Look at news, analysis and insight from around the Big Ten Conference. This
is Big Ten Paradigm, part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network.
And here's your host, Mark Rogers. Oh yeah, it's time for
another edition of the Big Ten Paradigm right here at the College GRIDIRN Coast to
Coast Network. Appreciate you being here. This is Mark Rogers, the Voice
of college Football. Please join us on YouTube each and every day for the
best discussion, debate and analysis on the Voice of College Football. We've got
fifteen team channels, including from the Big Ten, Ohio State, Michigan,
Nebraska, and Iowa. I don't care what anyone says. Buckeyes over Penn
State twenty to twelve was impressive. Don't care about the misthrows by both quarterbacks.
Don't care about the inability for the offensive line to move defenders out of
the way for these rushing attacks to get going. For the lack of points,
the lack of offensive execution, it was not prolific, It was not
scintillating. It was entertaining if you love hard hitting football and want to see
a bunch of future NFL players on the field. It was two really good
teams. Maybe the two best teams that have been on one field for a
college football game this season Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon
Washington would be a good debate, and of course Ohio State and Notre Dame
Buckeyes win the first of three huge battles that will proceed in the Big Ten
Eastern Division. Of course, Penn State Michigan in a few weeks, and
then the game at the conclusion of the season Buckeyes win at twenty to twelve.
Join us for our Buckeyes Live show each and every win state eleven am
Eastern Time on our Ohio State Channel. We get together with Steve hell Wagon
of buck Nuts, and Tony Gerdman a Buckeye huddle to break down Ohio State.
We did so after their win against James Franklin and co. Company.
You kind of scratch your head because Ohio State, for years under Ryan Day
and Urban won these games on the basis of just overwhelming you with their offense,
and that's really not the case anymore. It's kind of like Marvin Harrison
Junior is one guy holding up the planet right now like this, and you
know everybody else is thriving because of because he's the one they're holding up the
planet, so they got to find obviously, would help if they get Trevon
Henderson in Mecca Yuka in particular back in the lineup this week, might look
and feel a little bit better, even if they're not quite one hundred percent
just yet. But a lot of ways to look at it. I prefer
to look at it that that was a very good Penn State team that they
played, and they took care of him. They you know, they eventually
pulled away in the fourth quarter and had a two touchdown lead and one by
eight points, So I take that as a win. Seeing this one from
the press box, there were Ohio State left some points on the board.
And I'm not just talking about the fourth and to that one or the muffing
up punt essentially and losing a possession, but they had receivers running open.
They had some open receivers that comccord didn't hit, and they could have put
some more points on the board to make this one even uglier than what it
was. I knew immediately afterwards, though, and I think we probably probably
said it in the post game, that this is one of those games where
in the Sec. Everybody would be lauding the defense, but when it happens
in the Big Ten, they talked about how bad the offenses are. And
so I think we've kind of seen some revisionism there regarding that sort of talk
afterwards, and we saw it again after Notre Dame. It's like, well,
how good can they be when they don't even put eleven guys on a
defense and you're trying to diminish it. But you know, both of those
teams are still ranked in the top fifteen and they're still gonna, you know,
beat some teams. But I think Ohio State's defense was obviously way too
much for Penn State's offense. And stevend said, they're scoring forty four points
a game, only they're only scoring thirty four and Big Ten. So like
they had built a lot of their stuff on Delaware and UMass and this was
much more representative of what they were. But obviously Ohio State took it to
another level, and there was just the secondary is playing cell well right now,
and if Drew Allien was more accurate, there probably would have been more
interceptions. But because a lot of the passes weren't near anybody, you can't
intercept those and leaving that game. All season long, I've been seeing Penn
State was going to beat Michigan, and then watching Penn State in the past
week and seeing them more and more and more. I would like to reach
my previous statements on the future matchup between the Wolverines and Niitney Allions. Michigan
Michigan State, no contest. Biggest loss for Michigan State in regards to point
total at home in the history of the program. This was mis Michigan on
national television doing what they've done each and every week this season. We are
waiting, can't wait, expecting, highly anticipating a Michigan close game at some
point. The Wolverines of a bye week this week, but they certainly annihilated
Sparty forty nine to nothing. JJ McCarthy with Michigan State's defense and their defensive
game plan taking away the run. Blake corm only had fifteen carries for fifty
nine yards. It was on JJ McCarthy to carry the offense, and this
version, the twenty twenty three version of JJ McCarthy, is certainly capable of
doing so. The players, in particular, I feel bad for they have
to live through this NCAA investigation and the news that is being leaked by the
day. Connor Stallions has become an infamous name in college football. There is
so much to go into that we will not do that right here top to
bottom. The information comes out daily, so to keep up with it,
you got to keep up with it daily. We've done a number of live
streams and videos over at the Voice of College Football, so check them out.
But here is a number of comments made this week on the Voice of
College Football on our many shows concerning this investigation. Is it unfair? Is
Michigan being targeted? Did they truly cheat? What did it mean? Did
they need to cheat? They're killing these teams anyway and a half of the
last three years. All of that comes into play. So much to talk
about, and this becomes more intriguing by the day. Will the NCAA be
able to do something about this and we'll come to a conclusion and a penalty
by the end of this season. I doubt it. And again here we
go with a round robin of comments on the Voice of College Football concerning the
NCAA's investigation into advanced scouting stealing signs at Michigan. This Connor Stallion's person bought
tickets at all these places and sent people there, and they say they've got
surveillance tape of these people taking video. And then magically, this low level
recruiting staffer is standing next to the two coordinators. Channel ten Adam King from
here in Columbus posted a video shot from the field of CJ. Stroud going
up to the line of scrimmage and doing that and then turning to the sideline
to get the signal, and in the background of the shot, Connor Stallions
and the defensive coordinator as soon as the signal is made and they reckon this
is so sophisticated. They even know which guy has a legitimate signal in that
moment because there's four people over there, you know, doing all the signals
and everything. They know which guy has the legitimate signal. Connor Stallion says
something, the defensive coordinator says something, and then twenty people on the sideline
go like this, which you know they're yelling pass. It's going to be
a pass. It's a pass. So that means don't worry about, you
know, selling out for the run. Play the pass, and you know,
stealing signs is not the problem. The problem is the spying. The
spying is the problem. And if the spying comes back that the coaches were
aware of it, you know they're they're they're using yo gotten games to win
football games, and that that to me strikes at the heart of the competition.
You know, they have short circuited the competition, uh with this cheating
that that they have allegedly allegedly taken part of. And they're going to say,
well, we had no idea he was going to this links to break
these codes. And I think that's a bit naive to believe that because at
some point somebody asked, well, how are you getting this intelligence? You
know, somebody has to ask that question, don't they. And better yet,
if he is submitting receipts as a low level, not well paid recruiting
analysts and in the University of Michigan or Jim Harbaugh or a coach or somebody
is reimbursing him for the thousands and thousands of dollars of travel and tickets and
everything else that he embarked on here, that's lack of institutional control and that
that could be a several year postseason bing. I would think they may have
to give back wins be outlawed this year, maybe next year, and you
know, probably probably show cause for a bunch of people. And you know,
this is a can of worms. And it seems to me like they
are holding Michigan like in Lion King is holding this guy went up. He
is your corporate We are all not culpable. You know. Well that doesn't
fly because the head coaches presumed to know everything under his auspices. So that's
my two cents on that. And if if they take action against Michigan this
year, then all Ohio State has to do is win the next four games.
They're in the Big Ten championship game. Figure that's a walkover. They're
in the playoff. Regardless of what happens against Michigan. They could lose that
game forty four to nothing and people will say, oh, it's tainted,
you know whatever, it's a loss, but they're still going to Indianapolis and
probably going to be who ever comes out of the West A twelve and one.
You're in the playoff. The mental gymnastics to think that Jim Harpa has
would have no idea like that, none of this is happening, and this
is happening around him. When you know Conner Steyn's is also talking to Jim
Harpaugh on the sidelines. And if the players know and the coaches, no,
how does the head coach not know? So all of this is it
looks very, very, very bad. And I know Michigan fans are like,
well, you can't prove this in a court of law. You know
how you can prove this in the court of lot. It's like, this
isn't a qut of a lot. This is the NCAAA, this the Big
Ten. This is now you're also you're not just you're not just scouting Big
BEN games. We had confirmation that he bought tickets for a Clemson game.
He bought tickets to the a lot of the previous two Big SEC championship games.
Like they're they're they've gone beyond the Midwest. So now you're gonna bring
in the SEC. You're going to bring in up the a SEC. In
terms of hey, we want answers. We don't want to have to know
what should we have to deal with this, Like we need a response immediately.
And I know, I think Adam Rittenberger has reported that the Big Ten
doesn't have to wait for the NCAAA. They they could have a speedy response
to this. I'm not expecting anything because in terms of like right now,
because it is so unprecedented. But as I keep saying, what Michigan is
alleged to have done and what counter Stallions sure seems to have been doing is
wholly unprecedented. So why wouldn't there be an unprecedented speed of punishment that goes
right along with it? And I can't wait to talk to the College Footballlayoff
Committee Tuesday night to see what they have to say about it. Whether you
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mobile app Think Smarter Ticket Smarter. Now we go to the Big Ten Western
Division in the most controversial of the season and an extremely important call in this
championship race. Minnesota had not won in Iowa City since nineteen ninety nine.
They were on the verge of doing so, but still had to punt from
their own end with just a twelve to ten lead ninety seconds left in the
game. Cooper de Gene, one of the great athletes in college football standing
back for Iowa, fields the ball on a bounce and scampers fifty four yards
for the supposed game winning touchdown. And yes, Mark, there were ninety
seconds left in the game. But if you know the Minnesota offense that had
not scored a touchdown the entire day, and the Iowa defense, which is
elite, you know that that probably would have sealed it. I'm not going
to say that Minnesota could not have scored a touchdown. We don't know who
would have won the game. What we do know is that the officials took
away a touchdown off the board when reviewing, as they do each scoring play,
reviewing the touchdown to see if Cooper de Gene stepped out of bounce,
which he did not. The fair catch signal was ruled in valid. Therefore,
the ball was ruled dead and Iowa three plays later through an interception that
ended the game. We talk Hawkeyes with Corey Bradda from The Hawkeye of the
Storm each and every Tuesday at the Voice of College Football, and we certainly
discussed this one as we have throughout the entire weekend. So again, this
is another topic like the Michigan allegations, that you have to join us at
the Voice of College Football. We have discussed this on live streams, viewer
comments and questions coming in calls. Got to join us there. You can
give me a call at any time throughout the week to talk college football.
But we really dissected this one. Minnesota Iowa Hawkeys get ripped off by the
officials. The call took away maybe the one of the best players, one
of the best plays, single plays in Iowa history. I don't think that's
exaggerating. Was the call correct by the word of the law man? Maybe?
I don't know, Like I just think it's such an arbitrary thing.
And you know, I have so many questions about how players and coaches are
educated on rules and whose responsibility does that fall on. And you know the
term wave, What is a wave? What is not a wave? The
officials use the term circular motion in describing what Cooper to Gene was doing with
his left hand. Then you know the conversation about what's reviewable, what's not
reviewable. It's not actually a penalty. How does the official right behind Cooper
to Gene not blow it dead in the moment. You ought to be able
to see it in real time and make a call when you're right behind it,
as opposed to a I use the illustration yesterday, have a fumble or
a catch that's hard to see, you're gonna have to go to review.
I get that, But the fact that you can call it indisputable evidence.
And then the other thing. I don't know if you saw this mark,
but I think it was the Des Moines Register, USA today they did a
interview with I believe it was. Maybe it wasn't Tim O'Day, but it
might have been Bill Corolo or Corolla, the head Big ten official or the
leader of Big Ten officiating. I think, and I'll read you the quote
you may have seen. I retweeted this, but It was a quote from
an article that Chad Leistiko the Dewin Register published. This was a quote from
Bill Bill Corrolo. If you look at a ground video of it, you
might say, this doesn't look like much of a wave, But if you
look at the high camera view over the top, he's actually waving. I
mean, come on, man, what are we doing here? What are
we doing here? We look at the high camera review over the top.
Why would we look at the high camera view over the top to identify whether
a player is signaling for a fair catch. That's a stupid quote. And
maybe that was just maybe you shouldn't have just maybe you shouldn't have said that.
Maybe that was it looked. I think I think it made a certain
situation look worse. But ultimately, as I said to you before we start
recording here, you got to move on. Wisconsin trailed Illinois on the road
twenty one to seven before coming back behind a backup quarterback Braydon Locke, who
threw for two hundred forty yards and two touchdowns. Braylan Allen with Chess mclucy,
of course out for the season, had the lug at twenty nine times
for one hundred and forty five yards. But with a Wisconsin or with the
Iowa defeat, Wisconsin has taken over control of the Western Division with a win
against Illinois twenty five to twenty one. Pulled it out late and the Badgers
only have one loss, and so they pulled that game out. On the
surface, this was an ugly, meaningless game between two marginal, to be
kind, pretty bad football teams. In Lincoln, Nebraska defeated Northwestern seven to
nine. Oh but these two teams coming into the game both still controlled their
own destiny in this awful division. Now the Huskers still control their own destiny.
With that slugfest win over Northwestern seventeen to nine. Malachai Coleman, the
prized freshman recruit for Nebraska, hauled in a forty four yard touchdown pass from
Heinrich Harberg to break it open in the fourth quarter. Nebraska came back from
two early mistakes by Harberg two picks in the first five minutes of the game
to hold off the Wildcats again seventeen to nine. As Emma Johnson started at
running back for the Huskers and carried twelve times for seventy three yards. Brendan
Sullivan a buck seventy six for Northwestern as Northwestern gained more yardage, but the
Huskers win the game seventeen to nine. And yes, with just two losses
and with a date against was Johnson and also Iowa still ahead on the schedule
in Nebraska controls its own destiny in the Big Ten Western Division. Let's stay
with the Huskers. They've got another key game in the Big Ten Western Division
up coming at home against Purdue. Two and a half point favorite are the
Huskers against the Boilers. And we get together every Tuesday night on our Nebraska
channel to break down the Huskers Huskers Live. Please join us there with Greg
Peterson Husker Online and also our postgame host Justin Adams. This week we had
a conversation with a Brandon Locker of Big Time Boiler Breakdown podcast and we broke
it down of course perdue in Nebraska. What surprises me is a lack of
big play ability from the offense. You know, they brought in Graham Harrell,
which is the first million dollar office coordinator Purdue's ever had came from West
Virginia. Of course, he has the air raid background playing for Mike Leach
and all that, and getting Hudson card and transfer portal from Texas. He
has a pretty accurate arm, a big arm, and like you mentioned,
lost Payne, Durham lost Charlie jones A and O'Connell, three guys who got
drafted NFL. So you knew you were losing a lot. But you know,
after game one, Dion Burks looked like he was gonna be the big
play guy. And while he leads a team with five receiving touchdowns and everybody
else has either one or zero Prdue hasn't really been able to have those explosive
plays game in and game out. I think usually about their longest place twenty
five to thirty yards in the air. Of course, Devin moccabee and Tyron
Tracy are leading the ground attack, except Tracy got hurt against the I won
the first half, had to miss the rest of that game, then set
out against Ohio State. I believe he will be back this weekend against Nebraska,
but maccaby's kind of picked up the slack when Tracy's been out. He
had over one hundred yards against Ohio State. That was the only positive Purdue
had that game, becoming the firste hundred yard rusher against Ohio State since last
season, but the lack of offensive production has been a little concerning offensive line,
I knew it was gonna be a struggle, and then factor in some
injuries that they've had along the way, the depths just not really there that
that's my biggest concern against Thebraska. Nebraska's defensive line is really really good,
and then on the flip side, on the defense side of the ball,
it's been kind of up and down. I know a lot of PUE fans
are frustrated thinking that Ryan Walters could adjust his system more to fit the personnel
the defense. But I'm kind of in the UH in in in a different
camp to where let the coach in the defensive staff who was so good at
Illinois last year, run what they want to run, and in the long
term they'll get the guys to UH to fit that system. So while you
might go through some UH some growing page and some speed bumps this year,
I think in the long run it'll be better for the program. But UH
been happy with the past rush for Purdue. Nick Gordon and Kidron Jenkins have
been two bright spots, and then Dylan Thieneman freshman safety UH has been a
real bright spot for Purdue. He's their leading tackler, uh leading, I
believe he leads in interceptions, if not the leader, he's the second on
the team with three. And he's probably making a good case for a freshman
All American for himself right now. So, uh see, it's been kind
of up and down season, but yet it's it's been. Uh it's been
uh still kind of enjoyable, even even though it's to two and five,
and but uh this was this weekend's game is kind of their super Bowl right
now. I know, quite paying a lot of attention to the two backs.
You know, mockbe tore up Nebraska last year, and you know from
all accounts that Graham Harrell's you know, obviously it's an air raid offense,
but he's got some tweaks to it there that reallydue has been running the ball
pretty well out of that air raid offense. Yeah, they have been.
And Maccabee, like I said, the last two games, he's had pretty
strong performances. When Tyrone Tracy went went out with a I believe it was
a growin injury because he's been he's been a surprise for the Purdue offense.
Tyrone Tracy because Jeff brom used them more as a wide receiver instead of a
running back last year, and he just didn't get in the mix a lot.
And then he asked the staff in the spring if he could move to
running back, So that was kind of his own idea. They let him
roll with it, and he's been He's been a nice They've been a nice
one two punch, along with Dylan Downing, who's been been a decent third
string back for them as well. So that has been a kind of a
bright spot the last few weeks. Is established in the run game, getting
that going out of the quote unquote air raid offense, which is a total
different type of air raid than I think a lot of Purdue fans envisioned when
when they got Graham Harrell. But each OC runs their their air raids a
little different. So but yeah, hopefully hopefully maccaby and Tracy can stay healthy
in these last five games because Purdue's gonna really need them to got run the
ball to win games. Big. The big thing that I noticed was efficiency.
You know, it's six almost six yards per carry with him, I
believe with Hackeby it's almost five. So I'm sorry maccabee, So you know,
what, what do you think has been the the you know, the
biggest catalyst to that. And then and then also you know with the uh
with Dion Burks. I believe Dean Burks just looking at the numbers, I'm
just going by that, has he been the top He's been the top receiver
from what I what I saw at fifteen and a half yards per reception.
So what should we game plan for with with both of those? You know,
with that, with that the way they're running the run game out of
the air raid and then kind of, uh, how does that open up
Dean Burks. One thing maccaby struggled with early on in the season and kind
of got him binged was ball security. He was putting the ball on the
ground a lot the first few weeks. He seemed to have cleaned that up
the last three or four games, which is good. But like you said,
he and he and Tracy between the two are getting about five yards of
six yards of a carry. And then their different running styles too. Tracy
runs with a little more power, even though he can be speedy as well.
And Macaby's kind of I think his nickname's crazy Legs because you never really
know what direction he's going to go until he's already going in that direction.
So two little different run styles there. And what was your other question?
I'm sorry, yeah, just how does that you know with Dion Burks?
Oh? Yes, because it seems like he's you know, fifteen and a
half per per reception is no, you know, no small numbers. So
how does that kind of open up? And what watch the Nebraska defense kind
of prepare for to to kind of contain Dion Burks. Well, it definitely
wouldn't shock me if they even find different ways to give him the ball this
week after having a bye week, because I know that was like playing a
lot of fans had is There's been some games he's hardly been targeted, or
some games he's kind of disappeared and only had two or three receptions, and
you just can't have that as as him being your number one wide receiver.
I love for them to utilize them a little more and use them on some
ender rounds or even throw him in the backfield once in a while, kind
of like produced to with Rondell Moore and then the Arizona Cardinals still do with
Rondelo. Not comparing the guys at all, even though they both bore number
four for Purdue. But but yeah, that that's the thing. If Nebraska
can find a way to shut Burks down or make it tough for him to
get open, tough for him to get open on slants, make guys like
Tyron TJ. Sheffield and Ramanya scene Beacha and and Garrett Miller a tight end
that Purdue and I know NFL scouts are real high on. And he's finally,
I think starting to get that knee healthy. Missed the first two games
this year after being out all last year with the torn a cl I think
he's finally starting round in the form and they need him now more than ever
because freshman Max Claire is out for the season. He hurt his leg against
Illinois, and he was kind of a young bright spot that not too many
prow fans expected to be a be a target this year. Biggest game by
far the Big Ten on Saturday night in camp Arrandles Stadium, where Ohio State
invades Madison. The Buckeyes have defeated the Badgers nine consecutive times, but it's
typically a dog fight. Typically. These two teams got together last season in
Columbus and it was a Buckeye blowout fifty two twenty one. The game was
not that close. It was over at the end of the first quarter.
Wisconsin again no Tan or Mordecai for the rest of the season, or he
could possibly come back for postseason play. But it's up to Braydon Locke to
bring the Badgers home in this one. Three in one in the Big Ten,
they control their own destiny. As we mentioned earlier, now five and
two following the comeback win against Illinois, Braylen Allen will pose, of course,
a threat to the Buckeye run defense that has been stout really held in
check k Tron Allen and Nick Singleton of Penn State last week. Ohio State
is fashioning a top ten defense in college football, and it is legit considering
the schedule. Now they run into another capable offense, not prolific offense or
explosive offense. Transitioning into that Phil Longo mold, we've got Ohio State,
We've got Wisconsin. Let's go back to our Buckeyes guys, Tony Gerdaman,
Steve Helwagan and myself to break down Ohio State in Wisconsin. Yeah, so,
Braiden Lock, you know, he played like the second half against Iowa
after Tanne Mordecai went out, and then he's got his first start at Illinois,
first start for the Badgers, first start in college football, and guys,
I really came away quite impressed. I think he's somebody a little shorter
than Tanner Mordecai, maybe not as quick as Mordecai was really kind of a
dual threat. But Braiden Locke is very cerebral. He kind of prides himself
on that, just how much time he puts in studying. He's got a
good arm, he's a great decision maker, and I think the key that
you really need to know this season is he's got a lot of familiarity with
Phil Longo's air raid offense. High school, he ran a very similar offense
and as a freshman before transferring to Wisconsin, obviously he was a true freshman.
Then he was under Mike Leech, you know, one of the top
air raid guys that's really associated with kind of much of his time there in
that program obviously, So I think he made it pretty seamless coming in.
You know, there are some learning curves, maybe sitting a little bit long
in a pocket here and there, not feeling something, But overall, I
think he's impressed. I think the team has really rallied around him. And
again one start and one win so far on the road for the young Braid
and Locke Tanner Mordecai, as I understand that he broke his hand against Iowa.
Is it his throwing hand? And is there any talk at all that
he would play be able to come back and play this week or are they
hoping within two or three weeks that he would be able to play again.
Just what is the update or as much as you guys been led to believe,
where where things stand with him? Yeah, So, unfortunately for Tanner,
it is his throwing hand. You know, I'm not a doctor,
no for sure, but if it wasn't, I think he would have been
given it a shot. It actually happened in that Iowa game and then he
was trying to play another play and he was kind of motioning to the sidelines.
You know, I can't throw, I can't grip the ball, and
that evidently, you know, was I believe a full break in his right
right hand in this throwing hand. I would be, you know, shell
shocked. If you see him anytime soon like this week, but we were
kind of told and you know, this kind of lines up from what I've
heard a little bit, just you know, kind of trying to ask around.
I think there's potentially some optimism for a return eventually, but you know,
for the next week, two weeks, maybe three weeks, like going
into mid to late November. I think it's the Braiden Lock Show. And
what I found really interesting over the weekend. It's not a shocking thing kind
of being around these kids and knowing how they operate. But you know,
Braiden and tan are very close. They've been really close off the field.
They've really supported each other, and I think it's a great thing. You
know, it's a tough spot for Mordecap his likely last season of college football,
you know, kind of a fringe draft pick type guy. And I
think it's really cool that he's been so supportive of Brandon and Locke has not
shied away from giving Tanner really some credit and some praise. The last week
and a half. Chas Mlucy I saw he didn't play against Illinois, but
he has three hundred yards this year. Is he out? Is? What's
his status? I guess because he and Allen together make one of the very
good running back teams around. I would say, yeah, absolutely, Steve,
I think that honestly is one of the best in the country because they're
just so different in some of their skill sets. Unfortunately, Mlusy will be
done for the year, and this was supposed to be his last year of
college football. He will kind of have the opportunity if he'd like it,
to come back Pryor I think what would be a sixth year originally a transfer
from Clemson. But yeah, he got pretty severely hurt lowered body injury at
Purdue. I believe that was and yeah, that was a tough blow not
only on the field, but like Mordecai, he was a pretty big leader
for the Wisconsin team. Yeah, and I understand that even though Jackson Aker
only had two carries against Illinois, that people were impressed with him once Malucy
went down that he could be a bit of a change up back. Yeah.
I think that that Acre's got the size and the skill set. I
think what's just a little bit interesting is you know, he and Brayleen Allen
are both kind of powerbacks, whereas Mlusy, you know, you can catch
it out of the backfield maybe not speed necessarily, but we'll use fast,
but certainly kind of more of a dynamic option, whereas Acre and Alan are
similar. But I do think he can absolutely play at this level. I
just think there's a lot of kind of trust and confidence in Braylean Allen right
now, not only kind of from what he's done already in his career,
but you know, coach Luke Quickle has not been shy about saying Allen's really
shown Fickle and the staff something in the last couple of weeks, even though
it's this air raid offense. And I think Allen has fifty three fifty four
carries like combined the last two weeks. He had about thirty at Illinois,
just under one hundred and fifty yards. So he's somebody that has played a
lot of college football but doesn't seem to be slowing down by any means for
this Badges team. You know, Steve and I have both dealt with the
Fickle over the years. I'm just wondering your perspective, your thoughts on him
my first year there, and what have you seen from him and his I
guess ability to create a resilience for in this program that maybe was missing yeah,
So it's really interesting. It's Fickle's first year here, and it's actually
my first on the beat. You know, I went to school here,
so very familiar with the program, and I think you have to kind of
be here and be covering to really understand. You know, some things got
a little bit be stale, not with Fickle, but before that, just
in terms of whether it was some schemes or maybe not as much juice and
recruiting or you know, even some of the fans support. I mean,
I'm around it now every day and it's certainly kind of been raised by Fickle
and this recruiting staff and really everybody. What I think he does so well,
and obviously Paul Chris, Coach Leonard and the previous staff did a great
job for many years. I just think, you know, things slow down
at times, and that happened in college football. But what Luke Pickle and
this staff do I think again, it's off the field, the recruiting has
been some of the best Wisconsin has ever seen. And on the field,
it just seems like his energy levels with the team at practice going into games,
I think those are very high. I think he's assembled the terrific staff
and I think you're seeing it's not linear, but just about every week kind
of progression in some areas that maybe needed improvement, like the defense got off
to a bit of a slow start early on, I think, specifically against
Washington State, Georgia Southern, some of my first games on the beat.
But recently, you know, I just saw the statistic yesterday. Wisconsin,
I believe, for the last month or so, has been top ten,
along with Ohio State, along with Michigan. Like you mentioned in the least
amount of points per drive a lot defensively, and I think that kind of
matches the eye test. I think Fickle obviously plenty of a defensive background that
you've seen at Cincinnati, you know, Coach Tressel, I think that unit's
been really good, and I think it's something Steve and I agree when we
kind of did some of our preview stuff this week that that's probably more of
the strength of this Wisconsin team right now, a little bit ahead of the
offense. Nick, we heard different kind of style, different style between Luke
and Paul Christ just a just a smidge Yeah, yeah, definitely, And
again I covered coach Christ and that staff when I was a student here,
so I think when you see in some terrific, terrific years, but it's
just so much is changing in this game, whether it's college football, college
basketball, the NCAA as a whole, and I think that Fickle's somebody that's
very you know, with the times. I think while he still has that
energy from my experience, he's still really good at connecting with people, something
I really like to see in a head coach. You know, I was
previously at Iowa State with Matt Campbell. That's something he's obviously very good at.
So I think that's something that's really important in this day and age.
And you know, whether they win or not this week, you know,
I think that the trajectory for this Wisconsin program is back on the path.
It should be kind of going that way. And I think that's what took
some of us off guard when Paul christ was let go, is that even
though we consider Wisconsin a roughly top fifteen player nationally, that although the standards
are high and they expect to compete for Big Ten championships, that they're rather
conservative. That it's just maybe the that the on the field product translates to
the rest of the program and as long as Paul christ is winning seventy percent
of his games, and even though they were coming off of down seven and
six. Of course, that's not going to get a coach fired. But
yes, I was impressed with the just analysis of the changing landscape and we
need to upgrade and we need to get better. And this league is changing
for newcomers at that point too, and maybe they knew more about others headed
in this direction from the West coast, and hey, to stay with the
times and compete, we're going to have to upgrade and you know, galvanize
this program. I did want to transfer that to the talk during the off
season about the updated offense, change in offensive philosophy with Phil Longo. How
has that taken hold and has there been an analysis of Okay, well we
want to do this eventually, but we've got this personnel and we're going to
have to merge the two. I see an increase in passing attempts, it
seems even when they don't have to. But you know, how does that
look on the field. Yeah, it looks and feels like it's air Wisconsin
now watching to play. Yeah, yeah, you know, I think that
was a really good question. I think last week against Illinois was the first
time I've really seen kind of his recognition that, look, we want to
get to this full air raid. This is kind of our future here under
you know, Fickle and Longo. But we've still got a top I mean,
I'm being conservative with this one. Top eight to ten, twelve top
running back in the entire country. Many people think he's higher. I think
his ceiling is pretty high. But you know, I think with a new
quarterback in Brandon Lock and then Braylen Allen in the backfield, I think they
leaned on that run game a little bit more mark, which I think was
really beneficial and obviously helped lead them to a win. I think long term
it's certainly going to be more of what you maybe saw in that Iowa game,
you know, kind of in the forties for past attempts and maybe like
teens or twenties for the run game. But I was impressed. I mean
I wrote about it a little bit Saturday, and I think he's gotten a
lot of credit. Phil Longo. You know, he made some play calls
in that fourth quarter. I don't know how much you guys got to watch,
but like most ocs wouldn't maybe call a you know, just kind of
a half back power on third and ten when you need to score and just
kind of trust Braylan Allen or you know, kind of a trick play to
win the game, just to pass to an offensive lineman, you know,
kind of lined up outside as a tight end for the game winning catch.
So I think that he's starting to be more comfortable. I think there's a
recognition of the personnel, and I think it's something that's a work in progress
long term when you change so much overnight. But I think it's headed in
the right direction. Steve Tony, anything else, just your basic thought,
I suppose you know, to put you on the spot. It's o High
State's favored by two touchdowns in this game, and you know, Ohio State
can take this one or two directions. They can either go up there and
throw their helmets on the field and be in a four quarter game. Or
they can go up there and play like they're capable of like they did against
Purdue and did for a good part of the Penn State game, and take
control of the game and dominate the game. I think it can go one
of two ways. I've seen undefeated Ohio State teams lose there in two thousand
and three, twenty ten. They were number one in the country in twenty
ten and lost there than the last two times they've been there twenty twelve,
twenty sixteen, the game went to overtime. So it's always seemingly a tough
game and one that Ohio State has to struggle to win a lot of times.
Do you see a double digit win for a high state like the spread
the oddsmakers are saying or what you're feeling. Haven't watched Locke for a game
and a half? Is he good enough to keep the in this game for
the duration? Yeah? But you know what's really interesting about this match of
Steve and again, I think you know, you'd kind of agree from some
of what we've written. I think the defense is the strength for each team,
quite honestly, And I know that's a little bit crazy to say for
an Iowa State or for an Ohio State team that I believe. You know,
Marvin Harrison junior arguably the best player in the country, not just wide
out. You know, obviously they've got four and five star talent, But
I think McCord's been good. I don't think he's c J. Stroud justin
field's you know guys before him, that defense looks incredible. I think the
Badger's defense has been really good, so I understand why the spread is kind
of around there. But just because you know, some of the wackiness,
like you've mentioned, Steve, that happens here in Madison, specifically night games,
you know, I do think that Ohio State is is the better team.
For sure. I think they're beatable. I think the Braden lock showed
me a little something. So while I'm not going as far as saying,
you know, I think the Badgers get this upset, I do think this
is really going to be within seven to ten points at least for the first
three to three and a half quarters. I could see kind of Ohio State
maybe getting that one extra stop and then you know, the best player on
the field, Marvin Harrison, just maybe dominates. But I need to look
a little bit further. You know, how can Braylen Allen run against this
team? Does Braden Locke kind of get the ball out quickly to his weapons
house the old line. I see this being a good game, though maybe
not overtime, but I think you're in for another close and Steve, here
in Madison I'm ready. Hey, this is one of the top two or
three environments in the Big Ten. I think Penn State is one. Wisconsin
is too. I can't really great Ohio State because I go there so often.
I'm just kind of thinking more in terms of the other places that we
go. I think Ohio State would be in the top three or four particular
for big game. Ohio State's good, and Nebraska would also be up there.
Those are my top four, but Penn State is clearly number one,
I think for you know, the big game, for you know, to
go on the road and try and go in there. And I think Wisconsin
is right there, you know, neck and neck with them, and you
know, then Michigan and Iowa maybe in the next tier, and then everybody
else is well off that pace. I think you got six halves and the
rest are all just kind of in. Minnesota is now a factor in the
Big Ten Western Division. Consider this, the Gophers have head to head winds
against Nebraska and Iowa. Therefore, despite the two and two Big Ten record,
they control their own destiny. A lot of teams control their own destiny
in the Big Ten Western Division. Because Minnesota has the one team in its
sights Wisconsin that are ahead of them and the standings, and of course the
Gophers and the Badgers get together on the final day of the season as they
typically do, but before Minnesota can get there, they can't take anyone for
granted. This Michigan State team, of course, looked woeful against Michigan,
but everyone has, but against everyone else in the Big Ten they've been competitive.
Despite an zero to four record. The Gophers are a seven point favorite
at home against Michigan State. Elsewhere, we've got Maryland in Northwestern. Both
of these teams are out of any kind of championship contention. Maryland, though,
wants to wrap up a strong season and get to nine wins. That
would be another step in the right direction, another step up the rungs of
the Big Ten ladder as we all prepare for twenty twenty four in the expansion
of the league, to Leah Tungabailoa fine season from him sixteen touchdowns and five
picks, Roman Hembi thousand aired rusher last year, needs to pick up the
pace to get there this season four hundred and fourteen yards and four touchdowns,
Maryland a two touchdown favorite at Northwestern, and finally, the biggest favorite of
the weekend needs to bounce back. Penn State in that familiar position of having
to bounce back from a loss against Ohio State. It's happened eleven of the
last twelve years and seven straight. Penn State still eyeing that game against Michigan
in Happy Valley on November eleventh, but they have some work to do before
that thirty two point favorite against the Hoosiers, and Tom Allen is Tom Allen
coaching his final days in Bloomington. It's Indiana, It's Penn State. Drew
Aller comes in with a thirteen touchdown no interception record for Penn State, but
he was awfully shaky against the Buckeyes in that Ohio State pass Russian secondary that
was all over those Penn State wide receivers that could not gain separation. We're
looking at you, key Andre Lambert Smith thirty seven catches, five hundred yards,
three touchdowns, Nick Singleton six t d's out of the backfield. This
is a get right game for Penn State taking on Indiana. Appreciate you being
here at Big ten Paradigm. Please join all the podcasts for your college football
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Big Ten Paradigm