October 2nd, 2021 at 5:27 PM ^
Yes and no. Or no and yes. Maybe. I care that Harbaugh isn't our Ferentz.
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
I’m sorry, OP but if you don’t see the irony here, you might need a new forum for hypothetical questions.
Either way, 5-0 feels great and I couldn’t care less about other team’s coaches or fanbases.
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
Just gotta get Matt Campbell...
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:31 PM ^
People see the success of the sports radio blowhards and think it’s legitimate discourse.
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:40 PM ^
1) Ferentz succeeded without Hayden Fry around.
2) If he were Wisconsin Ferentz, he would have a killer game plan against us.
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:43 PM ^
Decent? Chryst has done a great job at Wisconsin. In fact, Wisconsin’s and Michigan’s programs are very similar, with similar talent levels. Some years one will be the better team and then it flips. Wisconsin beat Michigan easily the previous two years and has still won five of the last eight
October 2nd, 2021 at 10:26 PM ^
Wisconsin is what Michigan used to be. It’s sad but true. I mostly agree with your post except for the part about similar talent. Wisconsin gets nowhere near the recruits
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:06 AM ^
Chryst got off to a great start at UW (34-7 his first three years) but from 2018 on, he's just 23-15.
October 4th, 2021 at 12:22 AM ^
Michigan has way more talent than Wisconsin.
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:47 PM ^
This is a bit complicated. He was Alvarez's preference, so I think he's safe as long as Barry's around. I think they'll accept one down year, but not two in a row.
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:47 PM ^
Fans often ask "What have you done lately?" Wisconsin fans have raised the bar since Chryst has won the B1G West a few times. They were supposed to win the division this year with an improved Mertz at QB. The failures of the offense is not all on Mertz as their is no star RB. Their OL is also down.
With so many pieces missing, Wisc fans will blame Chyrst for their offense falling behind and wonder out loud if this is systemic. Kind of sounds like it from Ann Arbor. It appears unlikely that Wisconsin mounts a comeback this season, especially in a for real team like Iowa. Maybe Wisconsin can win in an upset or two. That would help Michigan's SOS. I hope all of opponents our guys have beaten to date end up with winning records.
As for Ferentz, he's the energizer bunny. He just keeps going and going. This season looks special for him and his team. Next weekend is IA v Penn State, a must watch game.
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:48 PM ^
He hasn’t done anything to deserve to be renamed Craul Pyst yet.
October 2nd, 2021 at 10:07 PM ^
there's an 'english pubs' joke to be made there but i ... am not the one to do it apparently
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:53 PM ^
Chryst is a below-average coach. He's not even average, he's below-average. I feel I've been saying that for years, I have no idea why he gets any real good pub.
October 2nd, 2021 at 10:28 PM ^
Maybe because he consistently fields excellent teams on the field that far outperform their recruiting rankings. I hate Wisconsin and denigrate them every chance I get but this is a foolish take.
October 2nd, 2021 at 5:57 PM ^
Uh, Wisconsin and Iowa are both B1G schools where you can’t expect them to win 10-11 games every season. They’re not going to heat his seat up because he has one bad year, and even here it’s easy to see Wisconsin finishing 7-5 with the easy part of the schedule still to come.
Both Wisconsin and Iowa should be and generally are pretty happy with teams that are good most years and compete for the B1G championship every few years.
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:39 PM ^
Wisconsin is 1-3 with Penn State and Michigan out of the way. They have Illinois, Army, Purdue, Iowa, Rutgers, Northwestern, Nebraska and Minnesota remaining. 8-4 is absolutely on the table for them. I don’t really see them losing more than 2 in that list so I’d say 7-5 is worst case.
October 2nd, 2021 at 8:00 PM ^
On paper they could probably win those games, but will their team stay together through this, or will the wheels fall off? They already have two conference losses so they're pretty much playing for pride at this point.
October 2nd, 2021 at 8:55 PM ^
Oh man...give these kids a break. These are high level athletes-that's not how the competitive spirit works.
October 3rd, 2021 at 5:29 AM ^
Tell me you’ve never played competitive sports without telling me you’ve never played competitive sports. What a shitty take.
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
Why so defensive?
I've both played and coached competitive sports. I can tell you that when you've set a preseason goal for a team (for UW, I'm sure it was the Big Ten title) and then the team quickly stumbles out of the gate, it can be difficult to keep them on the same page going forward. Sometimes the team will rally together and keep fighting, and sometimes it won't. Guys can start thinking about themselves, complaining about playing time, stop talking to teammates, etc. Which way it turns out will come down to the leadership in the locker room.
In Wisconsin's case it may be complicated by Mertz's health status.
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^
Little league doesn’t count here bud. These are high level athletes. They’re playing for potential professional careers. They’re not mailing it in because of a slow start to the season. Get a grip. They’re a 3 loss team, it’s not like they’ve been eliminated from bowl contention. They still have the ability to play themselves into a top 15-20 ranking and a great bowl game.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:01 PM ^
The Wisconsin offense always seems super vanilla. But in general they've had the o line to make it work. They are still basically the o line factory school, outside of Alabama and maybe Iowa this program produces a ton of pro potential. But they (the o line) were a bit more average this year and their running backs aren't dynamic like J Taylor was or Melvin Gordon etc. They simply aren't as good at the key positions this year and their special teams are noticeably bad as well.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:25 PM ^
Well they said they simplified things for this game, I know you're not just saying this one game...but today was especially elementary.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:22 PM ^
He's not Ferentz, especially because they have Jim Leonhard, who they'll give the job, without QUESTION.
I think Chryst is more like a Ron Rivera to Ferentz's Mike Tomlin.
Rivera got every shot, it was just time. The Steelers don't fire coaches.
Chryst will have to have 2 straight shitty years before they move on to the DC.
October 2nd, 2021 at 9:57 PM ^
does that ever happen? fire the head coach and hire one of his assistants? retiring is one thing, but firing is another.
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:16 PM ^
Dabo Swinney
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:22 PM ^
What I don’t understand about Wisconsin this year is that after 25 years or so of great offensive lines ands stud running backs they don’t have either this year.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:44 PM ^
Everyone hits a rough patch now and again. Wisconsin has had a few 7-5 years in the last decade and this year looks like it could be one of them.
October 2nd, 2021 at 10:30 PM ^
Alvarez’s contract with the devil finally ran out.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:42 PM ^
That’s not necessarily a terrible thing to have. You’re usually no worse than 7-5 to 8-4, you’re good for upsetting a top-10 team at least every other year, and then every four years or so you run the table and get within inches of the playoff.
October 2nd, 2021 at 11:41 PM ^
Chryst won't be there much longer. He was an Alvarez yes man and did whatever he was told to do by Mr. Narcissist. Bielema and Anderson left because of Barry. Barry still wanted to coach the team right up to retiring as AD.
October 2nd, 2021 at 11:47 PM ^
one thing that differentiates the two is that I have never heard an Iowa coach booed by a home crowd, while Wisconsin was raining boos down on their team after their first three series on offense. I believe the boos were being directed at their coaching staff.
October 3rd, 2021 at 1:05 AM ^
That was astounding to hear.