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I'm conflicted with how I feel about the game. Part of me is extremely sad that we lost on Senior Day. The other part of me realizes this game means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. In the end, though, a few things stand out to piss me off:
1. It's always the special teams that cost us these games. Today, it was special teams fuckup overload. We had:
A. A missed easy field goal
B. A punt return given up for a TD.
C. A touchback when we were punting from our the OSU 32 (that's a +12 net).
D. Repeated punts from midfield area that ended in the OSU 15-20. They were never pinned deep.
E. Had a punt get us pinned at the one yard line.
F. Awful coverage meant that Meyer's one good punt rolled into the endzone.
G. Had 4 total punt return yards
Get rid of any of these and we win. If this was an anomaly, it would be one thing. It isn't. Of the 12 losses the last four years, 11 are due to special teams. I kid you not. The only exception was the Rose Bowl last year. At some point over Winter Break, i'll probably make a comprehensive post on this, because it is depressing as fuck and it needs more media attention.
2. What was up with the spots on drive where Ball fumbled? On second down, he runs to the 1.5 and they mark him at the 3. On third down, he runs to the .5 yard line and gets marked at the 1.25. Incredibly, it was reviewed and they didn't respot and measure. I don't want to blame it on the officials (because it really wasn't why we lost), but that was totally inexcusable.
3. Speaking of the Montee Ball fumble, some of the criticism I have seen from friends is so stupid. What did you want him to do? If he doesn't reach it, he is stopped short of the first. Everyone criticizes him. The guy can't win. His job was to reach for the first. It was the O-Line's job to clear his path.
4. The Matt Canada criticism gets old, so I will just limit it to this: HOW THE FUCK DO YOU NOT GIVE ABBREDARIS ANY JUMP BALLS. OSU's weakness is the secondary. Jared Abbredaris is one of the best jump-ball receivers in football. It was a recipe for disaster for OSU but we never gave it a chance. IIRC, there was only one deep throw to Abbredaris, and Phillips missed him when he was wide open. Why not just lob a few others up.
5. Speaking of the WRs, I hope I never see Chase Hammond again. After having a critical drop and penalty in extremely limited playing time against Michigan State, what does he do? Why, a critical drop and penalty in extremely limited time against OSU, of course. Give me more Kenzel Doe and Jordan Frederick, and why not test AJ Jordan? Anything but the man who has arguably cost us two games despite playing twenty plays combined at most.
6. A pitiful display from the student section. I sort of understand showing up a few minutes after kickoff if you have to drink. When 5% of the student section is empty at the end of the first quarter in a game of this magnitude, it is a fucking disgrace.
At the same time, there were a lot of things that were great to see:
1. The Offensive Line played their best game of the year, by far.
2. The Seniors who are the heart of this team were awesome today. Particularly Mike Taylor, Devin Smith, and Shelton Johnson. Montee as well, and outside of a couple plays where Simon blew past him, Ricky Wagner was a superstar.
3. Dezmen Southward deserves a special shout-out. After costing us the OSU game last year and being on my shit list for most of the last two years, he played his best game as a Badger.
4. Yes, we lost the game, but that Curt Phillips drive to tie the game was absolutely awesome to see.
5. This was the best game from a Badger D-Line since 2009. They absolutely dominated a very solid line.
I'm happy with the way that this team performed, and I think it bodes very well for the next two huge games. I just wish that we quit making the same mistakes over and over again.
1. It's always the special teams that cost us these games. Today, it was special teams fuckup overload. We had:
A. A missed easy field goal
B. A punt return given up for a TD.
C. A touchback when we were punting from our the OSU 32 (that's a +12 net).
D. Repeated punts from midfield area that ended in the OSU 15-20. They were never pinned deep.
E. Had a punt get us pinned at the one yard line.
F. Awful coverage meant that Meyer's one good punt rolled into the endzone.
G. Had 4 total punt return yards
Get rid of any of these and we win. If this was an anomaly, it would be one thing. It isn't. Of the 12 losses the last four years, 11 are due to special teams. I kid you not. The only exception was the Rose Bowl last year. At some point over Winter Break, i'll probably make a comprehensive post on this, because it is depressing as fuck and it needs more media attention.
2. What was up with the spots on drive where Ball fumbled? On second down, he runs to the 1.5 and they mark him at the 3. On third down, he runs to the .5 yard line and gets marked at the 1.25. Incredibly, it was reviewed and they didn't respot and measure. I don't want to blame it on the officials (because it really wasn't why we lost), but that was totally inexcusable.
3. Speaking of the Montee Ball fumble, some of the criticism I have seen from friends is so stupid. What did you want him to do? If he doesn't reach it, he is stopped short of the first. Everyone criticizes him. The guy can't win. His job was to reach for the first. It was the O-Line's job to clear his path.
4. The Matt Canada criticism gets old, so I will just limit it to this: HOW THE FUCK DO YOU NOT GIVE ABBREDARIS ANY JUMP BALLS. OSU's weakness is the secondary. Jared Abbredaris is one of the best jump-ball receivers in football. It was a recipe for disaster for OSU but we never gave it a chance. IIRC, there was only one deep throw to Abbredaris, and Phillips missed him when he was wide open. Why not just lob a few others up.
5. Speaking of the WRs, I hope I never see Chase Hammond again. After having a critical drop and penalty in extremely limited playing time against Michigan State, what does he do? Why, a critical drop and penalty in extremely limited time against OSU, of course. Give me more Kenzel Doe and Jordan Frederick, and why not test AJ Jordan? Anything but the man who has arguably cost us two games despite playing twenty plays combined at most.
6. A pitiful display from the student section. I sort of understand showing up a few minutes after kickoff if you have to drink. When 5% of the student section is empty at the end of the first quarter in a game of this magnitude, it is a fucking disgrace.
At the same time, there were a lot of things that were great to see:
1. The Offensive Line played their best game of the year, by far.
2. The Seniors who are the heart of this team were awesome today. Particularly Mike Taylor, Devin Smith, and Shelton Johnson. Montee as well, and outside of a couple plays where Simon blew past him, Ricky Wagner was a superstar.
3. Dezmen Southward deserves a special shout-out. After costing us the OSU game last year and being on my shit list for most of the last two years, he played his best game as a Badger.
4. Yes, we lost the game, but that Curt Phillips drive to tie the game was absolutely awesome to see.
5. This was the best game from a Badger D-Line since 2009. They absolutely dominated a very solid line.
I'm happy with the way that this team performed, and I think it bodes very well for the next two huge games. I just wish that we quit making the same mistakes over and over again.
