Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag is a podcast aiming at bringing you Wisconsin sports news and opinions everyday! Follow the podcast and find us live Sunday, Wednesday and Friday nights on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Twitch and Kick TV.
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Bucks' Winning Streak, Packers' Promising Shift, College Football Chaos and Badgers' Mens Basketball Resilient Win – Wisconsin Sports on the Go
What if the Milwaukee Bucks are on the brink of a breakthrough season? Join us for a lively conversation as guest host Kyle fills in while Aaron recuperates, unpacking the Bucks' recent four-game winning streak and the strategic moves by Doc Rivers that are making waves on the court. With standout performances from Giannis, AJ Green, and Bobby Portis, we speculate on whether the team has what it takes to tackle giants like the Celtics and Cavaliers. Our basketball analysis doesn't stop there; we shift our focus to the broader NBA landscape, scrutinizing the potential of rising stars such as Tyrese Maxey and the unpredictable performances of veterans like Jimmy Butler.
As we navigate through the twists and turns of this sports-packed weekend, we jump into the chaos of college football with surprising upsets that have left fans and analysts reeling. Alabama's stumble opens the door for underdogs like SMU and Clemson to make a playoff push, challenging the traditional hierarchies. Meanwhile, in the world of the NFL, the Green Bay Packers' decisive victory over the 49ers signals a promising shift in their season, with Jordan Love leading the charge and a pivotal clash against the Detroit Lions on the horizon. We balance this with hard-hitting insights into the ongoing struggles of the Wisconsin Badgers football team, urging a deeper look at coaching dynamics and the path forward.
In a thrilling finish, we celebrate the tenacity of the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team as they claw back from a tough start to secure a win against Pitt. Highlighting the standout efforts of players like John Tonje, the episode underscores the importance of grit and adaptability. We wrap up with predictions for the NFC West division, highlighting unexpected performances and playoff potential, while not shying away from bold Super Bowl forecasts. Tune in for an episode that's packed with passionate discussion, insightful analysis, and a few surprises along the way.
Thank you how we doing everybody and welcome into wisconsin sports. Time to go with trage. I'm your host, trage. It is a sunday night. It's a good sunday. The packers got a big win against the 49ers. We can't complain. Badger basketball right now they're in a dog fight with pit. So we're going to talk about that game when it concludes here, which should be during the show at some point. But we'll save it for last. Talk about the Badgers there. But I got Kyle with me tonight. Aaron, feeling a little bit underneath the weather, kyle's like hey, dude, I'll come on, we'll talk about some stuff. We'll talk about Wisconsin sports.
Speaker 2:Good, you know it's Sunday night, got Sunday night football Good way to kind of end a crazy day. You know, looking at this week it was like it's going to be kind of a boring week, Some bad games. It turned into a wildly entertaining day and hopefully tonight's game adds to that. But yeah, I've had a lot of fun watching football today.
Speaker 1:Heck of games today. Heck of games yesterday in college football. We've had some good college basketball games over the weekend. It has just been a good weekend for sports all the way around. If you're not a wisconsin badger football fan because right now, uh, we're gonna save that one we're gonna talk about the bucks first. Kyle wants to talk about the bucks first, and then we'll talk about badger football, because we figured don't start it out on a terrible note, let's start it out on a better note here. So let's talk about this Bucs team right away here, because they've rattled off four straight now.
Speaker 1:Now I'm not saying that these teams that they've been playing are, you know, the Celtics or the Knicks or anybody like that, but rattled off some good wins here. Had the Pacers there beat them 128-117. We see that Hornets game 126-119. I mean, they just lost the last time out to the Hornets, got a big win this time around you wouldn't say it's a big win because it's the Hornets, but hey, get that monkey off the back if you are the Milwaukee Bucks. They've been playing better, as of late it's looked better. Giannis Dayum, you get some contributions from AJ Green. You got Bobby Portis playing well. Gary Trent finally found some nylon. I don't know what's been going on with him, but he finally found the rim there. So, kyle, what have you? I mean you've been keeping up with the Bucs a little bit there. What have you liked about this Bucs team as of late here, versus what we saw early on this season?
Speaker 2:I mean, look, the biggest thing is that they're getting wins. If you get wins, you kind of believe in the messenger a little bit more. I think with Doc Rivers this is kind of what he's needed. Like you said, I don't care about the competition necessarily, because in the NBA it's tough to win night in and night out. Now, luckily, this is starting early enough in the season that you keep this up for another couple of weeks. You can completely forget how they started out, where they started out looking really slow, looking a little disorganized at times, rotations were all wonky and all this kind of stuff. Now, because they're putting together wins now, doc Rivers kind of knows the formula. You know Giannis is a guy that will speak his mind, so the more wins that they put together, the more confident he can feel in this group around him. I mean, grand scheme of things.
Speaker 2:I still don't know necessarily about the roster when it comes to teams like you know, the Celtics or I know the Cavs are up there. Cavs are kind of in like got to show me first, but they're playing really well right now. The Cavs and the Celtics both kind of do things that I guess if you're a Bucs fan, you could worry about, because the Bucs still, I think, allow three-point shooting a little bit too much, especially in 2024 where everybody loves shooting them. Now, cleveland's not as good as Boston is at beating you from three, but they have some guys who can't shoot from out there at beating you from three, but they have some guys who can't shoot from out there. So as a Celtics fan, I still look at the Bucs as a team that will make it tough on you, but I still don't think that they're really that big of a hindrance to the Celtics kind of getting where they want to be. But it is good to see them actually playing well, because you don't want to be philly right now.
Speaker 2:Philly struggling gets guys back still struggling and it's almost like with philly. It seems like that locker room is kind of teetering on breaking with milwaukee. I think you have guys there that know that have been there and done that, that, that this is a bit sustainable for them. But I still worry about them later on in the season when you have to rely on guys like Brooke Lopez who are getting up there in age. So right now, get all the wins you can. You know, get them early, because later in the season, you don't know, but I like the way that they're playing right now.
Speaker 1:And you stopped with the Pat Connington madness. You stopped with that. You just I mean, yes, there's talk of a trade and everything like that, which could be a reason why he's not playing like that at this point, but you just said enough's enough. You're not contributing as much as aj green can or what andre jackson jr can do for us right now. Done with it, done with it. And that's a huge step forward.
Speaker 1:Because we've talked about Doc in the past and we've said this guy doesn't like using the young guys, he likes to keep his, he likes to keep the vets out there. He doesn't like the young guys. This is a step forward for Doc. Maybe we're hoping he's kind of adapting to what the new NBA is. It's a little bit faster. You got to be able to play quick. These guys can do that for you. Even though Jackson Jr isn't going to light up the score sheet for you, he's going to play solid defense. He's going to do what he's got to do against shooters, what you talked about giving up too many threes. That's a guy who can defend out the perimeter. So that's a huge guy to have on the court a majority of the time when you need them, and so you love the trajectory that this team is heading in right now and just great stuff.
Speaker 1:Great stuff all the way around from the Milwaukee Bucks and I mean it's led by Giannis, it's led by Dame it seems like those guys are flowing better together. Right, we've been waiting. We've been waiting for the pick and roll, we've been waiting for those two to look like they're working together as a whole, right, and that's what we're finally seeing out of these guys. Hole, right, and that's what we're finally seeing out of these guys. And that can rub off on guys like Bobby or Gary Trent. They see their two stars. They're finally starting to flow. It's like all right, here we go, boys, here we go. We're feeling good about ourselves. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good. I like where the Bucs are at. I don't think that they're this perennial powerhouse. I don't know if they're going to be able to bang around with the celtics yet on a consistent basis or anything like that, but I think they're in a good place. And in a good place because we did receive news.
Speaker 1:Chris middleton, I know, hold your breath, he might be back in the next game or two. I, I don't know, hold your breath on that one. I. I, when I see it I'll believe it. I haven't seen it yet so I can't believe it until I do. But they're talking a game or two that makes you feel good.
Speaker 1:Get Middleton back from what the production has been from Torian Prince and I don't want to blame Torian Prince completely because he's not a starter.
Speaker 1:You cannot have Torian Prince be. He cannot be a main contributor because he's not. He can be a bench roll guy. He can come off the bench and contribute in that way and knock down big shots. He's going gonna have games where he gives you 18, but there's gonna be games where he struggles and I know you're gonna have struggled games from chris middleton or dame or yannis I. I'm completely in on that. But chris middleton is a more of a night in and night out score when he's healthy, versus what tori and prince is going to give you. So if you do get you know chris middleton here starts to contribute like we think he can, I think it boosts this team because then Torian Prince kind of shifts to that bench where I believe he belongs on that bench there, not saying that he's not a good player, just saying I don't think he's a starter, and I think that gives this Bucs team another dynamic there Maybe not on the defensive end but on the offensive end adds another score.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if we look back in another month and we'll just say, like the early part of the season was doc maybe playing conantin and prince too much to give the young players some time, or he was giving them like the opportunity to keep the young players on the bench, but then eventually he was just like I, I can't do this anymore. If that's what it looks like, then you can excuse the first month, if that's where it ends up. And look if Conadon's gone or whoever, because I do think that the Bucs are a team that needs a trade or something just to get maybe one of these veteran guys out of the way, so Doc isn't tempted to turn to them in a big moment. So yeah, if you are a Bucs fan, you should like what's going on right now.
Speaker 2:Don't necessarily go overboard with where they stand in the East because, luckily for them, outside of Cleveland, boston and Orlando, the rest of the East has kind of been in the same boat as Milwaukee, which is why when you look at the standings now they're in fifth but there's still a game under 500. So a lot of these teams, like the Heat and Haw know hawks, paces, all that have their own issues as well, so they haven't been able to distance from you. So, with as bad as the start has been, you could still be a top four team in the east by season's end. If that's the case, then you take your chances you know what I find crazy?
Speaker 1:everybody like we put a magnifying glass on the bucks right now because it's like, why are the bucks struggling? You know yannis wants out this and that. Who the heck is looking at? The 76ers is anybody. Is anybody looking over at joelle and beating the boys over there and saying, um, they stay they are a mess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are an absolute mess in philadelphia, but we don't hear about it.
Speaker 1:It's like the big street, everybody big is like, well, what's going on with the bucks? Yannis is gonna want out, he just want to be here anymore. Why would anybody want to stay with this team, this and that? And it's like, uh, okay, let's talk about the, let's talk about the 76ers for a second, maybe. Let's let's stop, you know, harping on just the bucks here, because the sixers, they might be in a worse spot than the bucks, because we look at that, like you were talking, you've been talking about the standings there, I mean the 76ers, 3 and 12, like yep, where is the writing of the ship with the 76ers? Right now? That is, I is there. Is there a way the 76ers find a? Is there a path? Is there a path for them to find their way back into it or find some consistent play?
Speaker 2:yes, but I don't know if they want to have that conversation yet. They need to trade joel and bead.
Speaker 1:He's, he's dragging the team down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maxi has shown he can. He can play. And look, I I did not know what to expect from jared mccain as an nba player. The the guy's working. So, philadelphia, look, you're losing now.
Speaker 2:Anyway, what's the point of keeping Embiid around? I don't know who you could send him to. But if I'm Philly, if I'm a Sixers fan, I want this team to basically restart the process, with Joel Embiid and his distraction out of the way, because the longer he stays there, yeah, he may put up numbers, but I don't know how many years you can take making the playoffs just to lose in the second round, all while he's pushing for MVPs Yep, that's. There's no point to it. And he's had all these lower body injuries. He's not getting younger. The lower body injuries are just going to continue to be there. The brace on his left leg that's probably going to be a mainstay for the rest of his career. Yeah, I don't need it. I don't need it. Yeah, he might help you win 50 games a year. So what if you're not going to make the Eastern Conference Finals? It's a waste.
Speaker 1:You're just sitting there, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean his contract status and everything. I'm sure a team may take him, but yeah, between Maxie McCain, those are two young guys I would look forward to building around. As long as Embiid's there, he's going to want to be the number one guy. He wants to be the leader. I don't think he's that great of a leader, so I would move off of him. That's the only way they're going to fix this. They're not going to win with Joel Embiid. They're not going to win the title with him.
Speaker 1:I agree. How do you justify building a roster around a guy whose availability is four games through the first? What 15? How are you going to justify that? You know Tyrese Maxey, that's the guy to build around. Build around Tyrese Maxey. Maybe you have Jerry McCain, like you said. He's been fantastic. I think he's averaging 16 points a game Fantastic that is over the top from what you said.
Speaker 1:Like you expected what I expected. I mean I saw him playing for duke. He was a solid. I mean he was a solid ball player. I'm not gonna deny that. But I didn't think he'd be 16 points a game in his first season solid of a ball player. So you love what you're seeing there build around tyrese maxi. At some point yet, distractions become too much. They become too much Even for a good organization or a team full of good players. Distractions do become too much for you, and I think that is where the 76ers team is heading right along with you. I completely agree with you there. So the 76ers, they're dead last in the standings right now. That's where they reside at this very moment. Cleveland's still up top with that one loss. And then we see the Celtics Magic, knicks, bucs, knicks, bucks, bucks have played their way back into fifth place now in the east, which I mean, like you said, it's been a struggle busting an east so far. A lot of even themes there.
Speaker 1:So, and that I think that'll even itself out, spread some teams out in there too. So we'll see that happen. Miami heat in that sixth spot right now at six, and I believe they're six and seven at this very moment. So, yeah, it tells you how. How that's kind of sitting. And then we see the hawks, pacers, bulls, pistons, anybody in there kind of surprise you up to this point yes, because I do know that you mentioned like a lot of attention on the bucks there are.
Speaker 2:There are a few teams in the east that need to be talked about, I mean the top six. Look mi, miami. I think Miami needs to have a conversation about Jimmy Butler. He's a guy they need to move. I get he culture and everything, but I cannot stand how Jimmy Butler picks and chooses the nights he wants to play. Even within games he'll pick and choose which quarters he wants to actually give some effort. If you're Spolster, if you're Miami, be done with the Jerry Butler era. Jerry Butler is not bringing a title to Miami. Sorry to let you know that. The Pacers. What is wrong with Tyrese Halliburton?
Speaker 1:I've seen him a few times.
Speaker 2:The three-point shot isn't there and you know he looks like a guy who got a lot of attention last year, was feeling himself over the offseason and maybe didn't go as hard in his preparation for this year as he normally does. And that's a problem if you're Indiana, because Indiana has their issues defensively. But the one thing that they had on teams was Halliburton's ability to speed you up, move the ball around and knock down the three. If he's not doing that, then Indiana is going to have a lot of issues this season. I think Indiana was another one of those teams that people were looking at as could make some noise. I think that stuff, especially with Halliburton playing the way that he is right now yeah, I'm not buying into that. So 7-10, I mean, look the only team in that group that I can probably say something good about the Pistons.
Speaker 2:The Pistons look like a functioning NBA team now In terms of wins and losses. I don't know what that means, but I think they should beat their win total from last year. So maybe you can finally look at Detroit, all the young players that they've kind of collected there. Maybe they're finally going upward in trajectory. I don't know where the end game is for them. You know Cade Cunningham. I like his game. He has to stay healthy. Jaden Ivey, under Monty Williams couldn't see the court for whatever reason. Under JB Bickerstaff he's back in a leading role, which is probably why you're seeing the pistons play better right now. So this could be the year that the pistons actually make a play, because it seems like the last three years it's like look out for the pistons, then they end up as one of the worst teams in the east. I think they're actually built to be okay this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you love to see it. You love to see a team like that build it from the ground back up and now starting to see it kind of produce nowadays here, I mean tyree salbert.
Speaker 1:do you think it is? Do you think there's something wrong? Or do you think he's coming back to earth? Do you think last season was just like uh, it was like he played over what he really is now? I'm not saying that he is. Maybe ty Tyrese Halliburton is just struggling right now. Maybe something's going on Like it could be, but I think there's a strong possibility right now that Tyrese Halliburton is just coming back down to I mean, he's still averaging 15 a game. But maybe that's it. Maybe he is this guy. Maybe it wasn't the guy we saw the year before.
Speaker 2:I mean is is that a possibility? Do you think? I mean that that's definitely a possibility, but what? What would scare you is he went from a decent three-point shooter to shooting 29 this year. Yeah, that that's rough field goal percentage, I feel. Like last year he was in probably like the mid 40s range. He's down to 37. So it's either. It's either the shot selection isn't there and that's him pressing and to try to get himself out of this slump, because the worst thing you can do in a slump is think about that slump and and just solely focus on getting out of it instead of just play team basketball, take the open shots that are there and eventually they'll fall. So I think it's a little bit more than necessarily coming back down to earth. I just think that maybe people overrated him a bit off of last year and we just don't know exactly what kind of player he is yet.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, I could. I could definitely see that too. I really could. I could definitely see that too. And you know it's tough because when you're in that slump you want to find your way out. Look at Gary Trent with the bucks there. But you know the bucks had the ability. Where we shifted them to the bench we said, hey, doc's, like, just, we'll figure it out, just we'll work through it. And look at him now he's finding his rhythm as of late here. So you hope that continues. Maybe Tyrus Halliburton's kind of same way. You just got to sit him down and say, okay, you're good, we're good, let's just work through the mechanics. His mechanics suck. So that shot still gets to me every. I can't yell at anybody who made it to the NBA with that shot there. So I mean, we'll see.
Speaker 1:We'll see what happens with this Eastern Conference, the Western Conference, golden State, golden State 12-4 right now, top of the league there. And then we see the Thunder they're 12-4 too. And then we see the Rockets 12-6. Lakers they're sitting at 10 and 6 right now. Clippers 11 and 7, nuggets 9 and 6. Now we see the grizzly suns, mavs and spurs to round it out there in that top 10 I I would say it's surprising how well golden state they are. Just it's like clay thompson left buddy healed came in and it's like they didn't skip a beat. It's like they just kept it on cooking. And I mean you like that for golden state? They're oklahoma. I mean I like OKC.
Speaker 1:I think they got a lot of great youth on that team and they're building towards something fantastic. Is there a team in there that surprises you where they're at, or is it kind of almost what you expected? Or what are you seeing right now in the West?
Speaker 2:I mean, look, the Rockets being third in the West right now is surprising, even though a lot of people thought last year was the year that they could have done kind of a jump like this. But I think Houston is kind of showing you that you know you get young players, let them develop together, because they got to a point where they had too many young pieces, but last season they traded off some of them away and now you kind of know the young core that they're going to build with. They surrounded that with your Fred Van Vliet not the biggest Van Vliet guy, but he works for them. In Houston you have Dylan Brooks who towards the end of Memphis wanted to be the bad guy. They kind of struggled with being the bad guy and now that he's in Houston I think he's kind of under the radar, not in the spotlight, so he can kind of just do his thing. They just seem to have a really good mix of players that I do think that it is sustainable with them for much of the season. I don't know if they're going to stay at three because I do think with also a young group comes pressure. When you're getting in past Christmas, you're getting into the new year and you have these big-name teams like the Lakers behind you, the Nuggets, who they still have Jokic, the pieces around Jokic I don't know if I'm willing to buy into yet, but they're still there.
Speaker 2:I am surprised by the Clippers. I thought the Clippers were going to be terrible this year and they still could end up that way. But I mean, you lose Paul George, kawhi Leonard good luck figuring out when that guy is going to play again. And it was like, oh, we're going to go with James Harden and these other guys. It's working for them right now. I do think they would need Kawhi to come back soon. I don't expect James Harden to lead a group for 82 games and lead them into winning basketball. That's kind of where I'm at with them, or expect.
Speaker 1:Kawhi Leonard to come back soon. He's like worse than Chris Middleton for when we're going to see Kawhi Leonard again.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean, the problem is with Kawhi. We kind of knew this was happening. He had bad knees at San Diego State. There was talks when he got bad knees at san diego state. There was talks when he got drafted about arthritis in his knee, so it was, it was only bound to get to here like it's. At the point now where you're thinking how many more years does kawaii even have as an nba player? Because eventually he's going to wake up one day, look at his knees and go I, I can't do 82 games, I can't do that.
Speaker 1:I can't even do 40 games are you sure he's not at that point already? I feel like he might be at that point.
Speaker 2:He's an odd guy, so I I would not doubt that he's not sitting there right now. Like kawaii is the type who would probably get up on a random saturday and you'll just see on esp and kawaii leonard retired, and you'll be like huh, and be like yeah, it kind of fits kawaii, I can see that?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's true, that is true well, look, hey, steve ballmer is is one of the the fun owners in the league. You know he's loving this. Right now they have the new arena. They, you know, change their brand to break off from the Lakers. So right now you kind of like what you're seeing, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Out of the teams in the top six, they're the one I'm worried about the most with their standing. I think everybody else ahead of them you're okay with. I mean the Lakers, anthony Davis is going to be what leads them this year, the same as last year and kind of last couple of years, even though LeBron gets a lot of the attention. I've said it since the bubble title Anthony Davis is the most important player to the Lakers' success and when they win it's usually Anthony Davis with like 30 points, like 16 rebounds, you know four blocks. He's giving you like six, seven assists, like he's doing all of that. When they lose are the games where he gives you like 16 points, 10 rebounds. That's not enough with this Lakers group If they're going to win deep into the season and then golden state, clearly clay Thompson was holding them back.
Speaker 2:By moving on from Klay Thompson you get more athletic on the wing, which I think was a big deal for Golden State, and this is what you get. You're getting like they play really good defense. Now, not to say that they weren't good defensively with Klay, but Klay was kind of a guy you could target because his lateral movement just wasn't there anymore. So now you take it out of the equation. It's like moses moody and these guys who are young athletic wings you are seeing them. This is like steve kerr basketball to a t. You're feisty on defense and you got Steph Curry. Once you look, yes, steph Curry, you're going to be a potent offense, so shout out to them. A lot of people wanted to see the demise of the of the warriors. It looks like it might've lasted for only one year, cause they're kind of back to where they were before.
Speaker 1:Just winning basketball games.
Speaker 1:That's what they do Steph Curry knows how to win. We know that they got something to prove this year. He wants to prove it. That's the feeling, right? He just wants to prove it without clay with this team. Now I can still do it. I can do it at a high level. I can't wait to see this finish out. This has been a good first month, first month of the NBA. See what's going on there. So good stuff there in the NBA.
Speaker 1:But, kyle, let's just get to the craptastic portion of the day. Let's just get to it. Let's just get through it. We're going to get to it and then we're going to get over it and then we're going to move on, because Badgers men basketball just pulled off a late win against Pitt. They came back, they survived, they won Great stuff. We're going to get to that later, though.
Speaker 1:We want to end the show on a good topic, because we want to get to this crap topic first, because we really don't want to talk about it. But we got to today here, the Badgers football. You know, kyle, it's the little things in life, right? It's the little things in life that you look forward to. This was a game. I was looking forward to it. I was like all right, we're gonna see badgers go to nebraska, they're gonna play a set. They just came off of a close loss to oregon. We talked about it in the preview show. We said you know this team, they got to come with the juice, they got to come with the energy. This is a team in nebr, nebraska, who has struggled this year, same with Wisconsin. It's going to be about who comes out motivated to win this football game 44 to 25. And don't even look at the 25 on that scoreboard for Wisconsin, because that was garbage. That was garbage. Touchdowns, that was games already over. We're just putting touchdowns on the board at this point here. I don't know what. You know it almost. I I'm. You know I I'm not on, I'm not on the team, I'm not a part of wisconsin football, I'm not on the team. But you know what? I'm a fan and as a fan I was embarrassed watching that football game. I was embarrassed. That was embarrassing. To go to nebraska and give up 44 points to a team who hasn't cussed over 25 points I don't think they've cussed over. I want to look at them as a whole. This season here they scored 40 points against UTEP. Outside of that, they put up 28 points against Purdue. They lost 31 to 24 to Illinois. So let's just look at against power five schools. They had it cussed over 30 points in a game. Purdue held them 28.
Speaker 1:How, I mean, you go into this game off an Oregon game where you're feeling good about yourself and you just played the most unembarrassing, uninspiring. No drive, no pride, no fire. There was nothing. And that starts at the top man. That's Luke Fickle, that is Fickle, fickle Fickle. You got to get the boys up for this game. I don't know if they quit on you, which it feels like they quit on you, but the most confusing part to the entire thing. So you play Penn State and I thought the defense got up for that game. You ended up giving up 28 points in the end, but you were in it until the fourth quarter. It was a close game. It was 14 to 13 going into the fourth or whatever it was. You were feeling good about yourself, it was a good game, right.
Speaker 1:And then next week out you go to Iowa, you get your doors knocked in and you played like this uninspiring, craptastic football.
Speaker 1:And then you come back home and you play Oregon.
Speaker 1:Who should have ran you out of the building. That shouldn't even have been a football game. You had a chance to win that football game multiple times and you did not, which it happens. It happens. I mean I'm not going to say it doesn't happen, but you held Oregon to 16 points, one of their lowest and worst offensive showings of the season. You held them to that and the next week out you go to Nebraska and you look like this. You look like this crap tastic. Dylan Raiola looks like he's the five-star quarterback that he hasn't looked like all season long. He looks like it in this game. Johnson runs all over you for 113 yards. You look like absolute hot garbage in a game that you needed, in a game that you desperately needed, because guess what? Now I know it's Paul Bunyan week, now I know it's for the acts. Now you got Minnesota, but that Minnesota team's decent, they're good. How do you bounce back after a demoralizing loss like this? How do you even get up for a game on a Friday with no student section because they're gone for Thanksgiving break? How do you get up for that game when you just got this, this craptastic showing, and you know what.
Speaker 1:The offense actually looked decent, the offense wasn't the problem. Your defense looked like absolute garbage. And we can sit here and we can blame Trestle for the scheme, and we can blame the lack of talent, and we can blame this and we can blame that there was no drive, there was no fire, there was a lack of focus, there was no consistency. This defense looked like crap. And we can, we can blame it on. Ok, hunter Waller was out. Ok, hunter Waller was out. Ok, jake Cheneler was out. Okay, hunter Wohler was out. Okay, jake Chaney went out early, one of your better linebackers. He's out. Okay, so why does your defense look like they don't care? Why does it look like that? Why do they look like they don't care?
Speaker 1:This is a Luke Fickle problem now, because we just saw and there is one good part of Badger football, I guess for the day Carter Smith, the four-star recruit, did commit to Wisconsin. So you know what? You have a great recruit coming in. You have a good recruiting class. I think they have. I believe I'd have to look, but I think it's the 17th ranked recruiting class in the nation. Now, for next season, you have a great recruiting class coming in.
Speaker 1:Luke Fickle's problem is not recruiting, it's getting the boys up, it's getting them ready to rock because, yes, you may not have the talent, you may never have the talent of Ohio state, you may never have the talents of Penn state. You may never have a talent of Oregon. You might never get to that point. Because they can pay guys. Look at Michigan. They just paid. I believe that contract for Bryce Underwood's probably gonna be 10 million. So you look at them, they're paying guys to come in. You might not get to that threshold but you can still get the boys up to play. They can still look like they have a fire.
Speaker 1:Because when you look at that Oregon game, you give me a good quarterback for Oregon against Oregon. In that game you might win. You give me a good quarterback against Penn State. There's a chance you might win that game. You might put Penn State's back against the wall. You had laps of quarterback play in those games.
Speaker 1:But now, now we look at these games the Iowa, the Nebraska. Yes, the offense did suck against Iowa and you know this game. Here I'm not going to say the offense was over the top, fantastic, but they didn't lose you this football game. They did not lose you this football game. You got manhandled in the trenches, you got manhandled all over the place because you came out flat. And that starts with Luke Fickle and that works its way down. Kyle, I mean you're not a Badger fan, you're a Boston College fan. I'm sorry for taking Halfway away from you out there. I feel bad. I feel bad. He's doing good, though we're taking care of him in Green Bay. He's doing good with Green Bay. But I mean, kyle, you see, this game You're like what I mean. It has to start at the top and it has to work down. It has to start at luke fickle and it has to come down to the guys. If he lost the locker room, what do you do then?
Speaker 2:if you lost the locker room. I mean, how can you trust the guy if he lost the locker room? Yeah, that that's. That's very true. And it's like when you look at wisconsin and nebraska you kind of look at them very similar. You know they're middle at least you know this season, middle of the pack of the Big Ten. You know both teams trying to kind of find their way. So you figure like this game is going to be ultra-competitive, two teams looking to get to that sixth win to become bowl eligible. But Nebraska clearly just wanted it more. You know you get through the first quarter it's uh what, 14 to 7, with the with the lead. And the second quarter is like where it started to slip away. Wisconsin gets the field goal early in the second quarter, you know, 14 to 10. You're just like, okay, we're hanging in there, we're, we're, we're sticking with them. Then after that it's like nebraska just takes over. You know the, the next drive, wisconsin misses the field goal. And now it's almost like at that point heads probably dropped. They're like, oh, here we go, we're, we're, we go, we're just not made for this.
Speaker 2:Nebraska goes on a 10-play drive, scores a touchdown, you get the ball, you fumble, turnover, nebraska. A couple plays, kick a field goal. Then you end the half. So now you've gone to the half, momentum's already slid away from you with the fumble, and then them ending on the field goal. So you get into the third quarter. What do you do? Three and out right away. So now that's like okay. So we went to the locker room I guess Fickle didn't really coach them up that much, they came out kind of the same way Okay, you punt, now your defense can pick you up.
Speaker 2:Nebraska goes on a nine play drive leading to a field goal. So now it's like okay. Now now we're in dire straits. It's 27 to 10, like this is we need a drive here. You go down, you turn over it on downs. So once again had an opportunity there to try to change momentum. Yeah, you just give more to Nebraska. And then what does Nebraska do? They go 74 yards, seven plays, get a touchdown. Now it's 34-10. It's gotten away from me. Wisconsin gets a touchdown back 34-17. You're like, okay, maybe we're hanging on. It's 17,.
Speaker 2:It's three possession game where we're going into the fourth soon. Turn right around, give up an 11-play drive to Nebraska that ends in a field goal. So it's bad enough, you gave up points, but you gave up an 11-play drive. That's just demoralizing for you defensively and they take what? Five and a half minutes off the clock. Now you're into the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2:You start with the ball. You get a touchdown 37-25. You're now within 12. It is right there for you Turn around and give up a 10-play drive with a touchdown to Nebraska. Turn around and give up a 10-play drive with a touchdown to Nebraska.
Speaker 2:So there were opportunities there for them to make a play offensively, come up with a stop defensively, and they weren't able to do it. And that just speaks to a team that maybe has lost a lot of belief in themselves, has lost a lot of confidence. I mean, nebraska had 29 first downs while Wisconsin had like 15, 2-1 there. That speaks to Nebraska on their scoring drives, getting 10, 9, 10, 11 play drives. When you sustain that consistently over the course of the game offensively, you feel like you have to get quick hitters to combat that. And when you do that, thatly, you feel like you have to get quick hitters to combat that. And when you do that, that's where you get the fumbles, the turnover on downs when you're trying to go for it, because now you're behind the eight ball and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So look, wisconsin's got one more shot for bowl eligibility. If you're Luke Fickle, you're looking at this group and you go. If you guys care, you show up, get that sixth win. Let's go to a bowl game. Let's get a seventh win, let's show we have some fight to end it. If Fickle has completely lost the locker room, don't expect them to show up against Minnesota and actually want to play because they'll look at it as okay, we beat them. We go six and six to play a bowl game that nobody's gonna care about. We're not in the, we're not in the playoff, we're not anything like that.
Speaker 2:You know, let's, let's call it a day, let's call it a year. Some of us will graduate, some will move on to the NFL, the rest of us we'll start again next year. We'll try again next year, maybe without pickle. Try again next year, maybe without Bickle, maybe with him. But now you're like a gut check level. Let's see who's really in this for the long haul. Like you're stuck in the foxhole. Everything's coming at you. Who's fighting out of that and pushing forward? At this point I think you're muted.
Speaker 1:I'm muted on the mic there. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. How are you doing? I got one on the text in line here. They sent a tweet that they saw there and I want to read the tweet because this absolutely you know part of my language here pisses me off. This pisses me off to no end. Yes, the Badgers season has been disappointing, but those wanting to fickle out need to chill. He's working with Chris' last two classes, which were horrible and a bunch of okay transfers, in order to even field a team His first class. Good one. Mind you are freshmen this year. So that was the tweet there from NotBobKuzlowski is the guy's name there. I believe that's on Twitter. You know what? Okay, yes, the first year. Yep, the second year.
Speaker 1:You want to talk about talent-wise? Sure, we can talk about talent-wise. Talent-wise we can talk about that. You tell me, explain this one to me there NotBob, how you get the boys up to play against Oregon there with no talent at all in Paul Chris recruiting classes, how you get them up to play in that game. But when you play against Nebraska, it's the most uninspiring football game I think I've ever seen out of Wisconsin football in my entire life and I'm only 23 years old, so don't get me wrong 24. I think I'm 24. Yeah, I'm 24 now. Okay, jeez, I'm getting old over here, but you here, but you tell me how. Okay, yes, I agree, the talent's not there. I agree, I think partially. The defensive scheme doesn't work because you don't have the talent there.
Speaker 1:You're not creating pressure you look in this game no sacks for the badgers, no tackles for losses for the badgers. Okay, the talent's not there, that's great. But then how do you put a performance like they did against oregon together for the defense? How do you do that? Explain that one to me. Because if you want to come, you want to boil this down to paul christ. What is this? Because the game against oregon. If we want to pull stat to stat here, we could say that this team played a thousand times better against one of the best offenses in the country than they did against one of the worst offenses in the country. So that's bs. Stop the blaming of paul christ. I'm done with that. I'm'm done with the blame. We're going to go into next year and I guarantee you there's still going to be people out there saying, oh well, it's still Paul Crist's fault, it's still Paul Crist's fault. Shut up, done with that, done with that. This quarterback room is not Paul Crist's quarterback room.
Speaker 1:You brought these guys in. Braden Locke was a transfer in. You brought Tyler Van Dyken. You brought Tanner Mordecai in. Yes, both of them got hurt. You're playing with two both years, playing with Brayden Locke, who wasn't actually the day one starter. So, yes, I'll give you a pass for that. But all these quarterbacks are your quarterbacks, your running back.
Speaker 1:Tywee Walker that's Luke Fickle's transfer. He brought in. He's been fantastic. I'm not complaining about him, but he's been fantastic. You know who's been a very good wide receiver for the Badgers, outside of Vinny Anthony and Bryson Green, who they did bring in? The transfer portal, mind you, that was Luke Fickle. Trek Kikahuna Do you know who recruited Trek Kikahuna? Paul Crist, I don't know. He brought in a good guy. I can't believe it. He brought in a good guy.
Speaker 1:We can sit here and we can nitpick what Paul Chris did, but guess what? Get over it. Paul Chris is gone. This is Luke Fickle's team now. This is Luke Fickle's uninspired, unmotivated, craptastic performance that we just saw on this football field. So we can sit here and you can. I'm sick of seeing the tweets. I'm sick of seeing people blame Paul Chris for this crap. This is crap. Okay, you take away.
Speaker 1:You cannot tell me that Nebraska is that much more talented than Wisconsin. They aren't. They do not have that much more talent. Yes, at the quarterback position, dylan Raiola was a five-star quarterback coming in. Yes, he should be better. He hasn't played good this year. Hasn't played good at all up until this game, up until this game. So all of a sudden, you're telling me that Matt Rule is just like shit. I know what's wrong with Dylan Raiola. I'm gonna fix it tonight. I'm gonna fix it here against the Badgers. Explain that one to me. Explain that. How do you hang around with Penn state? How do you hang around with Oregon? How do you hang with they didn't really hang with Alabama, but they played decent against Alabama to start. Play decent against USC. Yes, they won their crap games that they were supposed to win. But explain that one to me.
Speaker 1:Someone out there, how can you sit here and tell me it's Paul Chris fault every single day? Because I'm sick of that. Yes, the talent level might be because of Paul Chris. Yes, I can agree with that. I can agree with you. The talent levels because of Paul Chris, the uninspired I don't want to say pathetic, because I hate using the word pathetic, but just lack of everything that involves the mental side of the game. They lacked in this game. They lacked against Nebraska. So, yes, we can sit here and we can blame Paul Chris, and if you want to go and keep blaming Paul Chris, you do you, but I think that's the stupidest thing I've heard. That's the stupidest thing I've heard. That's the stupidest thing I've heard. You want to blame talent, level recruiting, everything like that, on Paul Chris from his last tenure or his last year. I'm all in. I'm all in because his last recruiting class was not great. I will agree with that. But you cannot blame the performance, the lack of showing up to the game on Paul Chris, unless if he's secretly somehow still in the locker room. You cannot blame it on him there.
Speaker 1:This is Luke Fickle's problem now. It starts with him. It works down to the guys here. We got to see some. We got to see it against Minnesota. We have to. I don't think Luke Fickle gets fired. I don't. I'm not going to sit here and say Luke Fickle gets fired.
Speaker 1:I think that his recruiting class that he's bringing in is fantastic. You got Carter Smith. You got Jalen Williams, two guys that you decommitted from Michigan. They're now coming to you. You got a couple of good you got to.
Speaker 1:Actually, I was looking at the list before of guys they have coming in and they have some. Jeez, I just lost my list there. They have some decent recruits coming in on the defensive side of the football coming in next year. I believe. Mason Poza, linebacker, four-star, coming in there. Hardy Watts, outside linebacker. You got Jalen Williams, a defensive lineman. You got Jameer Scott, cornerback I mean, you go through his list and edge rusher there. And Nicholas Clayton he's a four-star. You have some decent recruits coming in. But my thing this is my thing you can recruit all day long. You can recruit till you're, you're, you're got everybody in the world. But can you get them up for the game? Can you get them ready for the game?
Speaker 1:I thought, honestly, they tell me all the time how dan lanning is such a great coach on getting his boys ready for the game and he gets them fired up. And he does, he does. But on that night in camp randall, I thought luke fickle got his guys up more than dan lanning did, because they played 16 to 13 ball against one of the best teams in the country, could be the national champion when we're, when it's all said and done. So what changed within a week? How did you have such a demoralized and it's a demoralizing loss like you get so close to beating the number one team in the country and you fall short? It sucks, it does, but you got to get back up and you got to move forward. And that starts with Luke Fickle and it transfers down to the rest of the guys. So we'll see here. We'll see what they show us against Minnesota.
Speaker 1:I think, honestly, this next offensive coordinator hire, if it was me, I am hiring, I am spending a boatload of money and I'm bringing in the best guy. I can bring in the best guy, no matter what he costs. I'm bringing him in simply because I want somebody in the system that if we do decide that luke fickle can't get his boys up and get him ready to go, maybe he transfers into the head coaching spot. We don't lose everybody off the offense and off the defense. Maybe they stick around there. But you got it. This this next offensive coordinator hire for Luke fickle will be for his job. It will be for his job because next season the Badgers schedule is daunting.
Speaker 1:I believe they play Indiana. They have Ohio state. I believe they have, uh, alabama's on that list. Yet I think I saw Oregon. I can't remember who all was on that list, but you have a very tough schedule next season. It's going to be tough, it's really going to be tough. But what irritates me the most it's not that they lost. It is not that they lost, it's the way that they lost. It was an uninspired defense. It just looked like crap. What can fix that? It starts at the top and it's got to work its way down. Kyle, I'm not firing Luke Fickle, but we got to see better here in this next game. They got to win this next game. They really do Like this game, for the Paul Bunyan's Axe means more than just winning the Paul Bunyan's Axe and beating Minnesota.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I agree, because what you would hate to have happen is, you know, paul Chris, kids are there and maybe they're not buying into Luke Fickle and now it's like a battle of Luke Fickle's guys versus Paul Chris guys. Like Luke Fickle has to be able to kind of merge the two and get the best out of the group. I agree with you, he probably not going to go, because I think in college if you don't give a coach like at least one full recruiting class, like you're kind of doing yourself a disservice. I mean, it's going to be tough to, you know, not listen to the outside noise to do it. But yeah, I agree with you, minnesota's going to show a lot. It's going to show, you know, know, if the team's completely bought in, if they're bought out, if they're just going through the motions and just want to get the season over with, like luke fickle's got a lot on his plate for this last game of the season.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because, like you said it's, it is puzzling that you lose to two teams that you're kind of in the same area with. If I told you, you know, looking at the Big Ten Iowa, nebraska, wisconsin you'd probably be like three similar teams and you got blown out by those two. And, yeah, the Oregon game. I guess, if you're looking at the games around it, the Oregon game was clearly Oregon not taking them seriously and almost losing it. Because, I agree with you, I can't understand how you go from Blah to Iowa in Iowa to coming home facing Oregon and playing Oregon as tough as anybody, which you would think would have some momentum going into Nebraska, but then no, you fall back down and get blown out. How do you do that in a three-week span, like that's why. So Fickle's going to have to look at his coaching staff and decide where the upgrades are needed and just go ahead and do that and try to fix it for next season.
Speaker 2:Like I said, the schedule next season isn't great, but that's fine. I'm sure you would probably agree and this is kind of coming from the BC fan mentality. I know BC is not going to win in ACC. Can they upset somebody? Can they make it tough on top-tier teams in ACC? If they can do that, I can live with their record. But if Wisconsin's going to come back next year and look completely out of place against Ohio State and stuff like that, then struggle with the mid-tier Big Ten, lose a bunch of those games, maybe win a couple, then yeah, you got a problem there. Yeah, yeah. So if they change the coordinators, yeah, that usually means the head coach is next.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I agree, you're not even Tier 2 right now in the Big Ten. That's the biggest problem. Like you think about it. Oregon, ohio State, those are two juggernauts. Penn State's right there, you know they're around in that area. Indiana's played well this year, but then this season it's like the Badgers are who are they better than? I? Mean I can't. I can't solidly say, like I've seen UCLA beat some teams, I can't solidly say that the Badgers would beat UCLA at this point. I maybe Michigan State. They're better than Purdue. There you go, they're better than Purdue. Purdue would lose. They lost to Wisconsin, like I'll, I'll give them that one. They're better than Purdue. They beat Rutgers.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's like the Iowa game, the Nebraska game. Those are program check games. Where are we at right? Where are we at right now? Both those games you got completely manhandled. Where are you at?
Speaker 1:You played close with Penn State. You played close with Oregon. You get your teeth knocked in against Nebraska. You get completely kiboshed by Iowa. Where are you? What's by Iowa? Where are you? What's the spectrum? Where are you? Even on the spectrum, it fluctuates week to week, like it's just it is. So it's rough. It's rough right now and I mean we're going to talk more about the Badgers as the week goes on. It's going to be a quick turnaround. Friday already they're going to be taking on Minnesotanesota for the paul bunyan's act, so we'll see what happens there. It's quick turnaround for a badgers team that is reeling right now and I is there. A light, I don't know. There might be one of those swaying lights on a boat. You know, you know you got the old boat on the sea there and it's got that swaying light like that might be what's going on in the badgers right now.
Speaker 1:they might have that in the locker room and that's about it at this point here. So the best news of the day was carter smith is uh committed to the badgers. Now just got to get them inked up and get them into a badgers uniform and maybe, maybe, just maybe, we start trending in the right direction. There are maybe, maybe he takes over, I don't know, we'll see what happens here. Uh, moving forward. But first we got minnesota in a program to vince beagle tweeted it out on uh twitter. There he said it's a program-defining game for the Badgers. Their 22-straight bowl consecutive streak is on the line against Minnesota. So we'll see. We'll see what happens there. But we'll talk more about them on Wednesday here on the show.
Speaker 1:But quick, kyle, let's look over at the rest of the college football slate from this last weekend. We're running a little bit long today, but I want to get to it all tonight here. So indiana gets completely just ran over by ohio state. I mean a punt, yeah, the punt mistake you have. I mean it was just mistake after mistake for indiana on this one that led to that loss there. Uh, texas got the win against kentucky penn state snuck it out against minnesota 26 to 25. Notre dame, completely wrecked army I was really hoping for army to pull off the upset. They get wrecked. Alabama goes down to Oklahoma boomers sooner. They're 24 to 3 in that one. We see Florida pull off the upset against Ole Miss 24 to 17. Georgia played Massachusetts nobody even cares about that game there. Tennessee played UTEP nobody cares, uh.
Speaker 1:Boise State stays alive in their chase for the college football playoff, but barely against Wyoming 17-13. Arizona State with a big upset over, not a big upset, but a big win against BYU there 28-23 in that one. Auburn wins in four overtimes against Texas A&M. That's almost putting the nail in the coffin for them. Texas A&M Aggies in that one. Kansas knocks Shador, sanders and Dion out of the race for the college football playoff 37 to 21 in that one. Uh, let's see any other big upsets or anything. Nothing really there. Kyle, which game stuck out to you? What was your game that you're like? Or games that you were like? Wow.
Speaker 2:I just feel like, if you're the committee, this was a brutal weekend for you because you're, you're going to have to try to justify. Well, I thought there were three loss but you got two loss Georgia team that thankfully has made the SEC title game. But now you're dealing with a three loss Alabama team. You're dealing with an Ole Miss team that now has three losses and seemingly are sliding. Those are some powerhouse names that you were hoping when the season started that they were going to be in the playoff. Jake I just saw Saquon Barkley went down. That was kind of crazy.
Speaker 2:But the Alabama game I did not think a one win because Oklahoma is a one in five in the sec. If you, if you did not know their records and just watched that game, you would have thought oklahoma was a legit contender for the sec. They had their way with alabama and alabama looked absolutely confused against them. You know Milrow had a rough performance but yeah, I was shocked that Oklahoma had only had one SEC win. Looking at that, like their quarterback had some like Baker Mayfield into him, where you know he's hamming it up with the crowd when they're winning I was just like, okay, but that was probably the most surprising went in.
Speaker 2:I was just like okay, but that that was probably the most surprising. I mean, to be honest with you, I was kind of prepared from georgia to kind of be out of it. But the fact that it made the sec title game gives them hope because you can already tell if they, if they beat texas in that game, they're probably going to get in the next playoff. Ranking is going to be very interesting to see where they slot some of these teams. Indiana lost, I get it, but they should still be in the equation. That also goes back to Wisconsin. The fact that Indiana has built up their program to where they are while Wisconsin is kind of stuck in neutral trying to figure things out. That has to kill you as a Wisconsin fan.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Because there's so many years Like Indiana's at the bottom. You're just like huh Indiana. You're a basketball school. Well, apparently not anymore. Now they got some football players coming through there.
Speaker 2:But yeah, because even going into the weekend, ole Miss was ninth, georgia was 10. Tennessee was 11. You mentioned Colorado. Everybody was jumping aboard the Colorado train. They just got whooped by Kansas of all teams. They just got whooped by Kansas of all teams and for some reason Kansas has picked this time of the season to play their best football because they now have won three straight against ranked opponents. So good luck trying to figure out who Kansas is. But they did to Colorado what a lot of teams are doing to Colorado earlier. Be more physical than them and you'll win. That's all Kansas showed. Kansas ran the ball for like 200-something yards. I thought it was fascinating to see Kansas take down Colorado, who had all of this hype behind them. Finally, I think to a lot of people it was, with all the talking that Deion and them do. They were 16th in the country. They're right on the cusp of being a playoff team. They're going against a bad Kansas group. They beat Kansas.
Speaker 2:The committee was going to do all they could to get them up into the top 12. But now they're out of it because now they have three losses. So for the committee, all these big-name schools that you were hoping to get into the initial 12-team playoff have kind of eliminated themselves and now you're going to get kind of the feel-good stories. Smu makes the ACC title game in their first year in the ACC. Shout out to them, because I feel like a couple weeks ago we were talking about the ACC how many teams they could get in. I think they legitimately get two. Now. Smu and Clemson should be in the playoff. So that's now another one of these conferences loses out on a spot because of that. So it was a fun day if you like chaos, like I do.
Speaker 1:I love it, I do. It's going to make the committee show their hand. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna cater to these big teams? Are you gonna let alabama get in? Are you gonna let old miss get in? No, you can't. You can't because then, three years down the road, you know, say, you know, for pete's sake, wisconsin's got three losses. And they're sitting sitting there and it's like, well, how do you not let Wisconsin in? Then, oh well, strength to schedule this, strength to schedule that.
Speaker 1:Look at Alabama's losses, look at their losses. How can you say that Alabama is solidly a better team than what or not Wisconsin? But what Indiana is? Indiana has one loss. Yes, their schedule has been easier. I will agree, their schedule has been easier than Alabama's. But we cannot sit here and set this precedent that you know the SEC is so good top to bottom that even when you lose to a bottom feeder, you're still oh, that didn't do nothing to you, that didn't hurt you at all. I mean, wow, it's just so, so stupid, so stupid. Sometimes when I'm thinking about it, but hey, we love the chaos. Stupid sometimes when I'm thinking about it, but hey, we love the chaos we love.
Speaker 1:I can't wait for the uh selection show to see what kind of madness they draw up there and what the rankings are going into next week. Because, like you said, it could be wild. And if indiana, if indiana drops out and they drop to, like you know, 12 or something absolute injustice, if they do, I'd be pissed. Yeah, I'd be pissed. Yeah, they didn't. They, you know. Yeah, they played Ohio State and Ohio State had their way with them. Sure, I'll agree with that all day long.
Speaker 1:But Indiana's a good football team. That is a good football team. They're not a great football team. Ohio State's a great football team. Indiana's a good football team. You cannot knock them for losing to a great football team. That just seems just terrible. My hope is Ohio State loses to Michigan, because then Indiana has a path into the Big Ten Championship game against Oregon and if they can play in that game and they can, for Pete's sake, win that game, it just shuts everybody up. It just shuts everybody up after that. So I mean that'd be okay with me, that'd be an okay end for me there. But great stuff there in the college football world. Kyle, before we get to the Packers, let's get to the fact of the day. What do we got for a fact of the day on today, november 24th.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was an interesting day. I will say that A lot of odd things have happened over the course of history on November 24th. I mean, some are a little dark. Like you know, john Wilkes Booth was killed on this day and we all know what he's famous for. But I didn't want to go with that one. How about this? 1982, cal Ripken was named Rookie of the Year and I mean, cal Ripken was a guy that you know. Every time he played Baltimore and that lineup card was there, cal Ripken was in there somewhere and, with this day and age of guys missing games left and right, cal Ripken was a breath of fresh air. You know, he had a great career. So for november 24th, cal roonkin being associated with it, you can't go wrong with that. I had a secondary one was, like you know, gangnam style was was like born on this day in 2012 oh yeah, and we remember when that happened.
Speaker 2:it swept the nation, so you know, you got to show that one love as well. I mean, it was the most viewed video on YouTube, with 808 million views 808 is wild.
Speaker 1:That is wild, holy crap. I mean, hey, you went from John Wilkes Booth getting shot or you know, murked off to Cal Ripken, winning rookie of the year. So that's great. I mean, that was a heck of a turn of events there. I like that, but a great fact of the day. Right there Did not know that Cal Ripken Jr was named Cal Ripken Jr.
Speaker 2:Is it Jr? That's a good point.
Speaker 1:Yes, cal Ripken Jr was named Rookie of the Year on this day, in November of. When was that? November 24th 1982, you said yes, actually, isn't that his?
Speaker 2:dad. Then I don't know, man, you got it up in front of you. How am I supposed to know?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:It's just Cal Ripken, not Jr Cal Ripken. There we go, cal Ripken, november 24th. On this day, he showed us that the Ripken bloodline was going to bring forth greatness.
Speaker 1:Was going to ball out, was going to ball out and give us some real men playing the game of football. Game of football, I'm talking about football, I'm thinking football. Game of baseball, game of baseball there. So, aaron, let's get to the packers, or not? Aaron kyle, goodness gracious it's getting to that time. I'm losing my mind over here. I was, uh, just wowza, there you just. You look like aaron, you just look like aaron. I don't know what it is, you just look like aaron, it's your eyes, it's your eyes that was an aaron kind of fact.
Speaker 2:John moose, that's, that's what did it that's what it's.
Speaker 1:Your eyes, your eye you and aaron have the same eyes. That's what it is. I just looked at your eyes. It was like let's get to the packers before we get too deep down a rabbit hole. There we go.
Speaker 1:So the packers get a big win 38-10 in this one against the 49ers. And I mean you did what you had to do right. You're playing against a banged-up team in the 49ers, with Allen starting there, and you're missing a lot of pieces. Nick Bosa was out. They're just missing pieces left and right. And you did what you had to do. But you played well along the way too, and that's what you love to see. You played well along the way too, and that's what you love to see.
Speaker 1:Something that the Packers have struggled mightily with red zone efficiency right. Their red zone offense has been terrible. In this one. They were five for five. Five for five in the red zone. I haven't been able to say that in a very long time with this Packers team, so you love to see that Jordan Love takes care of the football in this game here.
Speaker 1:No turnovers for the Packers to speak of. No turnovers, right. So we're talking about a couple of great and only five penalties. We're talking about all three things turnovers, penalties, red zone efficiency all three things that have killed the packers throughout this season. Impressive in this game. So those hats off. Hats off there. Josh jacobs continues to be a workhorse 26 carries, 108 yards, three touchdowns. He's a dog like there's nothing else we can say about him. The wide receiving court does its work in this one. Uh, we see romeo dobbs lead the team with 54 yards. Craft with a touchdown there in 26. We see a couple other guys. Heath had a touchdown late in this one. Just an all-around solid performance from the offense in this game for the Packers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And I know look, you mentioned the Niners or beat up or whatever. That's fine. Like you play the games that you have to, it's all about your execution. So there's, there's not much you can really get mad about what you saw from green day. I feel like green Bay's kind of entered that territory where they know they're a good team. They just want the playoffs to get here. So they're, they're, they're winning games. You know they're establishing Jacobs as a formidable force in the run game, which is something that's going to be a factor later in the season in January. And all that because you're playing some environments where maybe you're in love, can't get a great grip on the football, but you have that guy behind you and Jacob that you can hand it off to you and he can produce for you. So I feel like the Packers season is building to December 5th when they go to Detroit to face the Lions. That's where we're at. They have the Dolphins next week. The Dolphins will pose some challenges with their speed, with Waddle and Hill, but I fully expect Green Bay to get that one. But even if they don't, that game against Detroit in Detroit will tell you a lot about this team, whether they can get up for a physical group in Detroit and fight back, and if they can steal that one.
Speaker 2:You know they faced early off in the season. It wasn't a terrible showing. They kind of held Detroit in check. They just weren't able to do enough offensively against that Lions defense so they played Detroit tough. Now they got to be looking at this game in a couple weeks as a chance to get revenge for early in the season. And look, they're 8-3. You beat Miami. You're 9-3. Going into that game. The division would still be in the balance for you. So keep stringing together the performances. So next week against Miamiami have another game where jordan love doesn't turn the ball over. You're spraying the ball out to different guys in the wide receiver group. You know, defensively you lock in and just play. Just have a business, uh, business-like approach. Get in against, against Miami. Do your work so you can get out to Detroit. Look, that's shaping up to be must-see TV in two weeks when those two collide. So I liked what I saw from Greenway today. I've always been a believer that they will have a say in how the NFC plays out. That's just what they showed me today.
Speaker 1:Agreed 100% and there's no love lost between them and the lions right now they are going to. It's going to be a Monrod doesn't like the Packers and the Packers don't like a Monrod. So I can't wait for that match up there. But I agree. I mean this was. This was a good performance, right. There's still things you look at, right the defense getting pressure on the quarterback. There's still little things that you're going to look at from this game that you want to see them improve on. But you're getting takeaways. You're still producing takeaways. Xavier McKinney, with another interception, he's got seven. He's tied for the league lead. You love to see that there. Corey Ballantyne did decent in returns there. I believe he had 21 yards in returns on this game. Not great, not terrible, right. Just as an average day at the office for him there. Brandon McManus continues to be the guy in that kicking spot for you. So, just, I mean a game where the Packers knew they should have it, we knew they should have it and they went out there. They took care of business. They were firing at will at times.
Speaker 1:In this one, Jordan Love was impressive. 13 for 23. Not overly impressive, right. 13 for 23 is not great. A lot of those missed throws. Late in that first half he had a couple where he was trying to gun it down the field. Christian Watson drops a wide open catch that he would have had for a touchdown there. That sucks, right. We remember back to his first ever attempt that he had with Green Bay against the Vikings where he dropped that pass from Aaron Rodgers. Now we see one here. Hopefully that was just that and we move on from that right. We don't want to see this transpire forward here. But all in all, just a great win for the Green Bay Packers there.
Speaker 1:I was just seeing if I could see any more team stats here. That were kind of interesting. 6 for 13 on third down Not bad. You want to clean it up a little bit there. 6 for 13 is not terrible, though. You'll live with that. On the game there 1 for 2 on fourth down. There Packers, though defensively held the 49ers to 3 for 10 on third down and 0 for 2 on fourth down. So getting stops when they had to in this game here. Average 4.9 yards per play you'll live with that. I mean that's that's pretty darn good right there. Uh, nothing else really interesting as that's the time.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's what I'm gonna say. Time possession shows that look, with a lot of these teams, if you control the ball and you produce points with each of your drives, that just puts more pressure on these other quarterbacks to try to answer and take full advantage of the possessions that they get, because the more time you take, the less that they get and the less opportunities that they will have. And if Green Bay can be an efficient offense, that's going to pose a lot of trouble for opponents uh down the stretch here. So yeah, that number stuck out to me. You get 36, almost 37 minutes with the ball. You're you're gonna win some games, especially when you throw in the no interceptions. And all that because some games, you know you can have a lot of time possession but the drives end with bad play. If they keep this formula, yeah, they will be a team that will be there deep into January.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. And I mean you look at this team. We chalked it up early. We said 5-for-5 in the red zone, something that they were sucked at. They improved on in this one. Something that they were sucked at, they improved down in this one. You can't. I mean that that's what you love, that's what you love. And you had jordan love slinging touchdowns, along with josh jacobs on the ground running for touchdowns. I mean, what more can you ask for? Right, the offense was comp. It was like I was trying to think of the word I'm trying to use there, complimentary. You know, working both ways there between the run game and the pass. They were getting both things going.
Speaker 1:I thought the play calling was better in this game. We talked about Matt LaFleur's play calling after last week's game. It was kind of suspect. Now we lead into this one. We're like, okay, I was not opposed to the play calling in this one. Yes, the end around still doesn't work and there's still some motion plays that don't work at all. Right, because the defense to sniff them out. But I mean, all in all, a great performance by the green bay packers and we move on from this one. So packers get the big win 38 to 10.
Speaker 1:We'll talk once the pff grades come out from this one. We'll talk about pff grades, what we saw out of, uh, the packers in this one on wednesday on the show. They don't have the grades out yet, so we'll get into that on wednesday here. But air almost said aaron again. I almost said aaron again. Right, I man, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for that, sorry. Let's talk badger basketball because we're getting close here to the end of the show. We'll talk badger basketball here. They get the win against pit today here. A wow, that was a wow game. I'm gonna give it a wow game because the badger started out just terrible.
Speaker 1:Once again, they got themselves into a hole early in this one. They were digging themselves back and we talked about it early on this season. We said, hey, this Badger team, they get into these games against Holy Cross or against a couple of these other lesser teams there tickle in my throat there against some of these lesser teams and they dig themselves in these holes and they find their way back. And we said what's going to happen when they face a good team? Can they find their way back? Can they claw their way back into it? The answer to that one yes, pitt is not a Duke team, they're not a North Carolina team, they're not a you know top of the ACC, but this Pitt team could be the third best team in the ACC this year. They could be a great team and Wisconsin fought their way back.
Speaker 1:They played good defense down the stretch, got to the free throw line. John Tonje took over again 33 points. This guy's fantastic. I don't know if there's going to be at some point an award for best transfer portal ad of the year, but John Tonje is right on that list because this guy has been unreal for the Badgers. Didn't have his best shooting performance 11 for 19, but 10 for 10 at the free throw line, got down and dirty when he had to in this game here. And that's what you need in a gritty game like this, where you're trying to battle against a good opponent, you gotta be able to get to the rim, you gotta be able to draw fouls. That's what John Tonje did tonight for thegers there.
Speaker 2:I mean, kyle, looking at the stats, you seen any stats that kind of stick out to you from this badger pit matchup I mean, yeah, like I did, you know catch, I paid, you know good attention to the latter part of the game because, like you said, they started off slow and they go to the second half. Outscore pit 54, 41 in the second half, which is obviously a big deal, but I just liked just digging in late. You know getting rebounds, getting key rebounds, both offensively and defensively, because there were a couple plays where had some misses on offense and you had guys down low getting put backs. Stuff like that in a game that's close make all the difference. Because if you're pit, you know you're going to be against a ranked wisconsin team. You think you have a chance to steal one. You give up a second chance. Point that. That kills your momentum. And defensively, like you said, they locked in late. Pitt was taking some contested shots, difficult shots in the lane. When they got into the lane you had like two Wisconsin guys right there. You know walling them off, forcing them to take off shots. Stuff like that late in the game is what I pay attention to, because that translates throughout the season.
Speaker 2:I feel like in terms of the stats, the big ones I'm looking at, I mean the three-point shooting, once again, five for 20. You don't like it, but I feel like you took 20. I think that's an okay number. You'd like to see them make more, but I don't think that's too agreed. It's not like they were like you know, 8 for 45 or something like that.
Speaker 2:5 for 20, fine, that's kind of where we are with today's game. You win the rebound battle. Like I said, that's late in the game. A big defensive rebound, a key offensive rebound, is how you win games like this. Like I said, pitt's not Duke, but Pitt has always been a program that's very scrappy, very physical. So you beat a team like that. That is still an accomplishment. Yep, the steals you win that three to one fast break you win, that 11 to 6 doesn't overwhelm you, but just every little area. It just shows that it was two teams that were evenly matched. But wisconsin wins in every one of the big categories. In every one of the big categories Rebounding, assists, steals, less turnovers and the fast break points. That's how you win close games late.
Speaker 1:Yep, no, and you hinted at it with that three-point, the five for 20, right, it's ugly, it's not a good number, right. But I think the most impressive part to me was this wisconsin team has kind of lived and died at three-point line at times throughout these games. They've just been firing them up and that's okay. Right, you're gonna shoot 23s, you make five if you live with it, the way that they adjusted in game to say to themselves essentially, we're not there, three pointers are not falling tonight, let's go to the rim, let's get to the rack, let's get to the free throw line. Right, because a big stat, 18 for 22 at the free throw line compared to 10 for 13 from Pitt. Eight points, that's your difference, right, I mean your difference is six. But your difference in the game eight points at that free throw line. Adjusting in game to changing how you want to play the game.
Speaker 1:The Badgers would have loved to knock down threes in this one. They'd have loved to been in a shootout. That'd been okay with them. If they're knocking out shots, they weren't. They adjusted, found ways to get to the rim, make things happen, get Pitt into foul trouble, get Pitt, you know, chasing everything like that. Pitt was fast. I mean, they played. They're an athletic team, they like to get after you. They gave the Badgers trouble early. They were not able to settle, settle into the game at all, and that was a huge boost. Was John Tonje getting downhill, getting to the free throw line, knocking down those free throws when he had his opportunities in this one here? And I mean, we talked, we talked about it seems like every game in and out. But Kamari McGee, off that bench for you, 28 minutes off the bench, 10 points. He had two threes in this one though, but two threes in crucial spots to give the Badgers leads or get them back into it. That's what you know. It's not that they weren't hitting big threes or well, I shouldn't say that they weren't hitting threes. They hit big threes in this one, threes to kind of get them back into it. Nolan Winter had one early in the second half to kind of help him get back into this game. And then we see, see Max Klesman hit one late, we saw John Tonje hit one in that second half, the Badgers finding ways to knock down those big shots and big moments to lead this comeback, get back into it, control the lead. That's what good teams are going to do. They're going to do that If they have a game like this where they struggle.
Speaker 1:I mean this was a struggle game for Wisconsin. They did not look overly impressive 48% from the field, 25% from downtown there, 81% from the line. Not great, not a great performance, but you did it when it mattered. You found ways to stick around, hang around in this one, find your opening and take care of business. You love to see that. I believe they won the rebounding battle too. So I mean you win the rebounding battle. That was big time. That was big time in this one. You alluded to it there too.
Speaker 1:Fast break points was big in this one not letting Pitt get out and do what they want to do in fast break and the Badgers doing what they want to do in those fast break moments. There John Blackwell in this game struggled a little bit 5-11 from the field. In this one, max Klezman 1-7. If you can go through performances like this, where two of your best players are supposed to be, you know your best players have performances where they struggle a little bit. If you can get through games like that and pull off wins, imagine what you can do when they're rolling right when John Blackwell and John Tonje are both cooking together, or or Max Klesman's along with him for the ride there.
Speaker 1:Just imagine what this team can be when everybody's feeling it on a night. Because you're going to have nights like this where a couple guys are feeling it right. We see, you know, steven Crowell gives eight, nolan Winter with 11 in this one, 14 for Blackwell, 33 for John Tonje. You're going to have moments like that where guys are kind of not feeling it tonight. But then you're going to have games like Arizona, where guys are on and multiple guys are feeling it that night. Those are the games that's like that's a pretty great team. These are the games where you're like that's a darn good team, that is a darn good team. That's going to give teams problems because they can find ways to win basketball games when some of their leading scores, some of their best players, are struggling on those nights.
Speaker 1:So I think this was a big win. I really do. I think this was a big win for the Badgers to move forward here. I believe when do they play next? Now they don't play again until the 30th, so that'll be after Thanksgiving. There They'll have Chicago State and then they have Michigan and then they have Marquette. So a couple of big games there after Chicago State. So they get a little bit of rest here after the Greenbrier and then they get to move back into it. And I mean I'm impressed right now from what I've seen out of this Wisconsin Badger team so far up until this point, up until the break that they're going to have for Thanksgiving here. So good stuff there out of the Badgers.
Speaker 1:We'll talk more about the Badgers as the week goes on. Whatever the heck happens inside the walls of Madison there, we'll talk about the Badgers here later on this week. But, kyle, we're getting towards the end. We're getting towards the end. What else do we got? Do we got anything else? You know anything pressing? Is there anything else going on? Daniel Jones, what do you think about?
Speaker 2:Daniel Jones and that Giants situation. It was needed. The two parties needed to just just separate. Like, let Daniel Jones go try to fix his career somewhere. You, as a giants, can now be rid of the questions about why'd you pay him? Why are you still playing him? You know, are you going to draft somebody? Somebody? Now we kind of know. We know he's not in new york anymore. We know that they'll be in the quarterback market for the draft. Start over, just rip the bandit off. And, daniel jones, if you think new york did you wrong, now you're a free agent, basically, and you can now pick where you want to go. That's a situation that's for you. It's just like that for me. Both teams needed it, they both got it. They both got what they needed. Now what do they do from here?
Speaker 1:Do we see Daniel Jones signing anywhere worth noting?
Speaker 2:I'm going to have to say no, because anywhere he goes he's not going to be a starter. So if he's not going to be a starter then I don't think it's really noteworthy anyway. But if he lands with like Shanahan in San Francisco or McVay with the Rams, I might be a little interested.
Speaker 1:Outside of that, not really I agree. I agree it's kind of he's kind of lost and it's, it's done. It's done with them. We'll just get out done with them there. But hey, let's look at the rest of this nfl slate. From what we've seen so far here from the weekend, I mean there was a lot of good. There was a lot of good games. There was a lot of good games, surprising games the Bears go to overtime with the Vikings and they lose by three on a walk-off field goal. What do you think about that matchup there? What did you like? Do you think the Vikings are kind of coming back down to earth after that start that they had?
Speaker 2:I mean I still think the Vikings are a good team. I don't know if they're like a great team that will come out of the NFC or anything like that. I think for Sam Darnold it's been a revelation for him to show that he can play the quarterback position and win. I thought it was a tough win against a Bears team that has shown new life. With Waldron gone, I mean, despite the Bears record, I think it was a good win for Minnesota.
Speaker 2:But then the questions are just going to linger about Sam Darnold, whether or not he's the right guy. Until he actually does it, I think everybody's just going to linger about Sam Darnold whether or not he's the right guy. Until he actually does it, I think everybody's just going to question if he's the guy that can win in January with this group that's going to have a good record, will have a high seating in the playoffs Because I guarantee you, whoever they face in their first game, the Vikings will probably be on upset alert because a lot of pundits aren't going to believe in them in January. So that's just going to be there until Sam Darnold wins in the playoffs with this group.
Speaker 1:I would agree. I would have to agree there. I mean you snuck out a win against the Jaguars. You snuck out a win against the Titans Bears had you on the ropes at one point. I mean it's going to be interesting. I mean I don't think the Vikings are. I think the Vikings are right there with the Packers. They're kind of in that tier two, right behind the Lions. At this point I just who has the higher ceiling? I mean that's where you really think who has the higher ceiling. Is it Sam Darnold and the Vikings, or is it jordan love and the packers?
Speaker 2:yes, it's gotta be jordan love and the packers like yeah yeah, no, I agree.
Speaker 1:So I mean that's kind of where you're like okay, where can they, where are they gonna get to, versus what we've seen so far? That's what I think we're paying attention to there. So bears, I mean, got that onside kick finally somebody recovered an onside kick get that field goal and send it to overtime, and then the vikings end up walking it off there. So bears play tough bears are, I mean they're starting to figure things out. I guess they're starting to look a little bit better.
Speaker 1:Ibra flu should be fired yeah, ibra flu should still be fired and I think that would give even more optimism for the bears there. Lions, get the win against the colts, not blowout fashion by any means, but a good win 24 to 6. In that one, dolphins beat your patriots 34 to 15. There I mean the patriots didn't. They didn't play bad, it's just you know they're not there yet yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:That's been the whole season for me. You know they win games fine. I'm just looking for development. Drake may has shown that he can make throws. He makes good reads. Now it's getting him better wide receivers or getting him a better line. Now you can start targeting guys to fill in certain spots there For Miami, like they did this a lot last year when Tua was healthy, like they did this a lot last year when Tua was healthy. So it's like ho-hum with them, but you want to see them as the weather starts to get colder, because that's when they started to fall apart last year. Do they do the same thing this year?
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, yep. No, I agree, agree 100% there. We'll see. I mean they got a shot yet and they got a shot at the playoffs yet. So we'll see what the Dolphins do here. They got the Packers coming up next. So I mean, bad start for them, but we'll see what happens. I mean, maybe, maybe, just maybe, they come into the cold weather and show us something. I don't know, maybe just maybe we have the Buccaneers over the Giants 30-7. Tommy DeVito is not. We figured that one out in that game. Commanders lose to the Cowboys. There's life in Jerry world at this point here 34 to 26. There Chiefs, with those sneaking out, win against the Panthers 30 to 27. Titans get the win over the Texans. Did not see that one coming. 32 to 27 in that one. Broncos over the Raiders 29 to 19. And then we see the Seahawks beat up on the Cardinals there 16-6 in that one. We're watching the Monday night game between the Giants and the Rams, or not Giants? I see airbrained tonight.
Speaker 2:The Eagles and the Rams.
Speaker 1:It's getting late. Eagles and the Rams. I was just talking about the Giants and losing it. We got the Eagles and the Rams Eagles up right now 13-7. But I mean, do you think kevin hart I just saw him on the screen there do you think he has to shop in like the the kids section for jerseys? I saw he had a jersey on there for the eagles. Do you think it's a kid's section jersey?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's definitely like a boy's medium he's wearing if he wears the sweatshirt underneath.
Speaker 1:If he does wear a sweatshirt underneath, then it's a boy's medium yeah, but hey, no way he got there from the men's section. Not a chance they special order him one. There's a special order for a kevin hart jersey there. But, uh, any surprising games, or what was your surprising game, I guess?
Speaker 2:or games of the weekend there no, the tennessee one was definitely a surprise. I thought that, uh will Levis put together another good performance. I thought the defense you know did well. And it just makes me ask more questions about Houston and whether or not they are really built to win big games in this league. They're too up and down for me. It seems like they're too reliant on Joe Mixon, like if Joe Mixon runs well they play well, if he doesn't, it's a struggle. And that's even with having Tank Dell and Nico Collins back in the lineup. Maybe for Nico Collins it's taking a little bit to get going, I don't know. But on paperston should be better than they are and today just showed why they are so frustrating to to watch. Yeah, but I gotta give tennessee all the credit in the world. They, they balled out today I would agree.
Speaker 1:I would agree. And you look at, I mean we were just talking about it on snap counts there over on integrity sports network before this year. But I mean, seahawks get the win over the Cardinals. They're 6-5. The Cardinals are 6-5. We could see the Los Angeles Rams move to 6-5 if they win this game against the Eagles. So now you've got a three-way tie up on top of the NFC. West Does not include the 49ers, who are five and six, but they're still not out of the hunt. They're still right there in that race for the nfc west. I mean, that's what do you? What do you think? What do you give me your bold prediction for the nfc west? Do the 49ers find their way back into it? Do the rams win it? Is it the jackal and hyde cardinals? Is it the pesky seahawks that never seem to go away? Who is your NFC champ? Who are you thinking at this moment?
Speaker 2:Man, that's tough. You can make a case for any one of them. If I'm sitting here right now and I look at roster to roster, I would probably. I like the Seahawks offense. I like their wide receiver group.
Speaker 1:This is true Very underrated wide receiver group.
Speaker 2:Yeah that, along with Kenneth Walker and Charbonnet, I feel like the Seahawks might actually get this done. They look like the best team, like the first four weeks completely fell off, looked like the best team, like the first four weeks completely fell off and now they're back on top. I, I, might, I might go seahawks as my bold prediction. Like I, I find myself rooting for the cardinals to get it done only because, like a lot of people have had fun at the expense of kyler murray. But I would love to see, you know, the cardinals win the division. I would love to see kyler murray kind of beat the whole call of duty thing and the whole clause in his contract about the playbook and stuff like that. If he leads that team to a division title, all that kind of goes away. Yeah, I'm kind of rooting for that. But I'll say Seattle, I just like their skill positions to the point that they will pull out some more wins late in the season here and win the division.
Speaker 1:I like Seattle but I like the Rams. For some reason I just got the Matthew Stafford Puka Nakua Cup. Talk about wide receivers. I mean they got some talent. The defense finally started to come along a little bit. On that defensive front I'm gonna take the rams. I don't know who's what. Do you think the division winner? If you had to guess a number of wins, just guess a number of wins they're going to get to to win the division, what would your number be?
Speaker 2:I think it's nine, nine, yeah, that's like an NFC South.
Speaker 1:That's like NFC South kind of division right there. And you look at the teams in this I mean you're talking about the Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers and the Rams and you look at some of the guys on those teams and you're like nine, nine or 10. Like I'd be like 10, 10 is going to win this division and it's just like wow, that's that's crazy to see what has happened. I mean you talk about the Rams. They were just in the Superbowl how many years ago I mean it's not that long ago. And then you talk about the 49ers. They. And now you talk about the 49ers. They were just there last season and I know injuries happen, you lose guys. That's going to kind of derail a season and everything like that. But holy crap, the way that I mean the NFC North is here. And then you got I don't even know. And then I mean the rest of the divisions are like eh, like maybe the NFC East with you know the commanders who knows about them at this point? And the Eagles, like you could say I don't even know, like it's the NFC North, and then it's everybody else at this point here. So I mean wow, just wow, there, my pick for surprising game, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Cowboys Commanders 34-26. That was a surprise. That was a surprise there Did not expect Cooper Rush to play the game that he did. He played well. Jaden Daniels didn't play bad. I thought he played well in this game, but missed extra point ruins it for you. Turnovers, penalties, everything in between. The commanders lose to the Cowboys. Jerry World is just lit up again. They can't wait. Super Bowl, they're going. They're Super Bowl bound. Four and seven right now still got a shot.
Speaker 2:That's what they're telling us, they still got a shot.
Speaker 1:Somehow, someway, they're going to find their way into the mix, but I'm going to give you one last. There's a bold question, bold question. We're at the midway point, right? Thanksgiving is. What Tom Brady tells me is the time of year. You either know who you are or you don't know who you are. At this point, kyle, give me your super bowl prediction on this day, on november 24th of 2024, at 8 49 pm central time. What is your nfl super bowl championship prediction? You don't give me the champion, just give me who's there.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, I mean a few weeks ago I said Lions and the NFC. I'll hold to that, even though I do know that they will have a tough time getting there. The AFC is wide open.
Speaker 2:I mean, yes, kansas City has built for this and this is kind of what they did last year. They kind of disappointed up until the last four weeks and then they turned it on. They probably do that again this year. But I'm going to go different, because winning three in a row that's a lot of games and that's tough. Part of me thinks, as weird as it is the Steelers. I'll go Steelers-Lions and, to be honest with you, I think that would be an interesting matchup if we did get that one.
Speaker 1:That would be awesome. That would be two great defenses going at each other. That would be awesome. That would be an awesome game. Wow, I hate to pick against my packers. I really do. I hate to pick against my packers. I'm just gonna do my bold take because I can. On november 24th, 8 50 pm here central time, uh, 9, 50 eastern and what, who cares what it is on the pacific coast, I don't care. I don't care enough to figure out the time difference there. I think it's like seven, is it three hours? I think it's there. I think it's like seven, is it three hours? I think it's like 650. I think it's like 650. It sounds like.
Speaker 2:I was thinking 550, but you might be right.
Speaker 1:I don't even know. I don't know who cares.
Speaker 2:Who cares those specific people who are listening right now can figure it out it's 650 out there it's 650.
Speaker 1:I got to pull up that big. They have a big screen where you can pull up all the times of the world. I should pull that up and see what time it is in Hong Kong right now, so they all know too. But I am going to take, I'm just going to do it just because I can and just because it's a bold take. Give me the Packers in the Super Bowl, give me the Packers, give me the Packers, give me the Chiefs Packers, chiefs, wow, packers Chiefs, mahomes, love. Just give it, just do it. We'll book it. We'll book it. We'll just take that one. I like that. I like that one.
Speaker 2:I will say it could. If Houston got their stuff together, Packers-Texans would make a fun.
Speaker 1:Super Bowl? It would. I wish, I really do. You know what, honestly, coming off of last season, going into this one, that was the Super Bowl I wanted. I wanted Houston and Packers. That would be a dynamite matchup. I just yeah, the Texans, they have a lot wrong. The Packers have to get out of their own way to go to the Super Bowl. They have to just figure out, you know, like we talked about today, the red zone, efficiency, the pre-snap penalties, the turnovers, the little things control them. They could find their way into a mix of teams that could potentially be there. So I mean it's going to be an exciting finish. I really do think.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're talking about the nfc. West is wild. There's a lot of wild division, uh division races still going on, like steelers and ravens. That's going to be a dog fight till the end. The afc west, I mean, yeah, it's going to be the chiefs, but what do the broncos do? What do the chargers do? We're going to wait and see. It should be a great uh time here.
Speaker 1:But kyle, that's about all we got. That's about all we got for the day. We're just over the hour 30 mark. I mean that's okay. We get a little bit long. That's okay. Here. Great show today badgers got the big win against pitt. Badger football uh, we're gonna talk about it on wednesday more when we're we're calm. We got to talk about it when we're calm so we can calmly come to our conclusion of what we think. Packers big win against the 49ers. We'll talk more about the packers and their PFF grades and everything like that come Wednesday here on the show. So with that, for Kyle and myself this has been Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll catch you guys back here on Wednesday, but until then, see ya. Thank you, bye.