The State of Wisconsin Football
Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 4:23PM 
You may wonder why a freelance copywriter from Manchester is blogging on the state of American Football in Wisconsin. Besides the fact that copywriters research and blog on just about anything, if you've read my blog before or know anything about me, you'll know I lived in America for two years.
In Wisconsin to be precise, where I ended up somehow hooked to the little known sport in the UK, but massive game in the US, called American Football.
Two years ago, the college football team, The Wisconsin Badgers, won their Big Ten Championship and had a victory trip to the Rosebowl in California. Then they did it all again the next year. The Green Bay Packers meanwhile, the state's NFL team, well they just went and won the Superbowl, the crowning achievement for any team. Then they went 15 straight games undefeated in the following season.
But this year, this season, it's a different story all around.
In many ways, both teams are victims of their own successes. Expectations are tremendously high, and they just can't live up to them.
The Badgers came off back to back Rosebowl trips only to have their starters leave for the NFL, and with new national attention on the program, half their coaching staff leave for higher paid jobs and career advancements elsewhere. Thus this left a big problem back at Camp Randall, which has been evident to see in their first 3 games.
While star running back Montee Ball may have stayed, the superb offensive line from last season is nowhere in sight. Ball can run, but he needs holes. That needs to be worked on, because Ball has the potential to be legendary, and his big gains really rally the team.
With Ball being shut out, the Badgers could turn to their throwing game. There are a lot of new receivers in the squad, and many have potential, but they need lots of work and practice. With our best catcher out for the last two games, things didn't look good at all.
And then there's the QB. Scott Tolzien two years ago rose up steadily through the program, and knew all the ins and outs. He wasn't exceptional, but he was consistently good. Russell Wilson, despite being smaller than average, is now a starter in the NFL...that tells you all you need to know. A transfer student in, he shook up everything and was phenomenal. With no decent QBs ready to play, Coach Bielema sought to emulate the Wilson transfer with the new QB Meyer.
That hasn't worked so well. Maybe he has potential. I don't know. I haven't seen it yet. And since he was replaced in the second half of the last game, maybe the coaches aren't sure either. He just doesn't seem to have the arm or the awareness a good QB should have. But I'm not going to judge too soon.
Though they may have only lost one out of their 3 games so far...it's been embarrassing. They're teams which should have been easily beaten by what many thought were the dominant Badgers. Time to knuckle down and get fierce.
As for the Packers... Well I'm not sure what's going on there. I think they had some issues with money and contracts, I'm not sure, maybe even injuries, but something has definitely changed. The passing game, which was always the Packers strength, is definitely lacking...lots of dropped catches, and too many interceptions already. The running game, like always, is virtually non existent. That means a problem scoring.
Thankfully, something both teams seem to have in common so far is a reasonably strong defense. This makes a change from years past. For both teams, particularly the Badgers, the defense has been instrumental in helping them hobble along to victory.
Work needs to be done, but there may be hope on the horizon.
Big it up for the D.
Yeh, sounds so terribly American. But I've always wanted to talk about the D, ever since watching The Mighty Ducks as a kid. Maybe I'm just trying a new copywriting style...the Manchester-American style (or StatesideMancunian copy!)
But after all that...I don't really know that much about football...so please do chime in and correct me!!
Reader Comments (1)
I suppose it's fitting that, on a whim, my decision to check out your blog would yield a recently written post about the Badgers and Packers.
In a sense it's a bit unfair to comment on what you've written two weeks after the fact given how much new information is available, but oh well.
"He wasn't exceptional, but he was consistently good. Russell Wilson, despite being smaller than average, is now a starter in the NFL...that tells you all you need to know."
Wilson is badly missed by the Badgers, but the hyperbolic praise that was being heaped on him at the start of the NFL season is now looking to have been largely unfounded -- especially in light of one of his wins as a starter being gifted to him by the refs. He currently has a passer rating of 75.2, absolutely abysmal by today's NFL standards, and that's despite the presence of a good running game with Lynch. Wilson was good, but even as a Badger he was often guilty of overthrowing receivers, something that I've noticed he's continued in the NFL.
The bigger problem for the Badgers lies in the offensive line, whose coach left with Paul Chryst and others. This in addition to the normal loss of players that occurs with the passing of each season has left the line a shell of its former self in many ways. The firing of the offensive line coach and the pulling of Obrien in favor of Stave, who looks to be a much more competent QB (my skepticism over Obrien proved to be well founded given his poor statistics at Maryland) has certainly helped, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to allow the Badgers to reach the Rose Bowl again.
The Packers, on the other hand, are suffering from what looks to be a lack of sharpness on the part of the offense, as well as a bit of bad luck and the cloud of parity. It's cliche, but true: any team can beat any other team in the NFL, and the Packers' loss to an inspired Colts team was good evidence of that. Even with that, they should be 3-2, but instead are 2-3 thanks to historically bad officiating. Still, I'm not too worried, at least not yet: Cedric Benson has shown flashes of running well, and Aaron Rodgers is still a top 5 QB in a league driven by quarterback play.