Wisconsin 2-0 (outscored both opponents 110-0) But??
They beat South Florida and Central Michigan. Let's take a look at both teams.
South Florida is 1-2 with a win over South Carolina State and they lost to Georgia Tech who was just beaten at home by the Citadel out of Charleston, SC.
Central Michigan has beaten Albany and Akron (who is 0-3).
Yes it will be tough for Michigan in Madison and everyone is really down after the Army game in which Michigan WON but I have a feeling that Michigan is going to step up to the plate this week after being ripped by fans, the local and national media. Gattis has much to prove going into this game and his ability as an OC has been questioned nationally for the past week. I feel he is going to unleash his offense this week. Defensively, Michigan will be better than you think against Wisconsin. Go Blue!
September 15th, 2019 at 10:30 PM ^
Need better QB play. Nobody can win consistently with a bad QB. Better decisions and stop fumbling the damn ball.
September 15th, 2019 at 11:02 PM ^
Shea is not as bad as he looked last week. QB play will be better.
September 15th, 2019 at 11:26 PM ^
For 2 games he's missed wide open receivers. Fumbling aside.
Just sayin'
September 15th, 2019 at 11:41 PM ^
For 13 1/2 games he largely didn't. The coaches say he's injured and he's playing like he's injured. Things are likely to improve on that front.
September 16th, 2019 at 5:18 AM ^
He missed them since he's been here, but he has made enough plays that it didn't matter. Lately he's missed receivers, and put the ball on the ground, and he hasn't made enough plays to counter the bad. In mind my, I keep saying they are evil geniuses and playing possum. I know, I know, just leave me alone in my thoughts.
September 16th, 2019 at 9:23 AM ^
Patterson has been a very accurate passer for most of his time here. Literally every quarterback in college football misses some open passes. The last game and a half have been aberrations, likely driven by injury.
September 16th, 2019 at 9:42 AM ^
He's been OK. Ranked 32 in completion % in NCAA last year and being on the low end of attempt's is nothing to be that excited about. He has had some bad misses his time here, but like I said, he's made enough plays it wasn't that big of a concern. I believe he will make more plays going forward, but let's be honest and say he hasn't played well, and has to play better.
September 16th, 2019 at 10:01 AM ^
Completion percentage doesn't really tell a very good story, since a lot of teams play dink and dunk offenses, throw a ton of bubble screens, etc. Patterson was #8 in ESPN's QBR metric and he was the top rated QB in the Big Ten on Pro Football Focus last year. He's been a very accurate passer for most of his career here.
September 16th, 2019 at 12:27 PM ^
Very accurate is anything over 70%. He has been a little bit better than average. Adrian Martinez, Sam Ehlinger, Jake Browning, K.J Costello, Peyton Ramsy, David Blough, Will Grier, Jake Fromm, and Ian Book all had higher completion percentages and all with the exception of Peyton Ramsey play in offenses that push the ball down the field.
September 16th, 2019 at 1:50 PM ^
The advanced statistics I posted above adjust for the types of offense/passes the quarterback throws.
September 17th, 2019 at 9:21 PM ^
Very average.
September 16th, 2019 at 11:25 AM ^
If he's injured, and badly enough that it's affecting his play then they should go with McCaffrey and let Shea heal.
I really hope he is hurt (it will heal) and Brian is wrong - that this is who Shea is and there's nothing we can do about it.
September 16th, 2019 at 2:04 AM ^
We were told the offense was designed to take advantage of shea’s Skill set. If that meant poor passing and fumbling the ball, then Michigan will be in trouble this coming Saturday.
September 16th, 2019 at 8:11 AM ^
Yes he is lol...
and just because you said “Qb play will Be better” means jack. I see no signs that it will get better, other than the fact that it’s been so bad that I guess ya, there’s no where to go but up?
September 16th, 2019 at 9:59 AM ^
He's been pretty terrible. However, he can turn things around by just not fumbling to start with. Hopefully Runyan comes back and he's more comfortable with the pocket and doesn't leave too soon or miss open receivers as a result.
September 16th, 2019 at 11:29 PM ^
Exiting the pocket too quickly has been Shea's M.O. since he's been here. Not sure if that will ever change. But he's a dangerous passer on the run so I don't have an issue with him escaping. More important are taking care of the ball, making the proper reads and throwing the ball away if nobody is open. If he does those three things consistently well then Michigan is going to have a really good season.
September 16th, 2019 at 10:04 AM ^
Yeah Dray, that's kind of it. He looked good in the first half vs MTSU and he looked pretty good last year. Certainly better than the Army game (which is overstated how bad he was). So yes, I am expecting that after the bye week, we will see an upward trajectory.
It's true, however, that I am not The Knowledge, so my assertion is fairly meaningless. It's just my expectation.
September 16th, 2019 at 9:00 AM ^
The bottom line is, we're going to need to score more points than Wisconsin does, if we want to win this game.
If we do that, everything else takes care of itself.
September 16th, 2019 at 9:05 AM ^
Wow, that branch you're standing on!!! So thin!!
September 16th, 2019 at 10:26 AM ^
sometimes a guy has to make a statement. I should get upvotes for NOT staring a thread with that bold hot-take...... Lord knows there have been too many of them lately.
September 16th, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^
In his 23 previous college games for Ole Miss and Michigan he had 3 lost fumbles in 23 games (0.13 per game).
Shea has 3 lost fumbles in 2 games this year (1.5 per game).
So this year he's losing fumbles at a rate that's more than 11.5 times higher than previously. I'm no statistician, but it seems like these 2 games of small sample size are an anomaly. He's not going to keep losing the ball at that rate.
September 16th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
I'm no statistician, but it seems like these 2 games of small sample size are an anomaly.
Maybe, or maybe something changed. There are too many latent variables associated with a college kid playing high level football.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
But they still have a freshman QB.
September 16th, 2019 at 9:48 AM ^
yes, and currently they have only played CMU which is S&P+ ranked 111th and USF which is 109th.
Michigan has played Army at 90th (but S&P+ has an acknowledged weakness in ranking them due to the manner in which they play) and MTSU which is 69th.
If we can not turn the ball over 3 times a game we can win.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
Look at CMU and USF going back to last year too. Those programs are messes. USF also lost to Georgia Tech who lost to The Citadel this weekend.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:47 PM ^
An important thing to note about Georgia Tech is it's their first year transitioning from a triple option. That program is going to be dreadful this year.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:49 PM ^
Right. Which tells at least something about the state of USF in Strong’s 3rd year.
September 16th, 2019 at 12:01 AM ^
Jeff Collins is a bad coach who, while coaching my beloved Temple Owls managed to lose to fcuking Football Subdivision Villanova in 2018. He was no Matt Rhule or Al Golden on Broad Street.
The guy is a car salesman disguised as a coach. Expect nothing good for Tech moving forward.
September 15th, 2019 at 11:05 PM ^
Cmu had a good D last year but lost every key player. Their game with Wisconsin is not telling us much.
September 16th, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
69th in S&P. I would say their D was nice, not good.
September 16th, 2019 at 1:43 PM ^
And it was #70 overall without the fancy stats. I'm not sure where this "good defense" thing comes from. A mediocre MAC defense is a bad defense.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
Wisconsin probably isn't as dominant as they've looked; as we saw this weekend with Maryland, PSU, and to a lesser extent MSU (who always had a mediocre offense), teams can look a ton different when the other side puts up some resistance.
They are still really good. Like, 10+ win good. And it's a road game. Michigan should be the underdog, and honestly I am sorta expecting UM to lose or, at best, win by a narrow margin.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:49 PM ^
Wisconsin won’t win 10 regular season games.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:59 PM ^
Don't think thats true. What has been disappointing is how is this offense any different than before? We fumble etc fine, but when it comes time to come from behind and throw the gd ball, we still suck. There may be games where offense has to carry the team...I just dont see it (yet).
It'd be nice if - like OSU teams of past - we keep getting better and turn into a juggernaut in November for once.
September 15th, 2019 at 11:08 PM ^
Facts
September 15th, 2019 at 11:11 PM ^
I mean, look at this schedule. There's a lot of games where I'd have a hard time seeing them stumble. Also, they've won 10+ games (including bowls) 7 out of the last 10 seasons, and 11+ 5 of those 7 years. And fine, even if we ignore the bowl game I still see them winning 9+ games at the absolute bare minimum.
September 15th, 2019 at 11:29 PM ^
I know their schedule. Michigan, OSU, Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue, Minnesota are all losable games for them. Shit, even Northwestern can hang - they beat Wisconsin last year.
I’ve got them at 8-4. Adjusted that up from what I had preseason, but we don’t know shit about them that we didn’t know before the season started. They’ve played two doormats that they just sat on. I still don’t think they win the West.
September 16th, 2019 at 10:47 AM ^
Sure, anyone can lose basically any game. But do I think 2019 Purdue, Nebraska, Minnesota, or NW are going to give them much trouble? Not really. And who the hell knows how they look against OSU; The Buckeyes always have a couple of rough games and Wisconsin is as likely as any to catch them.
I think we actually know quite a bit about Wisconsin. They have a young QB and some new offensive linemen, but Taylor is an elite back, they have better receivers than last year, and a lot of guys on that defense who were young last year are back and (presumably) better. And despite everything that went wrong for them last year they still won 8 games. So yeah, a 2-game improvement on that isn't crazy to expect.
But whatever, it's still a good team.
September 15th, 2019 at 11:52 PM ^
Bet you a buck you are wrong
September 16th, 2019 at 7:53 AM ^
Thanks for the tip. Gonna go bet everything I’ve got on Wisconsin winning 10 regular season games since you’re literally wrong about every prediction you make.
September 16th, 2019 at 9:12 AM ^
Hey now, he did predict Sparty to be terrible this year, which may turn out to be true.
September 16th, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
I predicted 7-5 for MSU this year. I don't think they're good, but I don't know what your definition of terrible is.
September 16th, 2019 at 11:30 AM ^
Hope I made you some money on our win total last year and us covering against Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Penn State!
September 16th, 2019 at 1:00 PM ^
Unfortunately I couldn't bet on those games because I blew my life savings after you assured us Michigan would win by two scores @ND.
September 17th, 2019 at 9:48 AM ^
Silly thing to do on a single game in a twelve-game season. I went 11 for 12 and you bet on the 1.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:37 PM ^
All we have to do is stop fumbling the damn ball and everything will be fine.
September 15th, 2019 at 10:50 PM ^
This is literally 97% of our issues through two weeks.
September 15th, 2019 at 11:04 PM ^
my comment above was for this reply Dr.
September 15th, 2019 at 11:26 PM ^
Figured, and read it as such.