Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
World.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Hello day. Gotta love that, Okay, So we talk about
a lot of different things before we get into the interview.
I have lined up here to go behind in the
main lines. Did want to reiterate our hope for the
hungry radiothon going on throughout the show today. I would
love for you to be a part of this and
for you to help us achieve our goals and give
as many people the opportunity to have a food and
(00:22):
care plus a hat and glove set for the Thanksgiving
week next week. Forty nine dollars gift can do that
for a person and the phone number four oh two
eight nine eight four six seven three four oh two
eight nine eight four six seven three, or you can
go to opendoor mission dot org and you can give
there as well. Here's some other people who have done
some great sponsoring here. We had two Jacks, one that
(00:44):
gave four, we another that gave two for two different people.
On top of that, Christopher twenty people. That's incredible. How
about that twenty people, that's one thousand dollars. That's incredible,
Thank you, Christopher. Linda also gave for ten people, and
then Thomas with five. Kirk Brett Michelle belra All two
(01:06):
and then Rita, Paula Carey, Tammy All gave as well,
and we'll be continuing to give you updates and thank
all of the people who give today. We're really appreciative
of that as well. Thank you so much for being
a part of our radiothon today. I mentioned we are
go behind enemy lines today as we always do Nebraska
preparing for what is a huge matchup against a team
(01:26):
that is in a very similar position, the Wisconsin Badgers.
And joining us on our phone line to talk all
about it is the Assistant athletic director for Strategic Communications
for the Wisconsin Badgers in their football program, Patrick Herb Patrick,
thanks so much for being on our show today.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Hello. Right, that's appropriate today I heard hello there it is.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Hey, Yeah, it's only we were talking on television. That way,
we could also at the same time celebrate World Television Day.
That's what we do. We celebrate stupid super days here Patrick,
But we're also hoping selfishly here in Nebraska that the
Huskers can get that elusive sixth win, and I know
Wisconsin's feeling pretty much the same way. Well, how can
(02:05):
you kind of give me an update on the culture
of Wisconsin football under Luke Fickle, because this is definitely
a different looking Badger team on the field with their
play style and their game plans than the Wisconsin that
we remember as we were growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, fascinating matchup Saturday, isn't it. I mean, with these
two programs and kind of similar positions and both coming
on losing streaks, both having replaced offensive coordinators recently, there
are a lot of layers to this that make it
a I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm
excited to get down there and watch and observe. But
(02:41):
in terms of the Wisconsin program and where they're at
right now. So obviously this is year two Underlok Fickle,
and he was brought in to change some things like that.
That's not a secret. Wisconsin fired a long time head
coach who was a native son, Paul Christ, who had
done well, you know, averaging nine to ten wins a
season and been a been a consistent program. But there
(03:04):
were some things that that the administrations thought had begun
to slowly erode. And also we're looking for a little different,
a little different program style to compete for bigger and
better things, you know, Wisconsin has one of the best
records of any program to not make the CFP Final
Final Four during that CFPER I think their second or
(03:27):
third best record in that So that's kind of where
Wisconsin's been stuck, really really like always the bridesmaiden, never
the bride type of metaphor with that. And so now
we're we're almost two years into the Luke Fickle regime,
and he has changed some things dramatically. I think they've
made big strides in recruiting and some of the infrastructure
(03:47):
and some of the culture things that maybe needed addressing
that certainly Luke Fickle thought needed addressing. And then the
on field performance has been five hundred. It's been and
there's no denying that. And so last year Wisconsin made
a bowl game, they played in Tampa and they rely
a Quest Bowl and lost at LSU. And then this
year they're five hundred. They're five and five. So that's
(04:09):
not the standard Wisconsin's looking for, just like Nebraska's not.
They're not happy with where they're at necessarily. And then offensively,
Wisconsin took a big swing, changing from the ground and pound,
big offensive lineman, a lot of twelve personnel style of offense,
dominate the clock, huddle slow down, you know, win the
(04:32):
time of possession, to a drastically different air raid style,
no huddle up tempo, and the results have been very mixed,
and so much so to the fact that Phil Longo
was relieved of his duties on Sunday, the offensive coordinator.
So now they're going to go into this game with
a different mechanics a little bit on how they're going
to have to run their offense. You can't change a
(04:54):
lot schematically in a week, and you're not going to
And leu'ctickle said on Monday that the offensive coordinator wasn't
fired because of the scheme or the play calling or
even the amount of touchdowns that were that were scored.
There was a there was a leadership change that he
felt needed and some of them and there are some
things that just need to be different in terms of
how the offense is being administered. And so now Wisconsin's
(05:15):
trying to try to figure that out in one week
and go in a really important football game. So it's
been a program of transition over the last two years.
And even though there are almost two years into this,
I would say it's still in some sort of a transition,
trying to find out exactly who they're going to be
and where they're going to be long term.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
We're speaking with Patrick Carrbus, the assistant ad for Strategic
Communications for Wisconsin football program, and let's go ahead and
just like on Nebraska in a very similar position last
week with Dana Holgerson getting the playbook, and you know,
definitely you could see some differences, but still there's some
limitations to somebody who's so new to that program. There's
a lot of different things going on with Wisconsin three
(05:56):
game losing streak. They've lost five games this season. But
let's take a look at who they lost to Alabama
the third week of the season. They lost at USC
in a competitive game. UFC hasn't turned out to be
as good as I think a lot of people thought
they would be, but at the time they were a
top fifteen ranked team. And then in the last three weeks,
Penn State, who's lost all of one game this season
and is looking like their playoff bound Oregon, who hasn't
lost to anybody, gave them the best game that they've
(06:19):
seen all season long, and well maybe except for Ohio State,
but it's still very competitive there in Wisconsin and then
the ugly you know one there was at Kennick Stadium
against Iowa, which was a blowout loss. But this is
a These are all quality teams that they've lost to. Here,
is there any consolation in the fact that they've played
one of the tougher schedules in the Big Ten?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Consolation? No, as you know, like there's no moral victories. People,
you know, people always want they want more, and especially
a program with the history of Wisconsin that that it
doesn't sit well with anybody that're like, hey, we're close
to those beating those good teams that Luke Fickles teams
have not won that quote unquote big game yet. And
(07:00):
while they have been extremely competitive in some of those games,
even the Alabama game was close, you know, was close
at halftime, and Wisconsin lost their starting quarterback for the
season on the first drive of that game. And so
you can, you can excuse away some of this stuff
and say, oh, you know, they had an eleven point
lead at halftime against USC and they played Oregon as
tough as anybody, and all these things, but the bottom
(07:21):
line is that they have yet to just get over
that home and don't I don't think it's a confidence thing,
but as you know, until you have proof of concept
that you can do it, there will be doubters. And
one big lesson that hopefully this team has learned or
at least they want to guard against, is you mentioned
that Io game that was ugly Wisconsin got. Wisconsin got
(07:44):
pushed around unlike any other game this season. They lost
forty two to ten, and it may not even been
that close, and that came on the heels of the
really gut punch Penn State loss. They played Penn State
at home and a night game on NBC and had
a lead at halftime and play that really is basically
neck and neck going into the fourth quarter. Ended up
losing that game, and Wisconsin didn't handle that setback very well.
(08:09):
Went to Kinnick the next week and got you know,
and got run off the field. So here they are
in a very similar situation where gut punch loss to Oregon.
I mean, Wisconsin really came away with that one go
and say we let we let a golden opportunity slip
through our fingers. But they have to turn around now
and play again in seven days on the road. So
(08:29):
you did in Iowa and they're trying to make sure
that they learned lessons from not handling it well the
last time going into this one at Memorial Stadium.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, Nebraska, as we mentioned, needing a win to get
to BAWL eligibility. They have the longest strout of any
Power Conference team of not making a bowl and it's
pretty difficult for a lot of Husker fans, obviously to
swallow that this is their certain length. How they feel
is their best chance, the last home game of the season,
a chance one more time to have the ability to, uh,
you know, make a make that trip at the end
(09:01):
of the season and feel like, hey, this season we
actually made some progress. But everybody thinks this is going
to be a very, very tight and nail biting type
game because Wisconsin's very much in a similar situation with
just two games left. So what do you think happens
on the field? I know, obviously your heart's going to
be thinking Wisconsin here, But there's a lot of change.
There's a lot of adjustments that are going to be
made on both sides of the ball for the Badgers.
(09:22):
We're still learning about some of the change on the
offensive side for the Huskers as well. What do you
think the final score is going to be Patrick, Well.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
You put me on the spot. Really hard to predict,
and I'm going to be cagy with it. Really hard
to predict because Wisconsin's got such turbulence on that offensive side,
right that they that they're going to have a change
in leadership and that they're going to now have they
have four assistant coaches. They didn't do what when Nebraska did.
They didn't bring somebody in and put them in that
(09:49):
new offensive coordinator role. They also didn't elevate a particular
staff member and say, okay, you are now in charge
of the game plan and calling plays and all that.
They're taking a collaborative approach with the four assistant coaches.
RB's coach tight ends, wide receivers, an O line, and
they're saying, collectively, you guys know what we do. You
know what our strengths are and our weaknesses. Go put
together that game plan together and get this team on
(10:12):
the right page, on a unified page going forward. So, boy,
that's really hard to predict. I could see them like,
oh man, that's a lot too, that's a lot to
ask in a week. So it's going to struggle offensively,
Or I could see it gives them a little bit
of a jolt in the arm. You know, when you're
week eleven of a football season, there aren't many there
aren't many things that are fresh or new or surprises anymore.
(10:34):
It's here in the grind of it at this point.
And so now this is something that kind of brings
a little newness. And so there's new voices talking in
the room, and there's a new there's a new emphasis
on pulling the reins tighter, being unified, doing things together.
Don't care who gets credit, Let's just do this as
a unit. And I could see that being beneficial and
(10:57):
Wisconsin actually putting together a pretty good offensive, a pretty
good offensive day. We've seen it. Wisconsin had a three
game stretch against Purdue, Rutgers, and Northwestern where they put
up about one hundred and twenty points in three games.
So we know that it's in there. We just haven't
seen it against some of these elite teams. So, but
if you're going to pin me down and force me
(11:19):
to say something, I think it's going to be a
lot of field goals in this game as opposed to
red zone touchdowns. So I'm going to say Wisconsin twenty three,
Northwestern seventeen Nebraska's seventeen. How's that sound? Hey?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
One score game either way I think is going to
keep it exciting for the fans. That are going to
be a memorial statement watching TV.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Patrick Kurb joining us on the phone line. He is
the assistant athletic director for Strategic Communications for Wisconsin and
their football program. Patrick, this was awesome. I'm sure we'll
be in touch and conversation as this. You know, in
Nebraska Wisconsin matchup continues to happen throughout the Big Ten
schedule all year long.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Okay, guys, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, absolutely love to love to talk to people who
know their program. I saw that face over there, Matt
Case when he was making that prediction, the what are you?
What are you thinking over there? Just another one score
loss for the Huskers?
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh on?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
What? Just more grist for the mill?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Right? Why not? Why not another one? Hey? We have
so many?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Why not one more?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Right?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Let's just put it in the basket. Let's just get
a tasket of one law score in the basket. Okay, Hey,
what' score loss?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I meant? Emery Songer on news radio eleven ten KFAB
World.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Hello day. Gotta love that, Okay, So we talk about
a lot of different things before we get into the interview.
I have lined up here to go behind in the
main lines. Did want to reiterate our hope for the
hungry radiothon going on throughout the show today. I would
love for you to be a part of this and
for you to help us achieve our goals and give
as many people the opportunity to have a food and
(00:22):
care plus a hat and glove set for the Thanksgiving
week next week. Forty nine dollars gift can do that
for a person and the phone number four oh two
eight nine eight four six seven three four oh two
eight nine eight four six seven three, or you can
go to opendoor mission dot org and you can give
there as well. Here's some other people who have done
some great sponsoring here. We had two Jacks, one that
(00:44):
gave four, we another that gave two for two different people.
On top of that, Christopher twenty people. That's incredible. How
about that twenty people, that's one thousand dollars. That's incredible,
Thank you, Christopher. Linda also gave for ten people, and
then Thomas with five. Kirk Brett Michelle belra All two
(01:06):
and then Rita, Paula Carey, Tammy All gave as well,
and we'll be continuing to give you updates and thank
all of the people who give today. We're really appreciative
of that as well. Thank you so much for being
a part of our radiothon today. I mentioned we are
go behind enemy lines today as we always do Nebraska
preparing for what is a huge matchup against a team
(01:26):
that is in a very similar position, the Wisconsin Badgers.
And joining us on our phone line to talk all
about it is the Assistant athletic director for Strategic Communications
for the Wisconsin Badgers in their football program, Patrick Herb Patrick,
thanks so much for being on our show today.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Hello. Right, that's appropriate today I heard hello there it is.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Hey, Yeah, it's only we were talking on television. That way,
we could also at the same time celebrate World Television Day.
That's what we do. We celebrate stupid super days here Patrick,
But we're also hoping selfishly here in Nebraska that the
Huskers can get that elusive sixth win, and I know
Wisconsin's feeling pretty much the same way. Well, how can
(02:05):
you kind of give me an update on the culture
of Wisconsin football under Luke Fickle, because this is definitely
a different looking Badger team on the field with their
play style and their game plans than the Wisconsin that
we remember as we were growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, fascinating matchup Saturday, isn't it. I mean, with these
two programs and kind of similar positions and both coming
on losing streaks, both having replaced offensive coordinators recently, there
are a lot of layers to this that make it
a I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm
excited to get down there and watch and observe. But
(02:41):
in terms of the Wisconsin program and where they're at
right now. So obviously this is year two Underlok Fickle,
and he was brought in to change some things like that.
That's not a secret. Wisconsin fired a long time head
coach who was a native son, Paul Christ, who had
done well, you know, averaging nine to ten wins a
season and been a been a consistent program. But there
(03:04):
were some things that that the administrations thought had begun
to slowly erode. And also we're looking for a little different,
a little different program style to compete for bigger and
better things, you know, Wisconsin has one of the best
records of any program to not make the CFP Final
Final Four during that CFPER I think their second or
(03:27):
third best record in that So that's kind of where
Wisconsin's been stuck, really really like always the bridesmaiden, never
the bride type of metaphor with that. And so now
we're we're almost two years into the Luke Fickle regime,
and he has changed some things dramatically. I think they've
made big strides in recruiting and some of the infrastructure
(03:47):
and some of the culture things that maybe needed addressing
that certainly Luke Fickle thought needed addressing. And then the
on field performance has been five hundred. It's been and
there's no denying that. And so last year Wisconsin made
a bowl game, they played in Tampa and they rely
a Quest Bowl and lost at LSU. And then this
year they're five hundred. They're five and five. So that's
(04:09):
not the standard Wisconsin's looking for, just like Nebraska's not.
They're not happy with where they're at necessarily. And then offensively,
Wisconsin took a big swing, changing from the ground and pound,
big offensive lineman, a lot of twelve personnel style of offense,
dominate the clock, huddle slow down, you know, win the
(04:32):
time of possession, to a drastically different air raid style,
no huddle up tempo, and the results have been very mixed,
and so much so to the fact that Phil Longo
was relieved of his duties on Sunday, the offensive coordinator.
So now they're going to go into this game with
a different mechanics a little bit on how they're going
to have to run their offense. You can't change a
(04:54):
lot schematically in a week, and you're not going to
And leu'ctickle said on Monday that the offensive coordinator wasn't
fired because of the scheme or the play calling or
even the amount of touchdowns that were that were scored.
There was a there was a leadership change that he
felt needed and some of them and there are some
things that just need to be different in terms of
how the offense is being administered. And so now Wisconsin's
(05:15):
trying to try to figure that out in one week
and go in a really important football game. So it's
been a program of transition over the last two years.
And even though there are almost two years into this,
I would say it's still in some sort of a transition,
trying to find out exactly who they're going to be
and where they're going to be long term.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
We're speaking with Patrick Carrbus, the assistant ad for Strategic
Communications for Wisconsin football program, and let's go ahead and
just like on Nebraska in a very similar position last
week with Dana Holgerson getting the playbook, and you know,
definitely you could see some differences, but still there's some
limitations to somebody who's so new to that program. There's
a lot of different things going on with Wisconsin three
(05:56):
game losing streak. They've lost five games this season. But
let's take a look at who they lost to Alabama
the third week of the season. They lost at USC
in a competitive game. UFC hasn't turned out to be
as good as I think a lot of people thought
they would be, but at the time they were a
top fifteen ranked team. And then in the last three weeks,
Penn State, who's lost all of one game this season
and is looking like their playoff bound Oregon, who hasn't
lost to anybody, gave them the best game that they've
(06:19):
seen all season long, and well maybe except for Ohio State,
but it's still very competitive there in Wisconsin and then
the ugly you know one there was at Kennick Stadium
against Iowa, which was a blowout loss. But this is
a These are all quality teams that they've lost to. Here,
is there any consolation in the fact that they've played
one of the tougher schedules in the Big Ten?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Consolation? No, as you know, like there's no moral victories. People,
you know, people always want they want more, and especially
a program with the history of Wisconsin that that it
doesn't sit well with anybody that're like, hey, we're close
to those beating those good teams that Luke Fickles teams
have not won that quote unquote big game yet. And
(07:00):
while they have been extremely competitive in some of those games,
even the Alabama game was close, you know, was close
at halftime, and Wisconsin lost their starting quarterback for the
season on the first drive of that game. And so
you can, you can excuse away some of this stuff
and say, oh, you know, they had an eleven point
lead at halftime against USC and they played Oregon as
tough as anybody, and all these things, but the bottom
(07:21):
line is that they have yet to just get over
that home and don't I don't think it's a confidence thing,
but as you know, until you have proof of concept
that you can do it, there will be doubters. And
one big lesson that hopefully this team has learned or
at least they want to guard against, is you mentioned
that Io game that was ugly Wisconsin got. Wisconsin got
(07:44):
pushed around unlike any other game this season. They lost
forty two to ten, and it may not even been
that close, and that came on the heels of the
really gut punch Penn State loss. They played Penn State
at home and a night game on NBC and had
a lead at halftime and play that really is basically
neck and neck going into the fourth quarter. Ended up
losing that game, and Wisconsin didn't handle that setback very well.
(08:09):
Went to Kinnick the next week and got you know,
and got run off the field. So here they are
in a very similar situation where gut punch loss to Oregon.
I mean, Wisconsin really came away with that one go
and say we let we let a golden opportunity slip
through our fingers. But they have to turn around now
and play again in seven days on the road. So
(08:29):
you did in Iowa and they're trying to make sure
that they learned lessons from not handling it well the
last time going into this one at Memorial Stadium.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, Nebraska, as we mentioned, needing a win to get
to BAWL eligibility. They have the longest strout of any
Power Conference team of not making a bowl and it's
pretty difficult for a lot of Husker fans, obviously to
swallow that this is their certain length. How they feel
is their best chance, the last home game of the season,
a chance one more time to have the ability to, uh,
you know, make a make that trip at the end
(09:01):
of the season and feel like, hey, this season we
actually made some progress. But everybody thinks this is going
to be a very, very tight and nail biting type
game because Wisconsin's very much in a similar situation with
just two games left. So what do you think happens
on the field? I know, obviously your heart's going to
be thinking Wisconsin here, But there's a lot of change.
There's a lot of adjustments that are going to be
made on both sides of the ball for the Badgers.
(09:22):
We're still learning about some of the change on the
offensive side for the Huskers as well. What do you
think the final score is going to be Patrick, Well.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
You put me on the spot. Really hard to predict,
and I'm going to be cagy with it. Really hard
to predict because Wisconsin's got such turbulence on that offensive side,
right that they that they're going to have a change
in leadership and that they're going to now have they
have four assistant coaches. They didn't do what when Nebraska did.
They didn't bring somebody in and put them in that
(09:49):
new offensive coordinator role. They also didn't elevate a particular
staff member and say, okay, you are now in charge
of the game plan and calling plays and all that.
They're taking a collaborative approach with the four assistant coaches.
RB's coach tight ends, wide receivers, an O line, and
they're saying, collectively, you guys know what we do. You
know what our strengths are and our weaknesses. Go put
together that game plan together and get this team on
(10:12):
the right page, on a unified page going forward. So, boy,
that's really hard to predict. I could see them like,
oh man, that's a lot too, that's a lot to
ask in a week. So it's going to struggle offensively,
Or I could see it gives them a little bit
of a jolt in the arm. You know, when you're
week eleven of a football season, there aren't many there
aren't many things that are fresh or new or surprises anymore.
(10:34):
It's here in the grind of it at this point.
And so now this is something that kind of brings
a little newness. And so there's new voices talking in
the room, and there's a new there's a new emphasis
on pulling the reins tighter, being unified, doing things together.
Don't care who gets credit, Let's just do this as
a unit. And I could see that being beneficial and
(10:57):
Wisconsin actually putting together a pretty good offensive, a pretty
good offensive day. We've seen it. Wisconsin had a three
game stretch against Purdue, Rutgers, and Northwestern where they put
up about one hundred and twenty points in three games.
So we know that it's in there. We just haven't
seen it against some of these elite teams. So, but
if you're going to pin me down and force me
(11:19):
to say something, I think it's going to be a
lot of field goals in this game as opposed to
red zone touchdowns. So I'm going to say Wisconsin twenty three,
Northwestern seventeen Nebraska's seventeen. How's that sound? Hey?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
One score game either way I think is going to
keep it exciting for the fans. That are going to
be a memorial statement watching TV.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Patrick Kurb joining us on the phone line. He is
the assistant athletic director for Strategic Communications for Wisconsin and
their football program. Patrick, this was awesome. I'm sure we'll
be in touch and conversation as this. You know, in
Nebraska Wisconsin matchup continues to happen throughout the Big Ten
schedule all year long.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Okay, guys, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, absolutely love to love to talk to people who
know their program. I saw that face over there, Matt
Case when he was making that prediction, the what are you?
What are you thinking over there? Just another one score
loss for the Huskers?
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh on?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
What? Just more grist for the mill?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Right? Why not? Why not another one? Hey? We have
so many?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Why not one more?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Right?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Let's just put it in the basket. Let's just get
a tasket of one law score in the basket. Okay, Hey,
what' score loss?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I meant? Emery Songer on news radio eleven ten KFAB
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