This Week in Badgers: Saying Hello and Goodbye, Program Trajectory, Jason Galloway Speaks
This Week in Badgers: Season 1, Episode 26
Welcome to This Week in Badgers where it is officially the off-season. Lots to go over this week including roster additions and subtractions, an interview with Jason Galloway, plus we’ll work through our yearly Wisconsin football existential crisis.
Housekeeping:
Current guess at the current Scholarship Distribution
Added the 2020 class to the Recruiting Map
Send in your Badger Thoughts
@ me on Twitter
Prop Bets 2019
We have a winner! Congratulations to Tyler "Ice Cream Coan" Morgan! Two props that could have swung the whole thing were Taylor 2,000 yards and a non-QB pass. Taylor coming short or Groshek trying to hit Coan on the pass would have changed the entire prop bet leader board.
Tyler actually tied for 1st place with Justin, but took the victory with a closer guess on total points for the season. Other close but not quite entrants include Zac Hepps, Taylor Fritsch, Neal Olson, and Ty Hoeft.
Thanks to everyone for playing, and special thanks to Wiscy Wear for the prop bet prize. Check out his page if you’re in the market for a super comfortable Wisconsin shirt.
Saying Goodbye
The off-season turnover has begun with transfers and guys jumping to the NFL.
Jonathan Taylor didn’t take long to announce his NFL plans. Appreciate the timing on this by doing it a day before Jalen Berger was set to commit. Hard to understate how important he has been to the program of course. Going into the 2017 season it was thought to be a split at RB between Chris James and Bradrick Shaw, I don’t think the last 3 years play out nearly the same if Taylor doesn’t come to Wisconsin.
Lots has been written about him, but his durability is one of the things I’m in awe of most. He almost never got hurt which is insane for a guy getting 300+ touches a year. NFL RBs are so tricky to predict as it is hard to have a long career and they’re viewed as mostly interchangeable, but if Taylor is able to improve his hands and ball security everything else is there for success.
I also think he’s just the second Badger to leave after just 3 years? Most early entries leave after a Redshirt Junior year. Michael Bennett is the only other 3 year guy I can think of.
Last week Quintez Cephus posted an Instagram Story from a private jet and then deleted it. This morning announced he's off to the NFL. As a Badger fan this bums me out because he was incredible the second half of the year and I selfishly wanted to watch him again in a Badger uniform, but taking off that hat, its not unexpected and certainly understandable from his perspective.
Perhaps this is reactionary as I know other guys have put up as good or better numbers, but I think he was the best Badger WR since Lee Evans. Some NFL team is going to get a steal if he lasts late in the draft.
Tyler Biadasz hasn't announced yet, but I'm going to go ahead and assume its happening this week so this Newsletter isn't horribly out of date by Tuesday. He joined a Badger OL that already had a couple years together and it was immediately clear that he was a step above. Crazy fast ascent from “small town Wisconsin defensive line recruit” to “All Conference Caliber OL” to "Probable Early Draft Pick." He was a rock at the Center position and part of 3 fantastic running attacks. I'll think about that and not his ground ball snaps last week. I'm over the Rose Bowl I swear.
Christian Bell announced his plans to Grad Transfer. Not a huge surprise, he did have a role as a backup OLB this year but that seemed to be his ceiling. They’re pretty inexperienced at OLB next year with Burks, Green-May, Franklin, Lytle, and 3 incoming Freshman, but I like all of those guys and think we might see some big improvement from them next year. I’m of course the captain of Team Jaylan Franklin.
Saying Hello
Welcome Jalen Berger! This one turned pretty quick, it was assumed he was going to Rutgers then all of a sudden it was not. Obviously a much needed addition to the RB depth chart. His HS film reminds me of Corey Clement and they seem to have a similar frame.
He seems to have pretty good hands and there has been some chatter that he might have a role as a package slot receiver/RB type next year if Watson/Davis are primary RBs as a way of easing him in with a smaller playbook. Jack Coan obviously likes the short passing game, so any athletes to help there is a positive.
Other Updates
I’m sorry to bring up the Rose Bowl, but some pretty awesome aerial shots here
Logan Brown has not been cleared for Spring yet. I’m not having Josh Oglesby flashbacks, you’re having Josh Oglesby flashbacks.
6th year for Bradrick Shaw? Perhaps. He’d certainly be welcome depth but with Berger committing I’d imagine scholarships are starting to get pretty tight and don’t know that they’d use 6 of them on RBs.
Graham Mertz talked with the media again, Jake at AllBadgers had a good recap. I know the coaches would never admit they look ahead during the season, but don’t think it was by accident that they gave him some 1st team reps in practice. Little incentive for a guy you want to keep motivated.
Was keeping my eye on Semar Melvin as the Rose Bowl would have been his 5th game, thus losing the Redshirt ability and he did not play. I really like what he showed in the 4 games he did play. They have so much depth at the CB position, it will be interesting to see how that shakes out.
This Derrick Tindall Tweet ribbing Reggie Pearson made me laugh
This message board guy talked to Maema Njongmeta’s Dad, who reports he is moving to OLB. This is why message boards rule and obviously take that news for what its worth. They have Chenal, Sandborn and Maskalunas at ILB pretty locked in but OLB is wide open, so it does make some sense.
Craig Evans, not making good decisions
Lets Remember Some Guys
Today’s guy is Azree Commander, captain of the All-Name team and a guy who played a little bit of everywhere from 1993-1996 with stints at OLB, FB and DT. He sort of reminds me of Manasseh Gardner, a good athlete with good size that couldn’t quite stick at one spot. He had a sack his Sophomore year and 6 tackles his Senior year including one TFL.
He was back for the 1993 reunion last year, and still seems to be a Badger fan on Twitter.
Azree Commander, remembered.
Paul Chryst reacting to a great Jason Galloway question, 2017
Jason Galloway: The TWIB Interview
We have a first here at This Week in Badgers, an interview! Last week I was able to connect with former State Journal beat writer Jason Galloway. I always enjoyed his stuff and was good to catch up. We covered the important topics like his DMV experience, road trips and legendary Badger QBs.
The questions on everyone's mind, how did your fantasy team end up and have you recovered from the DMV experience
Jason Galloway (JG): Haha. Since Twitter became a thing, I've only really ever used it for work, so since I left my job I haven't known what to do with myself on social media. My fantasy team started 3-0 before losing 8 of the next 10. I came into the year with Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham and Le'Veon Bell as keepers.
Fantasy football sucks and we should all agree to stop playing it.
There's been a lot of trips to the DMV -- or ServiceOntario here in Canada -- since moving to another country with having to get a new drivers license, work permit, car registration, healthcare card, etc., but thankfully I'm done with The Price is Right gifs for now.
How's life in Canada? Have you embraced hockey?
JG: I'm really enjoying Toronto. It's a great city. And Canada's not as different from the U.S. as you would think, outside of the metric system and half your cereal box being written in French. I actually am getting into hockey and even became a Maple Leafs fan. I didn't fully realize how awesome hockey was before moving here. I would start playing, but I can hardly skate so I'm thinking I should avoid embarrassing myself.
Now that its not your job, what are your sports interests? Have you always been most interested in college football? What's the sports pecking order at the Galloway household?
JG: I'd say football is in fact my favorite sport, but I wouldn't limit it to college football. I've actually been a Packers fan since I was 7 years old, long before I moved to Wisconsin. I'm also a big watcher of the NBA and soccer. For those who follow the English Premier League, I'm a massive Everton fan.
Have you seen much of the Badgers this year? Any thoughts on the team? Has their success this year surprised you after the struggles in 2018 or did you see some of this coming when covering them in camp?
JG: I think I saw every game except Kent State. Five years from now I probably won't be watching many Badgers games, but since I covered them in the preseason and still know everyone on the team, I was really curious to see how the season turned out. I expected them to be improved, but I thought 2020 would be the year they got back into the top 10. If you told me before the season they'd end up in the Rose Bowl I would have been really surprised. I thought Jack Coan would have a pretty good year after watching him this preseason, but the defense took a bigger step forward than I anticipated.
Looking back, what were some of your favorite players to interview/interact with while you were on the beat?
JG: I'll point out Michael Deiter here because of how different he was from the start of his career to the end. As a freshman he was one of the worst quotes I've seen and by his junior year you could always count on getting something good from him. I've never experienced that big of a change in media savviness from anyone before. Some of my most enjoyable conversations were with Alec James. Great dude and really funny, too, even if he wasn't always the most quotable. Some of my other favorites (for various reasons) were Sojourn Shelton, Chikwe Obasih, Derrick Tindal, Scott Nelson, Kendric Pryor, Rachad Wildgoose, Chris Orr, Alex Erickson, Joel Stave and probably a few more I'm forgetting.
What's the best and worst road trip you had as a beat reporter?
JG: The best by far was when I covered the 2009 national championship at the Rose Bowl when working for the student newspaper at Alabama, but as far as Wisconsin/Big Ten goes, I liked going to Nebraska because you always knew the crowd would be loud and I saw a couple good games there. The Pinstripe Bowl trip last year was also pretty great because you're hanging out in NYC the whole week. I didn't have any really bad experiences on the road, but going to Illinois was never very exciting (I didn't go this year, obviously). I also left my wedding ring in a hotel there a couple years ago, although I did end up getting it back.
Any good Badger related stories you'd like to share now that you're not covering the team anymore and free from the UW PR wrath? Anything you especially miss about covering the team? Is Paul Chryst actually hilarious and doing a years long bit in his press conferences?
JG: I can't think of any stories I haven't previously shared/reported outside of some off the record stuff that I still shouldn't make public. I miss the other people on the beat. A lot of us (Temple, Heilprin, Kocorowski, Veldhuis, etc.) became friends and they're all good people. I always enjoyed covering bowl games, and so this week especially I've missed that. Even though there's plenty of work to do leading up to those games it still sometimes feels like a vacation when you spend a week in California or Florida in late December.
Paul Chryst is actually secretly hilarious. What you see in interviews is not who that guy is. He'll often be cracking jokes with us seconds before the cameras go on and then instantly morph into coach speak when the interview starts.
Were you familiar with former QB Jim Sorgi before you took the job, and if so, what were your impressions?
I know you have to mention Jim Sorgi, and I knew who he was before coming to Wisconsin, but honestly ... I'm still not too familiar with Jim Sorgi.
Badger Thoughts
Anyone have a better name for this? I started it with “Deep Thoughts” but it ended with people apologizing for not having a thought deep enough and/or not writing in at all. I’m open to suggestions.
Whatever I said in October about Clemsoning? I’m saying it again. - @lawclerkthree
With the 2019 season in the history books, time to reflect on the future of the program. I’ve seen various opinions as to what our expectations should be moving forward. Some expect to compete with the blue bloods given the ascendency of the program over the past decade. I’m not convinced we can get there given our recruiting, but I am nonetheless pretty happy where we are. If yearly expectations for the program are 10+ wins, a New Years Six Bowl, a top 10 finish, and a once in blue moon appearance in the playoffs, then sign me up. Interested to hear your thoughts on where the Badger expectations are and/or should be. - @Tommers71
All good stuff but I am devastated by the loss (and I’ve grown out of that as I got old). These are the types of games you have to win over a series of years to be considered one of the big dogs. I think UWs reputation is good but not top notch. @Mgoodman8 (via Twitter)
These all fall along the same lines and its a natural question after the Rose Bowl. College football is a challenge to follow because there are only a handful of programs that can realistically win a National Championship. Obviously any Pro sport is set up so all teams have a chance. College basketball has fewer players and a one game tournament to even the field. You really don’t have that in college football.
I don’t see any world where a Badger team could be good enough to say, go undefeated in the regular season, THEN beat Ohio State, THEN beat Clemson team and THEN beat LSU team a couple weeks later. That requires a level of recruiting Wisconsin can’t touch.
That’s not a lot of fun to think about, but it's not to say you can’t have goals. I think the first realistic goal is to win the Big Ten West every year. They’ve won 4/6 of them and the times they didn’t were clear “down” seasons in 2015 and 2018. Consistently being better than peers like Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Purdue, is no small thing. These are teams that have similar recruiting challenges Wisconsin does and Wisconsin is kicking their ass.
A Big Ten West title would be a pretty big deal for all the schools, and its the expectation for Wisconsin. That’s pretty cool.
Then we talk about “next step” and I don’t think becoming LSU, Ohio State or Clemson is realistic, but they can make incremental progress in recruiting to at least be closer.
I got this email from Zach H which I thought was relevant:
It just seems we have trouble winning the toss-up games against big-time opponents.
Did a search of all 1 possession games in the Chryst era:
2019 - 1-2 (Win against Iowa. Losses against Illinois and Oregon).
2018 - 1-1 (Win against Purdue. Loss against BYU)
2017 - 1-1 (Win against Purdue. Loss against OSU)
2016 - 5-3 (Wins against LSU, Georgia St, Iowa, Nebraska, Western Michigan. Losses against Mich, OSU, PSU)
2015 - 3-2 (Wins against USC, Maryland, Nebraska. Losses against Iowa, Northwestern)
Overall - 11-9
And here's the same list against "big-time opponents" (non-West ranked teams)
2019 - 0-1 (Oregon)
2018 - none
2017 - 0-1 (OSU)
2016 - 2-3 (Wins against LSU, WMU. Losses against Mich, OSU, PSU)
2015 - none
Overall - 2-5
So none of this is that surprising. Overall you’re going to be around .500 in close games and in the list of “big time opponents,” some of those teams like the Ohio St and 2016 Michigan teams were clearly better than Wisconsin, so no real shame in losing close.
But it seems like this is sort of the “next step” right? Actually winning more games against top teams?
In my twitter exchange with mgoodman8 I disagreed that winning/losing the Rose Bowls made a dent with the National perception and I stand by that, I don't think ESPN talking heads are going to change any narratives either way, but it does make a big dent in our own fan base's perception of its team which shouldn’t be ignored.
The Badgers have shown the ability to hang with anyone in the country, the next step is adding the talent to pull out more wins there. This has been the “struggle” since they emerged in the early 90s. The 1998-99 teams couldn’t beat Michigan. 2010/2011 couldn’t close the deal in the Rose Bowl. Recent history against Ohio State, Penn St and obviously last week in Pasadena shows this isn't going away.
I realize this is not a novel idea and has been the goal for a while, but also feel like the Badgers have been making some progress. The last Rose Bowl sucked, but you can spin it positively if you want. They didn’t lose to Oregon because they were out-athlete’d, couldn’t keep up with their speed or any classic reasons the Badgers lose games, they lost because of mental errors, turnovers and shaky officiating.
Recruiting has been slowly improving as well, not in the same ballpark as Ohio State, but improving. I think a peak Ohio State team has actually helped the Badgers overall, they not only get experience playing against top talent, but have that as a goal to go after. There's a difference in building your roster to attempt to take down the giants vs building a roster to beat Iowa.
I realize this is a lot of words for a non-answer but the TL:DR on “expectations” would be:
Win the West
Improve against “very good opponents.” They won’t be Ohio State, but they can beat them more than once a decade.
Make the CFP once? I think that’d be a hell of accomplishment
Of course you’re not going to achieve these every year and Wisconsin is going to have some years where they’re not as great. I've ranted about this before, but college football is lacking in achievable goals for the schools that aren’t football factories and this seems like a good thing to aspire to for a program like Wisconsin.
I get to watch Oregon play a lot. I think they have a great program & a great future under Mario Cristobal. They are doing lights out recruiting in Southern California. This was an excellent Ducks team that improved throughout the season. And, I think the Badgers were really well prepared for the game & the excellence of our coaching staff showed through. The coaches can’t stop turnovers, however, and that’s why this was IMO the worst & most frustrating loss in recent memory. - Steve from Portland
Steve wrote a longer email that I’ve edited down a bit, thanks for sending in, thought this aligned with my take on the game as well. He has some conflicting information about Jesse Temple’s report on beer cost, we’re currently investigating.
That's it for this week, thanks for reading. We'll be back and better than ever next week.