January 2, 2012
Three sad badgers.
Has one team with so much on the line had more crushing defeats in the final seconds than the 2011 Wisconsin Badgers?
First, let’s take a look at Michigan State’s Hail Mary on Oct. 22:
A week later, here’s the Hail Mary by Ohio State to beat the Badgers:
And, finally, tonight’s loss to Oregon in the Rose Bowl:
While a successful play was far from guaranteed in the Rose Bowl, the end is just heartbreaking nonetheless.
Which leads to this poll question:
Indiana born and raised. Now on the East Coast. Hoosiers, Cubs, Colts. In that order. Work in PR. Opinions are my own.
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January 2, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Three plays, three losses. One dumb-ass coach behind them all.
January 2, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Think about it — and answer honestly (Badger fans).
If Pitt could have had its choice of UW coaches Brett Bielema or Paul Chryst, who do you think they would have taken?
Talk amongst yourselves (and post your answer because this is a blog not a cafe.)
January 2, 2012 at 9:16 pm
(Not a Badger fan too much, but Alvarez pushed Chryst … so he voted.)
January 2, 2012 at 10:12 pm
That’s because the Great Barry wants to assure no one eclipses him…which the only way Brett can do now is to win a national championship. And we all know that ain’t happening.
PS: Everyone should answer. The “honestly (Badger fans)” was intended for Badger fans to be honest. We are an obnoxiously disproportionately irrationally homer of a fan base with no ability of a spec of self-evaluation. I think it’s the water.
January 2, 2012 at 10:14 pm
This is what Montee Ball had to say about you:
January 3, 2012 at 12:46 am
Uh not sure why Bielema would ever take/seek a job at Pitt, so not sure what the heck Dusty12 is talking about. (Seriously have no clue and can’t follow you.) Also not sure he remembers the horrible years (Don Morton anybody?) before Alvarez. The man has gone to 2 straight Rose Bowls, so it could be a lot, lot worse. I’d say you’re being a typical NEW Badgers fan who thinks Rose Bowl wins and Nat’l championships are easy to come by and your birth-right. Duh. . .
January 3, 2012 at 8:12 am
Don’t lecture Northwestern boy. All you know is losing. I’ve been a Badger fan since the Don Morton days,sitting in the stands in years where our only annual win was against Northwestern. And I remember Barry Alvarez taking them to 3 Rose Bowls and winning them all. That’s what champions do. But Northwestern wouldn’t understand that because they don’t win at anything except an occasional abberration (when’s last time you won a bowl game?) Hence they have no expectations for excellence. Oh, I’m sorry, NW has the world’s best women’s lacrosse team — flip flops to the White House and all. No blogger from NW should comment, or lecture anyone, on winning. Losing, ok. You’re the experts there. Go crazy on losing. How’s the hoops team doing, by the way? Think you might make the NCAA one of these centuries?
They teach you that word at NW — Duh? Sure that’s the correct spelling?
January 3, 2012 at 8:54 am
Sure, buddy. Pretty sure Alvarez lost to NU 50% of the time and only 60% of his games in general–a true champion in every sense of the word. Also, I’m from Wisconsin and I’ll lecture you as much as I want. . .and duh is word. Later, Dusty!
January 3, 2012 at 10:02 am
As one of the Wisconsin writers on this site, I am pretty sure Dusty is a moron. Yep, it was the coach that allowed Oregons O to run up and down the field and it was the coach that dropped a ball a foot from the sideline with 5 minutes to play.
I am sure Dusty is also a huge Packers fan who will be callign for McCarthy’s ouster if they lose in the playoffs because he rested his starters in week 17.
Dusty, please never come back to this site.
January 3, 2012 at 12:34 pm
I should take a step back from my comments. A little reactionary. Dusty, I don’t agree with your point of view, but you are more than welcome to post what you like. I think all the people in the office coming up to me this morning asking me about the game has gotten to me. I apologize for the name calling and please comment as much as you like includign how the Badgers basketball team has the most unwatchable offense in college basketball this year. Or at least thats how I feel.
January 3, 2012 at 10:08 am
Hey – wait. We do not yet have enough readers to ask people not to come back!
Especially Dusty. He’s good people – just a bit emotional sometimes.
He is a Cubs, Vikings and Wisconsin fan. That’s a lot to take over the years.
January 3, 2012 at 10:52 am
Any Badger fan that’s calling for Bielema’s head does not understand football. Pitt takes Chryst, you know why? Chryst is cheaper, Chryst is trendy. Stupid point, because Bielema doesn’t leave, nor does he need to. Sure, Bret lost two Rose Bowls in a row. But read it, TWO ROSE BOWLS IN A ROW! Barry did win B2B, but he beat some pretty crappy Pac-10 teams. TCU went undefeated last season and Oregon is pretty damn good, returning their QB, their RBs and adding that crazy fast De’Anthony Thomas. And they had a shot to tie both games very late…with the game in the hands of Paul Chryst and his offense. Don’t get me wrong, I think Chryst will be a huge loss and this could be a big turning point in Bielema’s tenure.
These days, big time program head coaches are figureheads, they recruit, they lead, they work with their assistants. If the program turns, then we can turn on the head coach. Bret gets Russell Wilson to show up in Madison. You don’t think other kids see that? Other kids that want to break Barry Sanders TD record? You don’t think other kids will show up? Bret also needs to convince Barry that his team wants to and needs to play big time non-conference games. The Big Ten will force their hands, let’s just hope they get an Oregon rematch.
This season ticket holder has Bielema’s back and I’m super glad we don’t get rid of him for a Rich Rodriguez, or a Bo Pelini, or a Kirk Ferentz, or a Will Muschamp, or an unproven Paul Chryst.
January 3, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Yah, getting rid of BB would be like Iowa getting rid of Dr. Tom. Didn’t work out too well for them.
Also, as Hal mentioned, Barry’s 3 RB wins were not against teams the caliber of TCU and Oregon. the 94 UCLA team wasn’t very good, the 99 UCLA team thought they were going to the national title game until they slipped up the last week in Miami and they had no desire to play in the Rose Bowl and the 00 Stanford team was awful.
Do I think BB is the greatest game coach in the world? No, but I think he is a pretty good coach and Wisconsin fans and Mike Hunt calling for his ouster are just not thinking it through or are fair weather fans.
Will the team be as good next year as the past two seasons? no. They are losign way too much talent on both sides of the ball. Their D isn’t great, but they are not as bad as people are making them out to be. They held Oregon under their season scoring average.
If Abberderis holds on to the ball, the discussion is totally different today. I am as pissed off as any Wisconsin fan, but I think blaming the coach is the easy way out. We got beat by a better team.