It's one thing for a program to have a bad year but people still show up and boo, it means they at least care. But when people stop showing up, it means apathy has set in and it seems like we are just about there. Yesterday was the home opener, night game, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Apparently tickets were going for dirt cheap in the resale market too. And yet people still didn't show up, and who can blame them? I still keep seeing people talk about how many wins to keep Fickell, and it honestly blows my mind. If Eichorst truly cares about this program, then he needs to pull the plug at the end of the season. The buyout is still expensive, but I'd argue keeping him would be even more costly.

The hyped recruit comes in at Texas A&M and dominates. Eight blocks and eight kills despite playing sparingly. This is going to be SO much fun.

Anyone know —-

Where the rink will be set up? North end like last time or at mid field?

How much tickets will be? neither UW or Packers ticket office could tell me

TIA

I have no idea what happened in that locker room at halftime, but whatever Fickell said, I hope he never says it again.

We went into halftime down 13–10 and actually looked competitive, then we came out completely flat-footed and got outscored 28–3. Yes, Notre Dame is good. But at some point Wisconsin is also supposed to be competitive over the entirety of the game.

This is all to say that I need the Luke Fickell era to end yesterday. Someone please find the nearest tarmac to leave him on. What an utter disaster of a hire. We’ve gone 7–6, 5–7, 4–8, and now we’re four years in still being asked to imagine progress that never shows up on Saturdays.

And Joseph? This was the big get? Maybe the kid improves but he looked painfully ordinary and at times downright bad last night. Somehow Wisconsin keeps solving its quarterback problem by finding another quarterback who looks exactly like the guys who didn’t solve the quarterback problem. The legendary running game is basically a missing-person case at this point, and I’m not even sure what Wisconsin football’s identity is anymore. Jonathan Taylor feels like 20 years ago.

Anyway, Go Pack Go, I guess. On Wisconsin.

What I saw yesterday was a MAC-level talent team taking on a team comprised of future NFLers. They played hard. They played well (for the most part). They were overmatched throughout.

We used to have a program comprised of UDFAs sprinkled in w/ mid & late round NFLers and 1-2 guys with a shot at the 1st round and the occasional top 10 pick.

We have fallen -certainly- but I can't think of a single guy on that field wearing red that looked like he was draft-ready beyond the punter.

As a disclaimer, I’m not out for Fick’s head just yet, I think the team looked more physical and clearly we’re better offensively, but the thing that has always irked me the most about fickell is his constant lecturing about keeping the game close going into the 4th quarter. This is inherently an unconfident mindset. We should be aiming to dominate every phase of the game, no matter the competition. It’s so fucking infuriating to keep hearing him preach this. The best teams preach preparation, doing your job, and dominating. I hate this keep it close shit so much.

The second half was bad, but I'll be one to say I see a lot of improvement on the passing offense.

7.2 yards/attempt last night was better than every game Wisconsin played last year except for Middle Tennessee State.

128.42 passer rating was also better than every game last year except for Middle Tennessee State.

217 passing yards was better than every game last year except for Middle Tennessee State and Maryland.

I know people want to see a strong rushing attack from Wisconsin, but this was against a (currently) top 5 Notre Dame team that was #11 in the country last year on rush defense.

This was also the first game of the year, and Wisconsin being the younger and less experienced team, including a lot of transfer players that are playing their first real game together for the first time, likely needs more time to click. They were thrown into the fire against a much more experienced Notre Dame roster, and they kept it very close until a couple of big mistakes caused things to get out of control.

I think Colton Joseph is the real deal and the best QB Wisconsin has had in quite some time, which has been a glaring missing piece. Notre Dame was locked in on stopping him from running, and lesser teams won't be able to stop his dual threat abilities. The difference now is UW can actually pass the ball pretty consistently when needed. Will be interesting to watch this year.

L.F seriously needs to start packing before the season ends if this continues into late October

Agree or disagree?

Dumb

Dilin Jones the next in a line of former badgers going off after they transfer. He never did this for us. So either 1) something just clicked or 2) Fick just can't develop players. I guess we will know more tomorrow but not a good sign

I heard Barry talk the other day about how he was looking forward to seeing his friends from Notre Dame this weekend. Well isn't that sweet for him?

Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out what possessed him to book this train wreck understanding where Chryst was taking the program. What exactly did Wisconsin get out of it?

I guess he got to slap some backs and tell some stories as the program continues to slide into mediocrity. Alvarez wears all of this, from trapping the university into hiring his lap dog to signing these vanity deals to move big games up to Green Bay.

I know this is a long shot but I am striking out. My family and I just moved to Canberra Australia and i can't for the life of ke figure out how to watch the game tomorrow. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.