Cole Tollison

A Pipe Dream: The B1G West is Still Open… Barely

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We don’t say #BuckyByAMillion for nothing around here. No matter how bad it gets, if there’s a sliver of hope we’ll find it and cling to it.

Wisconsin can still win the Big Ten West.
#NotDeadYet

Well, actually no one is dead yet. (Except Purdue… sorry spoilermakers, boiler down). Yes, that means Minnesota, Nebraska, Illinois, Northwestern, and Wisconsin all have a path to winning the West, despite Iowa’s 2 game lead with 2 games to go. 

If Iowa wins Saturday at home vs. Illinois OR at Nebraska in week 13  – Iowa clinches the West. 
BUT,
If Iowa loses out – it’s a mess. 

If you’re a Badger fan, you need 3 things to happen.

  • Wisconsin wins out (a very tall task)
  • Iowa loses out (possible, but not likely)
  • Illinois wins out (who knows)

This would force a 3-way tie atop the B1G west between Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. All 3 teams involved in the tie would have the same record against each other 1-1 (it’s a good thing Bucky won in Champaign).

The next tiebreaker is their division records:

  • Iowa would have 3 division losses
  • Illinois would have 3 division losses
  • Wisconsin would have only 2
…

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3 Weeks Left – Week 11 Picks

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Just Picks, no more, no less

I didn’t have the time or energy to do a preview piece this week. That’s on me. But, I do still want to put out game picks for the week to be consistent on that front. This is a super short article that is really more of a list than an article. Obviously, the big game of the week is Michigan at Penn State, but there are some good matchups in the SEC and Pac-12 as well.

  • Odds listed refer to spreads taken from FanDuel at the time of writing

Spread Picks*:

3-4 last week, not good, but not terrible. I’m picking mostly big games (because I didn’t preview them), but I wouldn’t make a pick without a strong opinion of the game. Below are my week 11 picks against the spread for today’s games. 

Michigan at Penn State (+5.5) – Upset Pick 
Drew Allar has been leagues better at home compared to on the road. There’s too much noise around Michigan right now. Harbaugh’s squad slips up. 

Alabama at Kentucky (+11.5) 
Alabama has been bad on the road for 3 years. I think they win, but it’s a struggle win.

Maryland at Nebraska…

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Wisco Wednesday: Oh No

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Was That The Real Badgers? Am I Actually Scared of Northwestern? 

So I guess the Badgers are actually bad. How can a team that hung with Ohio State till the 4th quarter get beat by the worst team in the Big Ten. 

The short answer: Injuries and Coaching.

The coaching part stings. Everyone wanted Fickell to be successful from the jump. It appears that while everyone else in the conference is getting better week to week, Wisconsin is in neutral. Throw in some injuries, and now you’ve got full-blown regression. 

Save the bowl streak, save the winning record streak, get the Ax, and show enough improvement that I’m actually excited for next year. Sounds like a plan, right?

Looking Back: I Don’t Need Air Raid, I Just Need A Team

Wisconsin 14
Indiana 20

404 – Offense Not Found

I thought this would be an automatic win, and I guess the players did too. They looked unprepared and had no energy.

The offense was pathetic. Too many drops from the WRs. Too many tipped balls thrown by Locke. No broken tackles by Acker or Yacamelli. Just a complete and total mess.

Locke did not look like “the guy.” He played …

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Will OU and UT Leave the Big 12 On Top? – Week 10 Preview

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The Last Bedlam, SEC division races, Pac-12 Quarterback Showdown.

This is the Big 12’s week to shine. The top 6 teams in the conference all play each other, and 5 of the 6 only have 1 conference loss so far. Who is going to the Big 12 title game is likely going to be decided this weekend. OU and UT both play losable games this week. It would be total chaos in the conference (and at those schools) if one or both were to take the L. 

Elsewhere, there are some games with division implications in the SEC. The B1G has a very quiet weekend ahead. The Pac-12 has a massive QB battle in Primetime. And the ACC is… basically not in this article. 

That said…

What Will I Be Watching? 

The Badgers are on the road and I’m not going. That means I’ll be parked in front of a pair of televisions for most of Saturday watching college football. Well, one game on the TV, and one on a laptop. Whatever works. I’ll go through the TV windows talking about the game I expect to be on my screens, and list a couple of alternatives that might be decent …

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Wisco Wednesday: Moving On

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Mistakes and Bad Luck Against OSU. Some Michigan Thoughts. I Pity Wisconsin’s next Opponent. 

This is a weird Wisco Wednesday piece if I’m being honest. The meat is in the middle where I look at what’s going on around the rest of the B1G. I don’t have as many thoughts about last week’s game vs. OSU or about next week’s at Indiana. TL;DR: Ohio State is good, so we lost; Indiana is bad, so we will win. The rest of the Big Ten, now that’s interesting. What happens with Michigan? Iowa pre-fired a coach, but they get to stay with the team through the bowl game. I still have stuff to say about the Badgers though, so read the whole article if that’s what you’re here for. It is Wisco Wednesday after all.

Looking Back: Braelon Drops, Locke > McCord, WRs with Feet for Hands

Ohio State 24
Wisconsin 10

It was 10-10 in the 3rd Quarter

This was not a blowout. Wisconsin did everything wrong and was still in a  position to win this game. Imagine if the Badgers did everything right instead. 

Imagine Braelon and Dike don’t get hurt. Imagine the punting is better. Imagine Pauling gets that …

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Is it a Quiet Week? Or Will Some Big Upsets Hit? – Week 9 Preview

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A Pac-12 Elimination Game, A Possible Upset in the Big 12, and An ACC Matchup with Title Implications.

It’s not the greatest college football weekend if we’re being honest here. I’ll be watching games, but there is no national needle mover like OSU-PSU or Bama-Texas. In a normal year that game this week would be Florida-Georgia, and that game is still good this week, but Florida is down enough right now that the game doesn’t have the same weight to it. I think the same can be said for OSU-Wisco with Bucky being down for the last 2-3 years. 

Even though there aren’t massive name-brand games, there are games with postseason and long-term implications. The games I talk about this week will, or could affect multiple conference title races. And maybe some upsets happen. Upsets tend to strike when no one sees them coming (that’s why it’s an upset). I think it’s safe to say no one saw UNC blowing it to Virginia last week. Who could go down this week?

I have my picks for the week down below.  It was a little rough last week; I went 3-5, but I was 0.5 pts away from 4-4. It may …

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Wisco Wednesday: Hope is a Dangerous Thing

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A Resilient Road Comeback. An OG Braelon Performance. Madison’s Super Bowl Saturday. 

It feels better to be a Badger fan right now than it has in a long long time. Going into the 2021 season felt kinda like this, but Wisco was 1-3 by week 4. 2019 felt like this, but then Bucky dropped the Illinois game (and got murdered by OSU twice). 

When was the last time Wisconsin had real hope? 2017?

I’m not saying Wisconsin is doing anything special this year, like winning the B1G or beating OSU, but after the Illinois game, there is now hope. Hope can propel a team to play above and beyond their ceiling. Hope can also lead to the lowest of lows if it’s proven to be false. 

Fickell has given me hope; let’s see what he does now. 

Looking Back: 4th Quarter Heroics, Njongmeta’s Statement Game, Opportunity in the West

Wisconsin 25
Illinois 21

Locke 1-0

In his 1st career start, Braedyn Locke brought home a win. It’s only the 4th college football game he’s even been on the field for. 

I hate to knock one guy down to raise another up… but I have 1 Mordecai vs. Locke stat line …

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Tolly’s Top 25 – Post Week 8

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My ballot for the AP Top 25 – If they let me have one

I have some short explanations for my picks in groups of 5 from 1 to 25. Then, at the bottom, I have the top 40 all in one list with the AP rankings in parentheses. As usual, I have plenty of disagreements with the AP. There is an entire conference I think they are overvaluing. 

First order of business, a shoutout:

Last Saturday WOF was at the Wisconsin @ Illinois game. Claire and Mark were in the stands near us in the Wisco away section, and were an absolute blast to watch the game with. Fans could take notes on “how to be a fan” from them. Thanks again, Claire and Mark, for hanging out during the game. 

Top 5

1 – Ohio State
2 – Michigan
3 – Washington
4 – Florida State
5 – Georgia

THE Ohio State is #1. I hate it, but it is what it is. No team has a better pair of wins than At Notre Dame and Vs. Penn State. OSU doesn’t really have any struggle games outside of their big matchups either. So based on overall resume, …

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What to Watch by Conference – Week 8 Preview

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The 1st B1G game, The 3rd Saturday in Oct., and what’s good in the other Conferences.

Week 8 of College football is here. We are well past the halfway point and getting into the meat of conference schedules. With conference play dominating the schedule in week 8, I decided that is how I would break down this week’s games – by conference. 

As far as my picks for the week go, I have them down at the bottom like normal. I finally had a positive week after struggling the last in the last 2. For some reason, I’m leaning heavily towards road teams this week. That won’t come back to bite me, right? 

What to Watch – By Conference

This week we are doing a conference by conference look at what fans should/will be watching. Most fans follow the conference their team plays in and also catch the biggest games. 

Big Ten

You are a B1G fan. This is your conference. And unfortunately, you only have access to 1 television. You could channel flip, but let’s say you don’t. What 3 games will you watch parked in front of your TV for 10 hours on Saturday?

Early:
7 Penn State …

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Wisco Wednesday: The Badgers are Down Bad

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Mordecai went down. The defense gave up only 13, but the offense couldn’t score. Wisconsin is way behind schedule in Fickell’s year 1. 

Fickell’s first season as HC had 1 very clear and attainable goal. Win the division in the last year of its existence, and build on that success heading into 2024. The Badgers were supposed to win the West, not join the chaos. Turns out that when pundits and fans say the B1G West is bad, that includes Wisconsin. We can make excuses about the one big run Iowa had (the only TD of the game), or how the QB went down. But to put it simply: Wisconsin got owned by a team with the worst offense in America. 

Now they need to put the pieces back together and get ready for a 2 game stretch that could really take the season off the rails and into a bottomless canyon. Too hyperbolic? Fine, but Illinois is in the ultimate look ahead spot. Everyone’s looking at the OSU game in 2 weeks when the team needs to be focused on not letting Bielema beat them for the 2nd year in a row. 

The season can go in 2 very …

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