieces together.

I admit I'm in a minority here, but I don't pay much attention to any ratings until teams have played 3 or 4 games - and even then, most of that is non-conference play against often weaker opponents.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
We could count on Mertz to fold up. Let’s hope that continues with an unsteady QB under a lot of pressure to produce.
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Rewatched the game from last year on BTN Sunday. It is amazing how he looked so polished on some plays and a disaster on others. Some of his throws landed in another ZIP code.
 

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