Blame the Badgers, not the Officials, for Saturday's Defeat.

Nothing gets the State of Wisconsin more mad than bad officiating in football.  Everyone feels like their team has a target on their back all while not realizing mistakes happen all over the college and pro football landscape. Pac-12 officials made the wrong call in the final moments of the Badger game allowing Arizona State to win the game, but Wisconsin should have never got to that point.  

The officials are probably the headline of most stories, but really what will get lost in the shuffle is how the Wisconsin defense could not keep up with Arizona State's up-tempo offense due to defensive coordinator David Aranda's blitzing nature. The Sun Devils had 93 total plays on Saturday night in the ninety degree heat and the Badgers could not keep up by the end of the game. Some of that had to do with the fact Aranda kept sending blitzes throughout the game causing the front line of the Badgers to wear down. There is nothing wrong with Aranda's blitz-happy way of doing things against the majority of the B1G, but when facing an up-tempo team, it is the sort of thing  that bites the Badgers in the ass. 

Although the front seven should not get all the blame for Arizona State wearing down the Badgers defense. The secondary did not have themselves a great game either. Taylor Kelly thrashed the secondary in the second half of the game. He probably would have had a bigger game than 352 yards if Arizona State's receivers could hang onto the football in the first half.  There is a great deal of work left to be done for Wisconsin when it comes to the secondary and definitely need to rethink their strategy when it comes to up-tempo offenses. 

Another major issue to the Badgers struggles on Saturday night was Joel Stave. He turned in one of his worst performances as a Badger. Stave did not really seem like the same quarterback after getting decked in the ribs in the second quarter of the game. There is nothing I can find that shows he suffered an injury, but it did seem like it altered his play throughout the rest of the game. Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig seemed to give Stave opportunity after opportunity to try to rite the ship. He had a couple nice passes, but he did not do this job - be a compliment to the Badgers rushing attack. One thing that needs to be fixed immediately is Stave avoiding getting his passes knocked down. He is 6'5, that should not happen.  

The Badgers also will deal with an awkward situation with their running backs. Melvin Gordon had another gigantic game for the Badgers and he looks like the real deal this year. Gordon had 15 carries for 193 yards with two touchdowns averaging 12.9 yards a carry. All of those numbers are pretty impressive, but he deserves to be carrying the ball more often. Yes, James White has done a ton for this Badger team throughout the year and is a true unsung hero of his team in the last couple years yet Gordon is the better player no matter his age.

As for the officials, it was a stupid error by the officials. Stave did nothing wrong, but he was not demonstrative enough.  They should have called Arizona State for a delay of game on Anthony Jones without question, but if you will, this is the cherry on top of a disastrous fourth quarter for the Badgers.  One question that has not been asked, if Kyle French preferred the other hash, why did Wisconsin run the hitch route to the other side of the field Another question, with how good Gordon played on Saturday, why not try to see if he can get some more yardage?   The officials deserve some of the blame, but there is no guarantee French makes that kick.

The Badgers had a double-digit lead in the first half and could not deliver the knockout blow. The Badgers also had five point lead in the fourth quarter. Wisconsin has nobody to blame but themselves for this defeat in the desert.

Charlie.

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SnoTap Packer Preview: Green Bay at San Francisco

Welcome to a new part of SnoTap where we preview the Packer game throughout and also feature a Packer playlist. The playlist will begin the post and feature anywhere from 17-25 songs.  It is an eclectic mix with all types of music and also features music from San Francisco artists.  

How important is the first week of the season?  Many Green Bay Packer players and fans are probably asking themselves this question. They play the San Francisco 49ers, the team who wiped them off the face of this earth last January and the team the Packers practically dedicated their offseason to.  If the Packers get beat again by 14 points or more, there will probably be a lot of hopeless wanderers out there trying to find answers. Although if the Packers win by 14 or more, fans will be crowing this team the Super Bowl champion.  Basically, everything needs to be taken with moderation for the first game of the season.

Head coach Mike McCarthy talked about all offseason about how this January dumpster fire did not matter to the Packers.  As they say, actions speak louder than words. The Packers tried to figure out the zone-read option like it was the Da Vinci Code this summer by seeking out advice from David Aranda, the Wisconsin Badgers defensive coordinator and also spoke with Texas A&M coaches multiple times.  The tone of this team appears to be we do not want to be the joker of the NFL when it comes to the read option.  

Leading up to this game, Aranda gave some thoughts to Jason Wilde of ESPN Wisconsin about the experience with defensive coordinator Dom Capers and how to defend Colin Kaepernick. It was truly eye-opening because it changed my opinion on how the Packers should handle Wisconsin native. It does not seem like the Packers should beat up Kaepernick, instead the biggest thing is containing him inside the tackle box. It is still amazing Erik Walden got paid after one of the worst linebacker performances in history of football last year and having Nick Perry in there instead will definitely help this defense.  Further, Perry being two years out of college means he has definitely seen his fair share of zone read offenses. I do not know if that will translate, but at least from my limited experience, it always helps seeing something a couple times before getting grasp on it.   

As our writer Adam mentioned to me on Twitter as I am writing, the Packers could become one of the more unlikable teams to start the year. They have the national spotlight on them and if they choose to ding up Kaepernick during the option process, it could lead to an outage of why the quarterbacks are getting hit too hard. Even if I think the Packers playing contain versus actually hitting Kaepernick, it does not mean Capers agrees with me.  The Packers defense kept asking officials during training camps what they could and could not do to a quarterback when he went out on the zone read. This one has all the feelings of being pretty chippy especially for the first game of the season. 

With all the talk of zone read, people have sort of forgotten about the new look Packer offense. Gone are Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, Bryan Bulaga is out with injury and they have Eddie Lacy in the backfield. The Alabama rookie is the type of running back you need against a team like San Francisco. I would say a fair comparison to Lacy is Marshawn Lynch. Last year, Money Lynch had over 100 yards in both games against San Francisco, the best rushing defense in the NFL last season. Steven Jackson is another name thrown around and Jackson had just over 100 yards in one of their two meetings last year with San Francisco. I feel like asking Lacy to rush for over 100 yards is probably too much, but I do believe he will do enough to force the San Francisco safeties up creating more opportunities for Aaron Rodgers. 

The Packers quarterback made a couple uncharacteristic mistakes with the Niners defense last January. I doubt he will want to make the same mistakes this year. Donte Whitner is a fine strong safety but he is a more of a big hitter than anything else. Starting Eric Reid, a rookie, could get bapitized by the Packers receivers. Remember Rodgers interview with Peter King of MMQB, he said this offseason he worked on his deep balls.  I would not be surprised if the Packers go deep in the first five plays of their offensive set.

As for a prediction, I think the Packers go on the road and beat San Francisco.  The Niners have not lost at home since September 2011 when they lost in overtime to Dallas and they have not lost in regulation at home since November 2010.  The Packers' backs are against the wall, but I feel that's when the Packers play their best. The Niners have some early season injuries and it might take them a couple weeks to adjust to the new talent.  Packers win 23-17  

-Charlie. 

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SnoTap's Badger Preview: Game 1 - UMass vs. Wisconsin

This is a new thing we are doing here on Sports News on Tap, I realize we do a lot of college football stuff, but we tend to forget about the one team here in Wisconsin. I am here to change that and hopefully write some enjoyable stuff for you get prepared for the game. The only one I will probably not preview is Tennessee Tech next week unless I have some sort of angle on it but I doubt it. 

Umass at Wisconsin 11 am - Big Ten Network  

This year in Madison, Wisconsin is a different one. Sure, Camp Randall Stadium is the same, the beer bongs at 6 am will still happen, but there is a new head coach in town. Bret Bielema, one of the more successful yet disliked coaches in Wisconsin history, left for the Ozarks and the SEC at Arkansas. Insert Gary Andersoen, a man whom took Utah State from being in the doldrums to a team making consecutive bowl games. 

Andersen brings a whole new style to Madison. The Badgers are going to run the football, but they might not do the traditional Barry Alvarez I-formation jamming it down their opponent throats.  There will be more shotgun sets along with probably more creativity than what we have seen in the last 30 years of Badger football.  The defense will be changing as well led under new defensive coordinator David Aranda brings with him a 3-4 defense, something nontraditional to the B1G.  This all means the Badgers will definitely need a couple games to find their groove. 

Should we expect the Badgers to struggle early against UMass?  Possibly.  The Minutemen are one of the weaker teams in college football, but Wisconsin will definitely need to get their feet wet with the new systems. It will not be football magic where everyone clicks at the same time and the Badgers are a well oiled machine from the get-go. Although I highly doubt James White and Melvin Gordan will have any problems running the football. It will definitely take some time, and the biggest thing in these first two games which yes are cupcakes, is for the team to be prepared for road trips to Arizona State and Ohio State in the month of September. 

There are a bevy of solid players on this Badger team, but one area where there is still some unknown is at quarterback.  From my knowledge, Joel Stave will start the game, and then we will probably get some Curt Phillips action thrown in there. I am stunned how many Badger fans want Stave as their quarterback versus Phillips. I feel like the Van Wilder senior works better in Andersen's system even if he cannot pass like Stave. Maybe they will do something like South Carolina where Connor Shaw takes the primary snaps and Dylan Thompson comes in for the deep, accurate balls. I would like something that personally.  The quarterback position is what to watch for tomorrow.   

One thing that should excite Badger fans about the new regime is Aranda's commitment to blitzing teams. I honestly believe not enough defense employ the blitz. They worry about their kids getting overcommitted and then getting caught up in screens, hitches and short passes. But blitzes especially with guys like Chris Borland, Beau Allen who I think will be one of best defensive lineman in the country, and others, the Badgers can really make some noise attacking the quarterback. 

As for UMass, this is only their second year in FBS football.  They only have nine starters coming back in total and the Minutemen have to head to one of the toughest place to play in the country.  It is like whenever a small school heads to one of the bigger schools, if they keep it close by halftime, UMass will believe they have a shot at winning this game. Even though the Badgers are in tranisition, they need to put the foot on the throat often and early. 

Prediction: I do not see this being much of a game.  Sure it will not seem as fluid as people want it to be, but the Badgers will be just fine. 38-14 Badgers.   

Charlie. 

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