Nothing But Iron: The First Week of 1-0 by Steven R. Lagman, C.A.S.W. September 3, 2007 Wisconsin’s win over Washington State was not a masterpiece but it wasn’t finger painting either. And it definitely compares well to losing to Appalachian State, otherwise known as Where Is That Anyway? College. For the record, Michigan’s loss to the Blue-Green Striped Tree Frogs doesn’t really help Wisconsin’s cause in the ridiculous race for BCSupremacy. For the record, they are not really the Blue-Green Striped Tree Frogs, but I am writing this from a Google-poor vehicle, so I have to make a creative guess. No doubt a frog of any species would make an intriguing mascot, but I admit my choice probably lacks accuracy. What a thrill it must have been for fans, coaches and players of A-State to beat the fifth-most voted upon team in the country in front of 109,922 queasy Michigan fans. For perspective, the Big House could seat the entire population of the State of Appalachia and still have good seats left over. David and Goliath? Hardly. This was Sponge Bob and Goliath. During the Badgers post game show on WIBA, an exciting but mostly-unintelligible replay of the game-ending blocked field goal (as far as we could tell it could have been a natural disaster or an alien invasion), courtesy of the Appalachian State radio announcers, was broadcast. BCS jockeying aside, I found it to be most enjoyable, like when some too-big-for-his-britches hotshot passes you going 78 in a 55 zone and you catch up to him and the flashing lights of a state trooper’s squad car a few miles later. For added pleasure, I hope to be able to hear the Wolverines radio version of the same moment. Something tells me a copy of that sound byte will find its way to my in box. I know it is not sportsmanlike to enjoy the failures of another team, but I do not harbor aspirations of sportsmanship at this time. Even if the Badgers prevail against the Wolves on November 10 at Camp Randall the best they can claim is that they beat a team that lost to Appalachian State, and unless the Wolverines win their next several games by an average of 60 points, and A-State knocks off a few more ranked teams to itself join the ranks of the ranked, the pollsters are not going to be inclined to reward the Badgers much more than status quo for the accomplishment of beating Michigan. That means a bid to the MHCBG (most-highly-coveted-bowl game), the one that I cannot call the National Championship, will have to be earned through other means, such as luck, as in other highly popular teams losing to less popular teams. Lastly, let A-State be a lesson to all major college football programs: Be wary of scheduling teams that can be underestimated. One of the reasons A-State won is that it is likely a pretty good team. There are many more of those out there these days. They have directional names like Northeastern with geographical features like mountains, often punctuated by a city, as in University of Nevada–Las Vegas, or the word "State". They come in all types of cloaks and disguises ready to ensnare an unsuspecting victim. Beware. The Badgers avoided such calamity by scheduling a first opponent of known legitimacy (which, by the way, has not been a UW trademark). Washington State was no Texas or Louisville or USC, mind you, but no slouch either. There wasn’t a fan, usher or soda vendor who didn’t know it would be foolhardy to underestimate the Cougars, led by senior quarterback Alex Brink, who did have his moments. I was not overly distressed after the first Washington State touchdown, given that a fluke play off of a blocked punt kept the drive alive. Despite that novel fourth-down conversion, I still recommend blocking punts. Usually that works out in favor of the receiving team. Reassuringly, UW answered back with a solid drive, then gave up another score before making the necessary defensive adjustments to mostly eliminate the Cougars as an upset threat. If there was an adjustment that could be made, then Bielema, whose defensive pedigree is extensive, would find it. Washington State did succeed in its apparent commitment to control Wisconsin’s running attack, and in doing so, lost the game. In tying up defensive resources, PJ Hill was far more effective than most people–perhaps even PJ himself–realize. It is a recurring theme here, and I hope that it continues to recur on a recurrent basis. It was encouraging to see that the Badgers could take what the opponent’s defense offered. Though the run blocking often appeared (to the non-expert eye) spotty, the UW line provided Tyler Donovan great pass protection all game long. "The jury is still out on Donovan," reported one expert, my father-in-law, Rick. For me the verdict is in. Donovan is accurate, mobile, competitive and safe. As evidence I submit Wisconsin’s ridiculously-high third down conversion rate, Donovan’s 65% completion rate and a couple good runs, including a rushing touchdown by the quarterback. Unless you have an overwhelming running game, which Wisconsin did not display Saturday, success on third down starts with the competence of the quarterback. We, the jury of NBI, find the quarterback . . . worthy. Wisconsin scored late in the second quarter to completely change the complexion of the game. Credit Barry Alvarez for that. He had the foresight to hire a successor with bigger ba . . . well, a bigger cup size, than his own. We knew the Bielema-led Badgers would try to score in the minute before halftime, especially with time outs on the board. I would not have been all that surprised to have seen an onside kick to follow, but I guess the line in the sanity has to be drawn somewhere. In the old days with a minute left, the Badgers might have run the ball three times, punted and then given up a late field goal, which would have made things much more interesting in the second half. With all due respect to Barry and his legacy, I have long been a fan of a win-the-game-at-the-risk-of-losing over a try-to-avoid-losing mentality. I believe that is one of the things separating good teams from champions. Just to be clear, Alvarez wasn’t wrong; I just like Bielema’s way better. The rhetorical question of the day is, "Where the F did Luke Swan come from?" "Fennimore," reminded Kelly. Yeah, that was the F I was talking about. For those of you in need of orientation, Fennimore is in southwest Wisconsin, not far from Platteville, which is not far from Cuba City, where I grew up. Swan is a diamond no longer in the rough. He will inspire other small-town kids to succeed in Division I ball. Much will be written about the special teams performance. I will balance those negatives with these observations: 1) Taylor Mehlhaff has a cannon leg. He seemed not to notice that the X had been moved back to the 35-yard line. 2) The Badgers blocked a punt, which is almost alwasy good, except sometimes. 3) There were no issues with PATs (not that there ever should be), which makes me think we could have made a field goal if an attempt had been indicated. 4) No long kick returns were allowed. I do think that the fumbles, most of which were recovered by UW, will have to be addressed. I envision a team meeting during which Bielema tells his players to stop fumbling. The players will say, "Thanks, Coach, that really makes sense." After the next game fans will look at each other knowingly and say, "Bielema must have said something." _______________ Nothing But Iron is an amateur sports column that is available free of charge to those who can afford it. The author apologizes for using the word britches which sounds like swearing, but is really just a grandpa word for pants. The author doesn’t apologize for anything else at this time. ©2007 DrTM Enterprises. All rights reserved.