Sunday, September 16, 2012

An Undeserved Win

The Badgers' offense looked terrible again yesterday.  I can't remember seeing them look so bad as they did in the first half, and I'm old enough to remember the Don Morton era and the winless Jim Hilles season.

Putting Joel Stave in at quarterback was an improvement, but the Badgers only managed to move the ball when Stave was occasionally allowed to throw it.  Giving it to Montee Ball every time to run out the clock with a few minutes left was stupid.  Bielema has pissed away leads this way before, but he never seems to learn that his Woody Hayes crap does not work in the 21st century.  And last year's debacles against Michigan State and Ohio State apparently did not teach him how stupid it is to gift your opponent with a timeout when they are marching back to score with the clock running down.

I thought Utah State would make that field goal in the final seconds and pull out the win.  And they totally would have deserved it.

It also seemed to me that Montee Ball was having trouble with his balance.  He couldn't seem to keep his feet under him once contact was made, making it easy for Utah State to trip him up.  I can't help suspecting that he isn't fully recovered from that concussion he suffered when he was mugged over the summer.

Bielema and Matt Canada need to admit that Danny O'Brien has no business starting.  They should have realized that two weeks ago.  Also, Montee Ball is not going to be a Heisman contender this year, nor is he going to break Barry Sanders' single-season touchdown record.  Stop trying to pad his career by giving him the ball most of the time.  It isn't working, and getting dropped for a loss will not help his stats.

I have a feeling that the hapless O-Line coach will not be the only one to lose his job this season.

4 comments:

Tim Morrissey said...

Football is the main engine feeding the jock department beast at the UW. Trouble in paradise.

Dan said...

Good analysis. Time for Bielema to go. Before, he had some good recruiting classes and we could get by his coaching mistakes. This year, he can't hide from mistakes. They'll be lucky to be .500 in the Big 10.

Dan said...

I think you nailed the problem wit Ball a week earlier than anybody around.

Ordinary Jill said...

I think some of the sports media suspected it before Saturday's game. After the first big hit on Ball, when he lost the fumble, the sideline reporter made a point of saying that Ball was not being looked at by the medical or training staff and was instead surrounded by other players (which kept reporters from getting to close and observing him for signs of concussion). I think the UW coaching staff endangered him by keeping him in the game as long as they did.