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So before a burnout darkens your day, upgrade to Sylvania and see better tonight. Good. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Bart Winkler. Welcome into the Winkler Verse, the day after the Packers' fall of the Browns.
13 to 10. What the hell happened? Jay Kokorowski is going to join us as well. Badger Observer. We're going to talk about the Badgers losing to Maryland, what the hell happened.
And then. I'm going to remind people that there's a voicemail line on this podcast. Which I'll continue to use if the phone service gets better. 402-915. Bart 402-915-2278.
That's thanks to our friends at Carl's. Place I had a lot of things to say after the Packers lost to the Browns, as did a lot of Packer fans. A lot of my frustration was targeted. at Matt LaFleur. I did not like that final drive.
And I did not like the decision to play for a field goal and not just play for a field goal, but. Play for a field goal from where they were. They were fine just taking the. 40-some-yarder and not moving it up a little bit. Plus, there was going to be time on the clock.
I didn't. I didn't totally love that.
So I'm on this island screaming LeFleur, LeFleur. Everybody else over here is mad at Jordan Love. And This is in defense of Jordan Love. I am coming to Jordan Loves. Defense.
Not that he needs it. He's a grown man. He's an NFL player. He's you know, a millionaire. But I would like to come to his defense.
The best way I know how. Which is Crapping on the fan base, which I am a part of. I need to direct this at a lot of you. The Jordan love. Um Naysayer.
And I don't think I need to go through the history that I didn't like to pick at the time because, you know, why don't you use that on a resource to try to win a Super Bowl? I don't need to do any of that, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Or in the here. And we're in the now, and that's where we need to focus on Jordan Love is the here.
and the now. And I will not make excuses for his game. On Sunday. And I think there's some things that happen in that game where you're like.
Okay. Why are you doing that? Why did you snap the ball before the end of the third quarter? Was that you? Was that LaFleur?
Either way. You scrambled backwards. You took a hit. You took a sack. You should have thrown it away.
What are you doing? When you're sliding. Jordan Love has a tendency to Slide before the first down. When he has the space to get the first down. Don't love that.
And then, of course, the interception. Why are you throwing that pass? He says he didn't see the guy, but why are you throwing that pass in that situation? Anyway, if you didn't see the guy, you must have thought good about it, but Why are you doing that?
So, there are things to criticize. That was not a game that Jordan Love is going to. have us on his highlight reel. That's not a game that he's going to, you know, tell his friends, hey, go check this out. It's not a good game from Jordan Love.
It was not. I think what Is bothering me, or I know what is bothering me, is we're taking this game. And we're making some grand determinations about who this guy is. We are having some big, big feelings. about who this guy is.
We're saying, this is why I'll never get behind Jordan Love. This is why he won't ever win a Super Bowl. This is why, etc. Etc. And let me Explain what's going on here.
If I may. You The Jordan Love Detractor. or the Jordan Love non-believer. You have enjoyed. Many years of Not just good.
Not even elite. But Hall of Fame quarterback play. Brett Favre Randomly gets traded here because Ron Wolfe's the one guy who sees the vision. Takes over in a game. For Don Mikowski, Instantly writes a script with a comeback drive in the final moments.
And then becomes A three-time MVP and a Super Bowl winner. After that, You're wondering what's going to be next. They take a guy who could have been the number one overall pick. The year that Aaron Rodgers got drafted, they take a guy he sits. And once he starts.
to take over for Favre, you see that that's going to happen. Then he becomes this otherworldly player who's still slinging touchdowns. To this very day.
So you had two Hall of Fame quarterbacks back to back. All right. Then you draft another one. And they're using the blueprint of how they drafted Aaron Rodgers. by making sure they have a guy.
to then Switch to Once Rogers' time in Green Bay is done. Jordan Love then instantly is going to forever be compared to Aaron Rodgers. You're forever going to compare him to Aaron Rodgers. And I think what a lot of people did. Was once they saw that Jordan Love was.
I mean, I I wherever you rank them. Jordan Love is a good quarterback. Is he great? He has shown greatness. Is he elite?
No. I've never said that. But Jordan Love has shown that he can play at an MVP level. He's done that. Have a season, even the playoff games, even these first two games, he's looked really good.
He's looked really good. This was a bad game.
Now, The offensive line was banged up. They're against an elite front.
Okay. You can't, in the same breath, be like, oh, the Browns front seven's amazing. No one can play against them. Why can't we? with an injured banged up line.
who was very disappointing. Tons of penalties, tons of sacks. Just a bad game all around, which Jordan Love was a part of. But I'm telling you this. It's a weird thing that Packers fans did.
Because Yes, the Packers Transitioned nicely. From good quarterback, good quarterback, good quarterback. Actually, they went great quarterback, great quarterback. Jordan Love. Hall of Fame quarterback.
Hall of Fame quarterback. Jordan Love. So now Packer fans Are feeling themselves a little bit, saying, We went Three straight Hall of Fame quarterbacks in a row, or we could be going. Three straight Hall of Fame quarterbacks in a row.
So you're now already putting lofty expectations on what this guy could be. And when he plays anything less than Hall of Fame quarterback, You're freaking out. because of the expectations that are impossible to meet. that you put on them. that he's not delivering on.
You cannot look at Jordan Love as the third in a series. Of Hall of Famers. You need to look at Jordan Love for who Jordan Love is.
Now it's unfair to him that he's going to be judged in this way. Following these two Hall of Famers. But that doesn't mean that you can't accurately judge him. Jordan Love is a good quarterback. Who has made mistakes?
And some of those mistakes have come. At bad times. But who else would you rather have? What would you rather be doing? And I talk about this a lot with these quarterbacks.
It doesn't excuse that he can't be better, it doesn't excuse some of the things that he's done. But the Packers went from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love, and for the most part, it's been pretty seamless.
Okay? If you're watching Jordan Love and thinking, well, Aaron Rodgers in his prime wouldn't have done that. That is that that you need to get over that. You need to get over that immediately. Jordan love, this Jordan love.
Is a good enough quarterback to get the Packers to a Super Bowl and possibly win in his tenure.
Okay. SparkGuy said I cope the same way. I see him the same things I did with Jay Cutler. If Jordan Love is a Jay Cutler-like career, and I don't think the TD. Interception ratio.
I would hope that it's better. Cutler was always like 20%. Uh, so it would like to be better, but if you get like eight seasons, nine seasons out of Jordan Love. And he takes you to a Super Bowl, that's a massive win. That's a massive win.
Rogers only has won one Super Bowl. Favre has only won one Super Bowl. If you've got eight years of Jordan love and he takes you to a Super Bowl. I mean, do you understand to go from one quarterback to the next quarterback to the next quarterback?
So, your expectations on Jordan Love are very high. How he needs to play in the regular season. Rogers won four MVPs. Five won three MVPs. Maybe Love never wins an MVP.
But if he goes to a Super Bowl and wins in his career, is that not the same? And what you got out of the other guys? Oh, the regular season games are more stressful. Oh, we lost to the Browns. You're acting like it's the first time we ever lost to a bad team before.
And these bad teams they've lost to, everyone's looking like, oh, look at the Super Bowl year where they lost to, you know, and they had this many penalties. And yeah, but this defense was way better in Cleveland.
So there's more excuses to be had there. You are Building Jordan Love Up. To these expectations that he's never going to be able to meet because you're putting Hall of Fame quarterback on him, Jordan Love. Probably will not be a Hall of Fame quarterback. I mean, do you understand the odds on that are are very difficult?
And even if he's a good quarterback. That's fine. Look at the era he's in. Maholes. Alan.
Burrow, Lamar. Rogers was in that class. He was that class. Favre was that class. Is Jordan Love ever going to be a top-five quarterback?
In his era. Probably not. Not with some of these guys. Can he be top 10? I think he floats around there right now.
He's certainly better half. Top 15. It's just depending on What's the last thing you saw him do? Is where you're going to rank him on that. Chart He's a good quarterback.
He is a good quarterback. They paid him. Appropriately. Teams get into this. Decision process.
Where they got to pay the guy that they know and they like and is good. Or they don't pay him, and then they scramble and try to figure out. Who's next? That's a very difficult spot to be. The Dolphins pay Tua, the Cardinals pay Kyler.
Are these teams ever going to go to the Super Bowl? But when you have this quarterback I just like that's the going rate for quarterbacks. It's not like Jordan Love is a special case where the Packers paid him $55 million and everybody else is making 36. And you're like, what are the Packers thinking? He's getting paid market value.
for his position. When his time came up to get paid. That is what's happening. And you can say, oh no, we can afford Malik Willis for $3 million a year. I mean, that's going to be fine until it's not.
That's gonna be fine until it's not. Jordan love. Is a franchise quarterback. Jordan Love is a very good quarterback. We're not at great yet.
We're not elite. We're nowhere near Hall of Famer. Those kind of things can get talked about years from now. Right now, the Packers have a quarterback that is more than good enough. With the entirety of their team.
to take them and win a Super Bowl. Yeah. He is. There's no doubt about that. In my mind.
So the issue then becomes. When he doesn't perform at that level, Do teams win because of him? Can the Packers still win if he's bad, or if he's bad, do the Packers lose? And Sunday, the Packers were bad. And they lost.
Look, Jordan Love, he had Matthew Golden. That could have been a touchdown. That could have sealed the game. Did Love throw the ball the wrong way? Was it not perfect?
Did Golden, a rookie, run out of bounds when he could have changed his momentum the other way? There's a lot of things that we can nitpick. In Jordan Love's game, and that's what's going to come with the territory. You're going to nitpick your starting quarterback every single game, you're going to do it. But let's do it.
In A vacuum. Even look. I'm nitpicking on Sunday. And if you want to say, no, there are tendencies over two and a half seasons.
Okay. That's fine too. But this jump Torz, he's never going to be a Hall of Famer. He's never going to be Rogers and Favre. Who's that doing a service to?
Nobody! Nobody. You're screwing up! You're making This is harder on him, you're making it harder on yourself. And I know this sounds like Bart's scolding us.
But let me tell you again for the millionth time. I'm an unhateable person. You shouldn't hate me. Anytime you hate me is a projection of your self-hate that you put on me. Because I'm not doing this to yell at you, I'm doing this to.
Talk to you. And say Packer fan. It's okay. You're being too hard on Jordan Love. because you're too hard on yourself.
you thought they were going to win you have hard expectations big expectations and they disappointed you, which in turn you disappointed yourself. Let's calm down a little bit. And you'll have a better experience. I'm sorry, this has to be the way the message is delivered. But it's got to be the way the message is delivered, my friends.
You have a good quarterback. You have a franchise quarterback. At times he will make a boneheaded mistake. At times he will make a mistake that If he made, if that was like his baseline play, you'd say, wow, this guy sucks. That's what's going to come with the territory.
Watch some of these other quarterbacks. They've made mistakes too. It wasn't until... Last year, when we thought Josh Allen was the dumbest player to ever exist inside the red zone.
Okay. These mistakes are going to continue to happen. Patrick Mahomes on Sunday night. is throwing more balls behind the line of scrimmage than he is forward. Guys are going to make mistakes.
Jordan love is good. Set the bar and the expectation there. Know what will come with that. He is not a Hall of Famer. Stop treating him in that way.
View. And that. is my defence of Jordan Charles Love. Jordan Lorenzo. Love.
See, I don't even know his middle name. That tells you he's not a Hall of Famer. Jordan Alexander Love. We are going to talk to Jake Kukorowski. regarding the Badgers struggles.
In just a moment. A reminder, we're brought to you by Happy Place Hemp. Happy Place Hamp. The promo code is BART for the Seltzers and the Gummies and the Tinctures and the Pet Snacks. Everybody can be a little more calmer, which I think would help us all.
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You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all on the app. Download today. And in between Culver's meals, Jay Kokorowski joins us. From Badger Observer. Hey, uh, what is your go-to there anyway?
Do you drink it up every time? Yeah, no, you are one of many people that have asked me this. I do have because I love Taco Bell. I get the same thing every time. I get two spicy potato soft tacos and a quesadilla.
Attaboy. No. And then when I go to Culver's, it's. I go with the spicy chicken a lot. Do you?
Nice.
Now, for me, it's so depends on if it's like if I'm in, like, actually having willpower, which right now, uh, in this time of my life, I don't. Uh, it is really right now, like, so okay, for instance, like my dad, like for all those, no, those that you know, I'm open book. My dad was in the hospital in Tosa, he's doing better, he's at Freighter. Uh, I kind of went up to you know, and it was a busy day where I had to do some substitute teaching on the side and then cover some high school reporting at night.
So, I went to the Culver's in Menominee Falls, very good service.
So, shout out to the Culvers at Menominee Falls, double butterburger. ketchup mayo pickles pickles Curd, like I'll go fries, but sometimes I just feel like curds, so I'll go curds. And then, like, it's the fall, right? And you need, like, for me, I really enjoy. The salted caramel pumpkin concrete mixer.
And I asked for an extra dash of salted caramel because I love sugar and I need it to put a cover.
So that.
So that was that's my for the fall, that's kind of my go-to order. Like if I'm Actually, trying to like maintain some calorie, you know, maintain some. Health, whatever, I'll have a grilled chicken sandwich instead of the butterburger. But what's also funny is that I after the game, I drove down from Germantown where I saw a Couple of 20 or three 2027 in-state linemen that are being recruited by Wisconsin. I went down to Cops to say hi to my friend Joel Nellis, who's the head coach at Brookfield Central.
We met up to say hi. Yeah, I had another, you know, butter hamburger at Cops, and I also had a two scoop Sunday with hot budget. Oh, yeah. Her wife's like. What'd you do?
I'm like, I don't know. It's and then you turn it around. I'm at Camp Randall Stadium at 9:30 on Saturday, and I have like, I call them breakfast brats, like they had brats for food there, and I actually. Don't mind brats for in the morning because to me, it's a breakfast sausage.
So I will take it. Ooh, I like that. Yep, that's my theory. Brought to breakfast sausages when you tailgate at 11 a.m. I grew up, I did, I worked at a g uh grocery store for a while, but then I also, through the soccer association in Fond du Lac, we would have a broad fry like every weekend.
Oh. at the grocery store and i i mean there's something about there's something about Those brats, I think, are the best. Yes. Yeah. It's just brat fry brats.
Yeah. Well, like a 13-year-old kid's on the grill for social studies or whatever the hell he's doing. Nice.
No, they uh. The nice thing with LeBron's, give them props it. UW here. They get like The brats this year like have a nice little crunch on them, like a little you hear the little crack from this casing, so you know it's good.
So, um, yeah, I've been into one of those. I'm like, okay, yeah.
Well done, sirs, uh, and all that.
So, but yeah, man, but thanks for having me on, man. It's always great talking to you, brother. Yeah, I thought in between All of the Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur stuff that I'm blasting into the Winklerverse. We also got to talk a little bit about what happened Saturday with the Badgers. Again, Jay Kokorowski, Badger Observer.
Dot com. Subscribe today. Subscribe today. Monthly. Annually save a little bit?
But check 'em out. Um and they're probably at least You know, throughout the state, not that it is going to affect them any way or the other, but they're being talked about less. Today, because of what happened with the Packers. But man, they are being talked about in a way where you look at the upcoming schedule. And it's fair to wonder.
When the next win is going to come. Um Covering the team, how How bad, like we're watching and we're like, oh man. This is bad. And there's you know the fire fickle chance. How bad did it feel?
Like how b how bad does it feel from the team? You know, I mean, that was the interesting part. Kind of like you were kind of waiting on Luke Fickle during Saturday during his post-game availability. And, you know, he was asked about the Boeing and he feels it, you know, and he said he understood. And that was the one that's the first thing that I wrote about is that, yeah, he heard the chants and he.
He understands, like, and he knows what the standard is here. Um, you talked to someone like Aaron Witt, who I had a chance. I'm going to write about that hopefully later this week once I get a little bit more of my bearings in terms of doing a where Wisconsin's football stands, you know, during this buy. And I have, it's going to be a longer article, so I'm just taking a little bit more time on it. But like, probably going to use a quote from Aaron Witt where, you know, Aaron Witt was a Paul Christ recruit, class of 2020, right?
And just, you know, and he was, he just, you know, you can tell the emotions were negative in terms of just how he was feeling. Let me see if I can find. Part of it for easily give you guys a little bit of a You know, he says he's just really frustrated, and he showed up here on the steps of Rose Bowl appearances. And Big Ten championship appearances, and he feels he hasn't gotten the program. Oh, yeah, I saw that.
That must have, I think, yeah, I saw that. That might have been something. Yeah, maybe I think maybe Evan Flood was with me talking to Aaron, so maybe that was showing up there. But, like, you know, Aaron Witt's a linebacker for them, and it just, you know, he says the W means a lot to him. And, you know, they he says he actually said it's a huge burden.
And so, in terms of just what's been happening with the program, you know, because I just asked the only question I asked him was like, hey, man, I know you've been here, you've been through a lot here, but how are you feeling right now after this loss? And how are you doing? And so, you know, so I do feel like some of the older guys, you know, like Wit. That would be something to, you know, um. Just with how he's feeling.
You know, I think other guys, it's, you know, Darian Dupree. The running back, who I really like. And I feel like, you know, I might write about this more where, you know, I like Katie Acamelli a lot too, and I like Dylan Jones. But I feel like Darian Dupree shown the most out of those three. I do feel like Dupree has probably gotten the most chances.
Maybe, you know, I know Dylan Jones was injured towards the end of the game, but I like Giacomele, I like Dupree, but I like what Dupree can do in terms of that dual threat ability. And I think they need to get him out more in passing situations. We'll see if that can actually come to fruition starting up in the after the first bye week. Uh but you know he was Dupree was just talking about how You know, like just trying to, he struck a more positive tone, you know, and just trying to, maybe it was coach speak, maybe it was player speak, but just trying to. You know, didn't really show a lot of emotion at that point.
But I guess, too, it's, you know, we didn't. Trying to think back on who else we all talk to, but you know, they know this isn't the standard. You know, they don't, they know this isn't what it's supposed to be and uh and whatnot.
So it's uh It's also it's it's rough where you You know, who would have thought? That Wisconsin Would get, you know, I predicted that they were going to win by 10. I still thought the warts were going to show in this game against Maryland. And the thing is, it did, and they did nothing to. really you know they did everything maryland did everything right in terms of special teams Uh, with the punt block, the field goal block, uh, Wisconsin knew they had to defend a deep ball against Maryland.
And they still had five passing plays that went for 18 or greater yards or more yards. And also, some of the seniors just didn't, you know, some of the key seniors. didn't necessarily You know, do enough with, and there's been a huge influx of youth, especially on the offensive line.
So, you know, it's just a tough situation, especially when you hear a lot. I mean, there's a lot of booing, and you know, when you hear, like, the you know, the student section, you know, you saw the for those that weren't at the game, you saw the halftime shot of the student section, believing, yeah. The line the line well the season like Fickle came over from Cincinnati, and it was at a time where Chris You know, I don't I don't know. The seasons weren't as because when Chris was. First He took over.
These are double-digit win seasons, and you know, some dreams of maybe. Um something bigger. And then, you know, 9-4, 7-6, I think they went. Fickle comes in his first year, 7-6, 5-7. And I think right away, you thought maybe this year was going to have some struggle to it.
The game against Miami of Ohio was a slog. Middle Tennessee, they win by thirty two, but that took a while to get going. Alabama, of course, they're gonna lose that game. And then, yeah, this game and then the bye week, and you look what's coming up and Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon. Even Washington, Indiana, Illinois, I know they got crushed, but With Bilama, Minnesota.
I don't think they're not going to win another game. But where they're going to win that game is going to have to be deserved. And it's going to be Tough. And I think Where we were, or where the program was. To where it is now.
You hire Luke Fickle, especially if you think things are going to, you know, because he was doing great at Cincinnati. What happened to why what didn't work. I know they want to do air raid for a while, like but what How did we get to this point? I feel this. Was it avoidable?
I don't know if it I don't know if it was Because at the other time, Jake, there's also... NIL, transfer portal. And I don't know if you know, I don't know if any of that's related to. Anything else? Because you get a new coach here at the same time, but it does.
It does feel like what it feels like is that When Wisconsin was at least like. On the invite list, you know, think of a club, think of a party. You're on the invite list if you come with a friend or if if we're not full, then we'll let you Yeah. They don't feel like they're even getting like that. They don't feel like they're a part of what's going on in college football at all right now.
Yeah. And I mean, what you're Asking is a question. Question: That could probably be a mini-series of podcasts, you know, or a documentary down the road about just what happened. Because if you weren't going to hire Jim Leonard, who the players loved, they fought for, they played for. uh when p when Chris was fired.
That, in my eye, you know, like you would hire Luke Fickle. He is a Midwest guy. He comes from Ohio. He has a championship pedigree and college football playoff pedigree at Cincinnati. I know they got blown out by Alabama when they made it there, but it still counts.
They made it there. But you also had, you know, he also was co-D coordinator, longtime Buckeye's assistant, had that pedigree of winning. And so, yeah, and I always say that: like, if you weren't going to work, I said this. Back in late 2022, if you weren't gonna hire Jimmy, That's what you know, you hire Luke Fickle. And so that's where for me.
When you take a look at what's happened, you are completely right. The there is with NIL now being more prevalent there, and now you're also adding revenue share, uh, and so you're having those two tight, you know, in terms of money towards the student athletes. Uh, you have the transfer portal, which is even bigger. Uh, and Wisconsin member too was a developmental program, right? You took you'd have guys like Jonathan Taylor, you'd have you know, like Danny Davis, the wide receiver, that were key elements of that 2017 team that almost you know came within a drive of beating Ohio State and getting into the college football playoff that year when they were undefeated in the regular season.
Um, but it was very much a lot of veteran leadership and veterans stepping up, and you're also now seeing. Younger players stepping up more, which, you know, they use. It's a good sign for recruiting that they're bringing in these players. I think that's the one thing that Wisconsin has done very well. Is bring in some highly regarded talent in terms of high school, and they're all playing early.
But You're also looking, you talked about the air raid offense, right? You talked about hiring Phil Longo and Jack Picknell Jr., and those two hires did not work. Kind of like, and people are saying, oh, Wisconsin wasn't supposed to be for the air raid. I understand that. And yeah, you know, I think Jeff Grimes's offense is probably the perfect type of offense that is similar.
It's not all the way, you know, Paul Chris loved his power and gap scheme type running. And Jeff Grimes, you know, his more wide zone emphasis, which is what you see with Matt LaFleur, Sean Sean, you know, McVay, Kyle Shanahan, and the NFL. But it was a modernization with, and you see, With the multiple types of looks, the positioning, that offense is what it should be, you know, maybe what they should have gone with all along. But that set them back. And so they had to hire a new offensive line coach.
And I like AJ Blazett a lot as a recruiter and an offensive line coach. But You also look, you know, a lot of people are talking like, oh, this is what Fickle did. Man, this stuff started before. Luke was hired to where the recruiting classes in 2022 and 2023 weren't great. And you also look at Yeah, people, you know, yeah, they had the running game, and yeah, and which is great, but I don't think people remember that how one-dimensional Wisconsin was.
On offense. And then you take a look at the defense, and they wanted to mesh. The elite is what Mike Trussell tried to say, where they tried to do that run defense that was so good underneath Jim Leonard as defensive coordinator, like a top five and top five, top 10 annually in stopping the run. And they tried to mesh it with what Cincinnati did against the pass, which they were very, you know, one of the top teams in the nation in terms of pass defense and tried to merge it. That didn't happen the first two years.
And now you're seeing Wisconsin being able to stop. The run again. They're amongst the top teams in the nation stopping the run heading into this bye week, which was crucial. And they addressed that in the transfer portal. But now you're seeing, you know, there's a max, max, mass exodus of Cornerbacks into the transfer portal that were reserve guys.
Last year, Naisier 4 Koreans. Still waiting to hear about if he'll be able to be granted that preliminary injunction to play the rest of the season. And then, on top of that, you know, like you also lose Hunter Wohler at safety for this year, you know, because he went to the NFL. And if not for an injury, he'd be playing, he likely would have made the roster, right, for the Indianapolis Colts, undefeated Indianapolis Colts for that matter. And Yeah, for now.
Well, I mean, yeah, just giving props to Jonathan Taylor, right? Former Badger. He also, yeah, but yeah, he also has with Wisconsin too. It's just, yeah, just things haven't gone right. And they tried to course correctly.
I think the biggest problem, like offensively, is that, yeah, the fact that they've had to transition already a season and a half or season and two-thirds into Fickles' reign. They had to, you know. Fire Phil Longo and then bring in another coordinator. And so they're still starting from scratch there, or not scratch, but they're starting to like, they're still trying to work their way through. And there's just a bunch of injuries on the offensive line, which, if you're looking at offense, You know, they had three Richard freshmen starting, and Luke Fickle had even said, I think, earlier in the week, that that's not necessarily what you want.
Yeah, you've seen Wisconsin like Tyler Beadish, who I think was a redshirt freshman on that 2017 team as a starting center. But But the thing is, though, like he was surrounded by other veterans to help him up.
Now you're having like. Three young guys on the line in this type of new offense. And so, yeah, I mean, there's bound to be growing pains with this schedule. But no one saw, I don't think anybody saw what. Happen Saturday that it would happen, at least on paper, heading into the season, you know?
Yeah, and it wasn't I mean Maryland I don't think they've lost yet so they're they're you know And they have the things that they should be proud about.
So it's not like, oh my God, we lost to. Maryland. I don't think that's what it is. It's just that the way they lost and the way they've. been playing leads to such frustration when you do look at the schedule.
As I just went through, Ohio State and Oregon, there's no way they're winning either of those.
Okay. Michigan, Iowa, Washington, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota. Those are the other. Six. He went half, five wins.
Maybe another one, six. Either way, Best case scenario is still going to be a disappointing year. I think overall.
So I know Chris McIntosh, the AD, has already lent his support. Then he goes and hangs out with Mike McCarthy the next day at the call center. Uh, which is funny. Um, but Because we're still very young into a tenure of a coach. What if Can you fire Luke Vickle?
And say That was that didn't work like Gary Anderson and what's going on in the next thing. Or are they in a situation where I mean, you could fire him, but... You don't know what's on the other side of that either. I mean, and that's the big question for where, I mean, the one thing that also speaks is money, right? I think USA Today.
Had the article about the buyout, and my old colleagues at Badger Extra actually had like a laid-out Excel sheet that laid out like by the you know, like that had the buyout money. And like, I think the USA Today article, if I'm it was like a reported twin. 27, 28 million, something like that, like high 20s in terms of millions.
So that's a lot of money if Wisconsin wants to do that. Right. You also have, on top of that, we all knew this schedule was going to be tough. And, you know, Luke Fickle didn't shy away from that when he was talking about it and like bringing recruits in, like, not just recruits, but transfers, saying, look, this is the schedule, y'all. And he made sure that he let other people know.
So they were up for it. They knew what was coming. And he knew what was coming when he got the job. Um and you know and you know even going back to like Um, your previous question about that, too. Like, this isn't the Big Ten West anymore.
This isn't the fact that you don't have, you mean, here's the thing: if they beat. Nebraska. And Minnesota last year, they beat one of those two teams. They're in a bowl game, and so it doesn't look as dire. And so, you know, but those teams, you know, beat Wisconsin, you know, or they beat Iowa, you know, which they got throttled in Iowa City.
Know those are big 10 west teams last year, so that's also hard to say too. Where it's like, well, if they would have beat those big 10 west teams, well, they had chances to last year and they didn't. Um, but you know. For this year, You know, that's where like the expansion of the Big Ten hurts Wisconsin. You brought in Oregon, you brought in Washington, you brought in UCLA, you brought in UCLA, yeah, USC and UCLA, Washington, Oregon.
They play Washington and Oregon this year, and they play Washington at home, but Washington's actually a decent team now. You know, Jed Fish is doing good things after Kalen DeBoer. Left for Alabama, which he absolutely should have. And Oregon's beaten other Power 4 schools by 66 points. Yeah, exactly.
And you have that. Um, and then, like I said, like this gauntlet, I mean, you have to go to this October slate. I have not seen in my 13 years of covering the program a conference schedule this. you know I said daunting is probably the best way to put it. You know, they have now Michigan, which on a big noon Sunday, uh, Saturday, uh, whatever, yeah, in front of a national office audience on Fox.
Then you have Iowa for homecoming, which is going to be a big game. This is a truck. I mean, if you're looking to measure for what Luke Fickle wants to do. Like for progress. Yeah, Maryland, that game sucked.
And credit to Malik Washington and Mike Loxley. In a defensive line that like There are defensive like system that They got six sacks on the day. And that was one thing you can't do with like for Wisconsin to give up that much. Especially with the tradition of the offensive line and expect great results. But Ohio State and Oregon.
right after that before their second buy. Uh and that is What you're looking with, you know, at the beginning of the year, I was kind of thinking, like, oh, well, we'll see, you know, maybe in August, I was like, you know, I saw the running game. During preseason practices, like, okay, this is going to be interesting. But maybe they have a chance against Michigan depending upon how they look. But Michigan looked really good at Nebraska, you know, and But the thing is, for me, Iowa is kind of the big one for homecoming where they're at home.
The run defense has been better. Iowa hasn't looked great. Yeah, they exploded for points against Rutgers, but so did Wisconsin last year. And their win in East Piscataway, or in Piscataway, I should say. But, you know, it's, it really depends too.
I think the things just to watch in terms of going back to your question about with Fickle and being fired is. You know, it's one thing with the player, like, how are the players playing? Are they still playing tough? Are they still playing hard? Is it playing through things?
I think it's also looking at just like the apathy of the fans and just when you start seeing apathy creep in of them not caring about the program. Because right now you're hearing a fire fans. Mark Murphy fired McCarthy, they lost to the Cardinals. And he looked out in the crowd and he's like. Third, fourth quarter, no one's here.
Yeah. Yeah. You have to make a change. And that's where, and that's kind of like for me, that's what I'm watching. And I have no insider info right now when it comes to anything like that.
But that's, I think that's one thing just to watch is like, well, I think too, Jake, the Wisconsin fan base. They turn very apathetic. That's part of it. 'Cause for a lot of people, you know, if you live around Madison or whatever, it's the Badgers, Badgers. But I think the rest of the state likes the Badgers.
Follows the Badgers. And then they lose to BYU. Or they lose a game they shouldn't? Ah, all right, seasons, you know. And this year, it's like, okay, we'll give him a shot against Maryland.
Oh, geez.
Okay. Pick up leaves on Saturday instead. Run to Home Depot, you know? I think just by nature of what they are in the state. Apathy's gonna hit quicker than maybe other programs.
Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. And I think that's going to be, and that's something to watch. I think just throughout this season, is just, you know, is this team going to continue to fight? Is it going to roll over? I don't think it's going to roll over, but I also think that there's going to be times where, you know, it's going to be, you know, David versus Goliath at times on the field, where, especially in, like I said, in.
In October, with that four-game slate that starts two Saturdays from now. And I'll be at the big house, I'll be at Ann Harbor watching that game. It's, you know, but even that. Gosh, you take a look at, you know, yeah, they have that second bye week. After Oregon, but even the you meant you know you mentioned the schedule like there's washington at home There's Indiana, which right now what they're doing is really impressive, and just how they steamrolled Illinois.
Yeah. And then. Illinois, you know, then they then they Go face Brett Biela in Illinois, which Brett's been doing what Brett did at Wisconsin in terms of, you know, and building up this program over the last couple of years. And then You finish it off in the Twin Cities against PJ Flick and Fleck in Minnesota. And so, you know, it does get a little easier, but it's not that.
I mean, it's easier, but it's still a Tough end of the regular season. And that's, I think, also part of the interesting part about. Wisconsin within its place within the Big Ten, that it with this expanded conference. And I miss the Pac-12. That's my two cents.
I miss a wet, you know, a power four, power five West Coast conference. It's weird talking to TJ Bowlers like I did last week at Cal, where I say, oh, you're part of the ACC now. How's traveling to the East Coast? That doesn't watch a Michigan State USC game where. The second half started at 1.30.
Local Michigan time a.m. What the hell? Exactly.
So, I mean, is this a new part of it? It's also a new part of the college landscape. And things is kind of also like to me, like, as I hypothesize or I theorize, this is just part of like figuring out where Wisconsin's standing is within college football within this new and ever-revolving era of college football. You can follow it all at badgerobserver.com. Football and volleyball, they're winning.
They're winning.
So check out Jake's coverage there. Jake. Always a pleasure. I'll talk to you soon. What if we could reduce carbon emissions and strengthen the economy?
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You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all on the app. Download today. All right, I'm going to wrap up with some voicemails. I'm going to wrap up with some voicemails. Most of the prior.
Content available on the Dan Shaney YouTube. Check out Dan Shaney Insurance. Uh I made the switch. That's my pitch. No.
Not going to work. Uh can't use that tagline anyway. Um But the voicemails, I still have a line: 402-915-BART, 402-915-BART. 2278. This first voicemail is from about a week and a half ago.
It's from Dan. Uh and Dan talks about Some of these jersey numbers. Based off the Micah Parsons and and really Matthew Golden.
So this is Dan. Hey, Bark, Dan. Think about the Uh Annapol Gerdes. And these young players. picking new jerseys.
New Jersey numbers. Uh Only days of four. Um I mean, Matthew Golden changes his number from 22 to zero. I can see why he did that. 22 is kind of a I remember where.
receiver. And zero is actually a really cool number. But I feel bad for all those Hold on. you know, spent their hard-earned money. Find that jersey.
And now they're gonna switch the number. Hopefully they can return it. Hopefully Packers Pro Shop or the NFL shop will allow that. Um I'm glad I didn't do that. Instead, I bought a Micah Parsons jersey and waited for him to pick his number because he could have easily.
picked eleven and Jaden Reid would have changed the number, which Also would have stuck for a lot of other people. Um Understandably so though, he was He earns 11. I think The best player on the defensive side for the Packers and A generational talent. that number if he would have would have chosen it. Of course, you went with number one.
So Dan has left a lot of voicemails. I always love to hear from Dan. That is about The where the audio should at least come in. And I agree, and I think they do do a buyback, Dan. But I think that that audio, it's a little like faded, a little bit.
It's 2025, phones don't work. Um This voicemail came in the other night. I. This guy's in a fishbowl. I don't understand.
I think I hear. Long time, first time, and I think I hear boots on the ground, but I don't know who this is. It offers by its way back. Oh, just Not maybe wrong or that day, just to make this even so it's really difficult for you.
So first time. Mm-hmm. What I mean? I'm I mean I I'm a bad solo.
So it's it's The voicemails, which were going to be a big part of this, can still be.
Some people use them less. And then also when I do get them, they sound like that. And I don't know what the hell to do with that.
So That was that. What is going on with these phones? I also tried to look into buying a landline phone. I would like a landline phone. Non-internet, but a lot of these places you do need internet, like it's voice over IP.
I don't want that, I want a landline copper wire phone. And I saw ATT has this. But they're going to phase those out in 2029. I'm warning you and the world, we can't all be on the internet. You ever wake up and the power's out?
Those two hours, you're like, wow. What is happening? The reliance of power that you have. You got to worry about the fridge, you can't make a coffee. Can't do anything.
And then When they eventually you know Send an EMP out and take all of our cell service away, then we're going to be screwed. What are we going to do then? I want copper wire phone. Why is it so hard to find a phone line? I just want a phone line.
I just want a number that my family can have, a nice backup. And it's going to get faded away. And then it was like $70 a month. I think I used to sell a basic phone line of charter for $14.99, but then that's where all the taxes come in.
So it's actually like thirty six bucks a month. 'Cause all the like fire departments, they would always throw the f taxes on the phone. People always got mad about that. I would like to go back and work in that call center just for one day. Just to see if I still got it, even though I never did.
All right. Nice, fun episode. Coming up in a couple of days. Hopefully, get some picks with Horvat. cranking them out here during football season.
As it were, don't forget the Bart Winkler Show weekdays 9 p.m to 1 a. Central. On the Odyssey app, Infinity Sports Network, SiriusXM, channel 375. I love these people who still think that When uh We had layoffs three years ago. I just disappeared.
I'm on serious, you dumb fucks! Bye. Thanks for tapping into the Winklerverse. What if we could reduce carbon emissions and strengthen the economy? At ExxonMobil, we believe both are possible.
As a global leader in carbon capture and storage, we're empowering industries to reduce their emissions. all through technologies that are creating job opportunities in America. How's that pro win-win? ExxonMobil. Let's deliver.
