Final Game thoughts:
Well, at least we didn’t give this one away.
Another game, another heartbreak loss for Big Red.
A lot of discussion will come down to that final FG kick which barely snuck inside the upright.
But really, was anybody surprised?
Four losses on the opponents final play.
I kept wondering if it was smart for us to use every TO when Wisconsin was driving the drive before. I thought about the logic of using two timeouts and letting another 30 seconds run off the clock just in case Wisconsin missed the FG.
But it is hard to argue with the logic of preserving as much time as possible in case the kicker made the FG.
Honestly, this loss is hard enough to take, but did the football Gods really have to tease us with a Badger miss with 1:30 left.
I also wondered about a play action pass on 3rd and seven. Wisconsin had plenty of time, perhaps taking a chance on a first down would have been a decent gamble.
But again, it is tough to argue the strategy. If we had been that sound last week, we would have won.
The football Gods are just being cruel now.
Perhaps the one call I have to question is why not save the wind for the fourth quarter? We are a TERRIBLE team playing with a lead, so why not set up your fourth quarter?
Really, this game was lost in the third quarter. Once again, our OC decided that he had Eli Manning at QB and we started chucking balls downfield again. What happened to the short passing game? As Armstrong underthrew receiver after receiver with the wind at his back as he tried to lob the ball up off his back leg, we wasted precious opportunities.
We pin them at the one, and our defense gives up a huge third down play. Then they end up pinning us at our one (kicking against the wind). Just a wasted quarter.
Of course, Wisconsin was daring the officials to call pass interference on them all day, and their receivers were pushing off all day. Don’t like to talk about the officiating but the officiating stunk—particularly on PI calls. We seemed to take the brunt of the poor calls. Perhaps Wisconsin was just better at recognizing that the officials were bad and did a better job taking advantage of them.
Andy Janovich keeps trying to be the hero. What a great run on our last drive. He deserves better than to keep having his heroics trumped.
But ultimately our beat-up patch work defense was too gassed at the end of the day. Wisconsin even started running effectively toward the end. Again, that goes back to the pathetic offensive display in the third quarter.
I’ll say it again, we lost the game in the third quarter.
Some great efforts out there today. Marcus Newby has arrived. I like him more and more each game. Chris Weber deserves kudos for keeping us competitive on defense with all our aches and pains.
Alonzo Moore with a great TD catch before halftime. Loved seeing Pierson-El getting involved in the second quarter. We need more of him as teams are starting to key on Westerkamp.
I thought Armstrong played poorly today but there is no denying that he made some great plays particularly with his feet that were instrumental.
But he has got to play more consistently. When he is bad, he can’t even hit a simple swing pass. He was doing that thing he does again today, leading the RB up field with the swing pass instead of just throwing the ball to the RB’s far shoulder. Seriously, that is not a hard pass but he always stares down the RB like it isn’t his own fault. Once or twice, maybe. As many times as he has missed that pass, I’m not buying that it is the receiver’s fault anymore.
I’m not sure where we are in terms of a running game. I thought we might see a strong dose of Ozigbo and Janovich today, but we barely saw Ozigbo and Janovich showed up big late.
Okay, I’m really not mad about this loss. I think if our defense is healthy, we don’t wear down and we make a play to win this game.
This loss, I just feel bad for the players.
The football Gods are just being cruel now.
Players need to keep their heads up and keep working. They are 2-4. They aren’t that far away from 6-0.
The wild wacky roller coaster ride continues. I guess all we can do as fans is just hang on.
Take care all.