Wayne and Matt discuss the Badgers loss to Iowa and the Packers loss to the Lions

Wayne and Matt discuss the Badgers loss to Iowa and the Packers loss to the Lions.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the Laravian la Peye Podcasts, a production of
iHeartRadio Podcasts with hosts Wayne Learravie, the voice of the
Green Bay Packers, and Matt Lapee, the voice of Wisconsin
Badgers football and men's basketball. The Laravian la Peye podcast
is presented by UW Credit Union.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Here for every year. Hi everybody, I'm Wayne Laravie and
I'm Matt Lapey. It was a long week for both
the Badgers and Packers and what might be well at
least defining games as far as where these programs are
at the moment.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Pretty rugged weekend for the Wisconsin football teams, the Packers
and the Wisconsin Badgers. We'll start, I guess we'll go
in order of the events. Saturday night, the battle for
the Heartland Trophy, the Rivalry Trophy game season, all that stuff.
And it was a game that I thought would was

(00:53):
a coin flip go one in I will, I guess
was a slight favorite. Playing in the whole field at night,
great atmosphere as you know, at Kinnick Stadium, and boy
was that was just Iowa just beat the brakes off
in Wisconsin, you know, eight through ten passes all night
with their backup quarterback. They have an outstanding running back

(01:14):
in Caleb Johnson at an offensive line that just pushed
people around. It was that that is a humbling you know,
coaches have said just one thing, to give up a
lot of yards passing, but when you're carved up three
hundred plus rushing, that that gets to your soul. And
that was what happened. It was console on Saturday night.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I was shocked. Man. I tuned in We're on the
you know, I was up in Appleton and tuned into
the game after having a dinner with Larry McCarron and
our old boss, Carl Mall who now works for the Lions,
and we had a nice dinner in Appleton where the
Lions steak. But at any rate, you know, I'd come back.
I tuned in the game and said, whoa, what just
happened here? What's going on? Iowa had, you know, big

(01:57):
time forty two points. It used to take them a
month to score forty two points. Iowa City was rocking.
You know, I'm just wondering. And you mentioned it when
a team dominates like that, especially the crowd attack. Okay,
the score is the score, but the crowd attack I mean,
three hundred plus yards rushing. That really sends a message.

(02:19):
And you know, we've wondered about the personality of this
Wisconstant team, and I think sometimes we've talked about it
in terms of we've thought about it in terms of, Okay,
are they still going to be Wisconsin running the football
effectively moving the ball that way and overpowering people in
the trenches and that type of thing, and you know,

(02:41):
maybe not. But defensively, boy, I didn't expect that at all.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
No going into the season, and rush defense was a
cause for at least questions, if not concerned. And they
had played really well in October Albunia against lesser opponents
in Rutgers, Northwestern and Purdue, but still they dominated the games.
They go, all right, they're on a good path in Iowa.
There was no secret what the Hawk guys were going

(03:08):
to go to try to do, and it didn't matter.
Wisconstant couldn't stop it. Now for years and years were
able to say that about the Badgers. They weren't gonna
throw it much. They're going to run it with that
offensive line and great running backs, you know, and that's
just not who they are right now. Against the better
competition that they've faced. And it's not just this year,

(03:30):
not just last year, but in recent years. The thing Wayne,
that's I mean, there are a lot of things that
are of concern, I think to wisconcert fans, but not
the least of which. You know, we see this on
Sunday with Jordan Love. On Saturday, Braydon Locke is he's
gonna make he's a great kid, he's smart, but there's
gonna be two or three instances where the defense is

(03:51):
gonna have a chance to get a pick. And there
were two of them on Saturday. The first one, Wisconsin
had taken a three nothing lead. They get the ball
back and then Braden throws an interception. It just seems
like with that first one, it just takes the air
out of the team. You know, there's just not enough
there to hey, okay, this happened, let's go get a stop.
They didn't, you know, the two interceptions I converted each

(04:12):
of the touchdowns. And that's what's been happening to us,
calls against the better teams that the Badgers have faced.
So I mean, maybe a certain amount of this is
they're just outmanned, but a certain amount of it to me,
it seems like it's from the neck up. One thing
goes wrong and it's almost like, well, here we go again,
rather than hey, let's okay, this happened, let's go get

(04:34):
it back. Just don't see that.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
We probably don't talk about from the neck up about
quarterbacks enough. I know we talk about it some, but
you know, understanding game situation where you are on the field,
that kind of thing. All interceptions are not created equal folks.
I mean, you know, you throw a bomb down feel
forty yards and they intercepted their own ten yard line

(04:56):
or something. That's one thing. But when you're deep in
your own teart raise. The Packers were in the first
half or late in the first half of their ball game,
a ten to three game. They're deep in their own territories.
Third down, Jordan Loves being pressured, throws the ball into
a crowd. I actually thought a defensive lineman picked it off.
Levi onzurike I saw a one on the jersey of
the player. Well there was another one in there as well,

(05:17):
and it was instead of ninety one, it was thirty
one who made the interception. He was right there in
a gaggle of players, and you know, the decision making
process of your quarterback can set the tone for the game.
Unfortunately for the Packers, that decision by Jordan Love to
try to force that ball in and get something from
nothing that cost him and a pick six turn that

(05:40):
game around. Now it's seventeen to three at a half time.
The Lions get the ball to start the second half,
they go in to score a touchdown and you've got
a tent. You know. Now you're down twenty four to
three in the second half on a day, on a
night when it was raining like a monsoon, and tough
to come back in those conditions. But I agree with
you know in on the college level too. You know,
the quarterback has such an impact on games. And you know,

(06:04):
Matt I wonder last year we talked about this new
coaching staff and how the program is going to be
different from what Barry Alvarez ran in some of the
other coaches after him. Are we still at the point
where they don't quite have their people yet, their identity
yet in this problem?

Speaker 3 (06:21):
You know what way, you know, maybe you could make
that claim, But they have forty five newcomers on this
year's team, between the freshman class and the seventeen transfers,
about half of whom play a considerable amount. So you
know there are there some holdovers, yes, but they're the
better players. So I think, what's what is frustrating, And

(06:44):
it's you know, a year and three quarters in, so
it's still relatively early in the transition. But you know,
this time last week I was asked a lot is
this team getting better? And my answer was yes, not
not by leaps and bounds, but sir, really seen inch
by inch to be trending in a good way. But
after Saturday night, that's that's a harder claim to sell.

(07:09):
They were five and three last year. They had played
Ohio State as well as you could hope against just
a better team, and then they went out and laid
an egg in the next two games against Indiana a
one win in the conference Indiana team last year obviously
much different this season, and then got behind three touchdowns
at home at North to Northwestern and were dominated well

(07:31):
the two teams they're playing. After the Penn State game
this year where they hung in wore down in the
fourth quarter, but Iowa is better. In Oregon up next
to week from Saturday is as we speak, the best
team in the country, so they could end up five
and five like they did last year, and then it
comes down to the Nebraska and Minnesota game. So it's just,

(07:51):
you know, offensively, there was a lot of you know,
a lot of excitements height but they're averaging twenty five
points a game, which is what this offense has averaged
this decade. So it hasn't gotten better. But given all
the you know, the excitement, not getting better is kind
of like getting worse, right, That's just at least that's

(08:13):
that's the optics of it. So it's I think maybe
what they're finding out is it is incredibly hard to
win a Wisconsin. They don't play the Big ten West anymore,
so that's a you know, they went into last week's
game the old Big ten West time for first. You
know that their schedule is daunting. It's going to be
daunting next year as well, and it's just this is

(08:37):
a difficult place, and you know, with the nil world,
they don't match up with the blue bloods with with
what players can be compensated. There's the question moving forward
with the revenue sharing, and that could help, but it
doesn't solve everything, and it actually creates other challenges so

(08:57):
it's a it's a really it's a fascinating. That's not
a term a Badger fan would use. It's a little nervous. Okay,
you know, what's this going to be. Let's let the
rest of the season play out and if it doesn't
get much better, then that's where the off season is, like, Okay.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
What are we doing?

Speaker 3 (09:16):
How are we doing it? Or are we doing it
with I would imagine everything gets looked at very very closely.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
You know, man. I mean the concerning part for me,
and I'm just a fan obviously of the Badgers. My
two kids went to Wisconsin and you know, live in
the state for twenty six years, you become a fan,
and I am. I look at Wisconsin, in Iowa, I'm
thinking maybe in Illinois, maybe even in Michigan state. You know,
all kind of in the same boat there with in

(09:44):
terms of nil capability. And that's really the thing here,
and that's why they've got to come up with some
kind of some kind of deal on that. I don't
know how it's going to work out, but I you know,
these programs, these kind of good programs who can be
great every few years, it's going to be harder to
do that with the player movement. And it's interesting that

(10:07):
I asked that question about do they have the program,
does Luke Fickle have his people in there? And you said, well,
forty seven new people this year. You know, it's not
like he used to be a coach like Luke Fickel
would go to a place like Wisconsin, it would take
four years before you add your people in the program.
Not anymore, not with the way players move around anymore.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
And it is you know, guys who have played here,
the Joe Thomas's and others, they said, you still in
a perfect world. Four years is a good window to evaluate,
but it's where you live in a very impatient world
right now. Now. Look, I think Luke Fickle has proven

(10:48):
to be a very good coach. What he did in
the Cincinnati was incredible. Obviously cut his teeth in Ohio
State the interim year, which was that was kind of
an unfair fight in twenty eleven. But you know, an
assisted coach with under Jim Trussell and then Urban Meyer.
But this is you go from Cincinnati to hear It's
it's just different. You're in a better league, your schedule

(11:10):
is going to be more daunting, it's going to take
it's going to take some time here, and that's the
last thing that a fan wants to hear. But that's
the reality of it. And in two way, And I
think with Wisconsin, it's easy to look back in the
past and say it was all rosy. You know, the
three Rose Bowl wins under Barry Albarez, they played in

(11:31):
three straight Rose Bowl games a little more than a
decade ago. But you know, Barry Albarez went threw a
stretch from two thousand to two thousand and three where
they were thirteen and nineteen in the Big Ten that
was played eight games at eight game conference schedule, thirteen
and nineteen.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
We can immediately forget that.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Oh absolutely, And to Barry's credit, his staff, the entire program,
they turned it around. On four they were better of five.
Brett took over you know, six, and there was a
hiccup in eight. But they've been, you know, a team
that is one more than it's lost and occasionally, you know,
almost always good, occasionally great. And this maybe serves as

(12:11):
a reminder that although people think that this team is
horrible right now, what it is is mediocre. It's five
and four, it's three and three that defines average. But
Wisconsin goes through these stretches. It doesn't matter if it's
Barry Alvarez whoever. And so they're going through that. Now.
The trick is in this new environment. Wisconsin is always

(12:33):
pride of itself on being a developmental program. It still
wants to be that way, but the path is different.
You know, you might bring in some transfers who are
one year guys. Others maybe will stay longer, but you
still have the issue of roster retention with the money.
And it's just the way of becoming a developmental program

(12:55):
in some ways is going to be different than what
Badger fans, most importantly those in the program and the
building have been used to.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I think we're all struggling, Matt, with the fact that.
And my first job out of college was Iowa football,
so I've always had, you know, an affinity for the
Hawkeyes as well as the Badgers and all that. That's
why I was looking so much forward to that game
Saturday night in Kinnick Stadium, which I think is just
one of the electric places like Madison to see a

(13:25):
college football game. But you know, the thing that strikes me,
I guess we're all struggling to get used to this.
Those are great programs that would bring people in, kids
in as freshmen and develop them, especially linemen. And for
years Wisconsin and Iowa, if you drafted in the NFL
at Iowa line offensive lineman, you are getting a player

(13:47):
who's almost ready to go now. And the same thing
with Wisconsin. You know, they're littered all over the NFL.
I don't know if it's ever going to be like
that again, where you can get a kid, a pretty good,
pretty good prospect in and develop him where he doesn't
play so much as a freshman, maybe a little bit
more as a sophomore, and by the time he's a

(14:08):
junior and a senior, he's all American boy. I don't
know if that happens anywhere anymore.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah, that's the challenge, and these two are obviously in
that same grouping. I mean right now, Iowa is a
little better, but as a for lack of a delegate
way of putting it, a second tier team in the
Big Ten, you've got you know, Hot State Moregan Michigan
most years, maybe not this year, Penn State Iowa by
virtue of Saturday Night, and they've won three of the

(14:34):
last four against Wisconsin. They're a little higher in that
second level than Wisconsin is. But in talking to folks
over the weekend and last week, you know, with Iowa connections,
they're very concerned about that. You know, can can They
have the same challenges that Wisconsin has. You know, the doughters,
there's only so many you are going to be willing
to and year after a year you're going to go
to them say, hey, this quarterback is going to cost

(14:56):
this this left tackle is gonna cost us that much.
And yet you know, Iowa the whole thing in this world,
Wade has been the identity. We know who Ioway is.
It's a team that's gonna not make mistakes. You're gonna
be really good defensively, they can hurt you on special teams.
They do what they do without apology. On offense, well,
this year they're scoring more. Tim Lester the last year

(15:16):
was a good analyst senior analysts for Battlefloor the Packers.
He has head coaching experience. He is whatever he's doing
his work. He has a really good running back. The
offensive line. It's terrific. They've had gains multiple games this
year where they have scored forty points. But they also
Leiden Ega and Michigan State. They lost to their in
state rival Iowa State early in the year, so yeah,

(15:39):
they have an identity. They've won a certain number of games,
but they haven't broken through either. You know, they got
to the Big Ten Championship game last year, got shut out.
They got shut out in the bowl game. So they've
won a fair amount, but they haven't broken through, and
fans get frustrated. But right now they just look a
lot better because of the way they dominated Wisconsant. But

(16:02):
the challenges for both moving forward.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Are very very selim very similar, no doubt about it,
and not an easy road. Packers hit the their bye
week off of twenty four to fourteen loss to the Lions.
We mentioned it earlier. You know, you talk about the
Jordan Love interception. There was only one, but it was
a backbreaker. It picked six that changed a seven point
game into a fourteen to three game at halftime, and

(16:26):
then the Lions came out and scored their first drive
of the second half. But you know, it's and you
can dwell on the quarterback and that's easy for fans
on the outside to do. But the Packers are one
of the most penalized teams of the league. Matt they
had ten penalties of that game yesterday for sixty seven yards.
Six drop passes. They're among the league leaders in drop passes.

(16:48):
Now that's a subjective thing, but balls receivers get their
hands on in the NFL, don Tavian Wicks in the
end zone? Was the pass behind them? Yeah, but he
got two hands on it. NFL receivers are expected to
make that catch. And these are things that have bothered
this team throughout the season, and I think this is
something we're the point of emphasis in this bye week.

(17:09):
They'll do a lot of self scouting. This is an
excellent coaching staff on both sides of the football. They
will come out with a better plan, There's no question
about that. They will address some of these issues. But
these are issues that have plagued this team. They're six
and three, not a bad place to be. They've lost
three games in the conference. Philadelphia, who looks like a

(17:30):
playoff team obviously, Minnesota certainly a playoff caliber team, and Detroit,
I think the best team in the NFL. And if
you pay attention to the metrics, Detroit is far and
away the best team of the NFL. It's not even
close by the metrics. But those are the teams right
now that the Packers have lost to. They're all in
the conference. So what does that mean, Well, it means

(17:51):
that if they're in the race down the stretch, tie
breakers in the NFL are everything in December. You start
talking about tie breakers in December, and that's where the
pack maybe a little bit of a disadvantage this year.
So but going into this this bye week that very
much needed by the Packers. Need to get Jordan Love healthy,
but also have to and I think Tom Clemens will

(18:13):
take the lead in this along with Matt Lafleur. You know, yeah,
you want that, you want him to be aggressive as
a quarterback in the NFL. Push that ball down the field,
push the envelope. But you also have to be understand
where you are in the game, what's the moment, what
do we have here, where are we at? And can

(18:35):
you afford to take that chance in this situation? So,
you know, it'll be interesting to see. But I expect
this team to come out to play much better football
as we get into the second half of the season,
and that will start at Chicago against the Bears, who
seem to be trending in the opposite direction.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
One one last question for you on is more Lion centric.
We saw Dan Campbell over the weekend continue to push it.
Why take the three when you can go try to
get seven? And it worked and as a football fan,
I love it. If I'm a Lions fan, I just
think back of the forty nine Ers game last January.
So that's the question. Assuming the Lions continue to play

(19:11):
really well and there's no reason to think that they
wouldn't and get back into the postseason, do you think
it's well. Is approaching those situations change or that's just
who he is and we're gonna keep pushing the envelope
unless I'm gonna trust my guys to convert on fourth down.
Screw the three, I want seven.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah. I don't think it's gonna change, man, I really don't.
I think that's their persona, that's what he's built. This
is their year and this doesn't mean they're gonna win
the Super Bowl, but it's their year to win it. Okay,
this is what they've built for four years going forward
and fourth down all that stuff. They were down what
near inside the ten yard line against Green Bay yesterday

(19:56):
and they've got a fourth down and they come to
the line of scriviage and I didn't realize it at
the time, but I think they were just trying to
draw the Packers off sides on fourth down from about
the five yard line, fourth and goal, and you know,
you sat there said, okay, this is pretty bold. I mean,
maybe Dan doesn't respect, you know, the Packers, and he's
figuring that even if they don't get it, the Packers

(20:17):
have ninety five yards ago and he didn't think they
could drive ninety five yards against his defense. Maybe that's
what he was thinking. That was my thought process. I
was totally wrong. They came to the line of scrimmage.
They were saying, okay, we're going to try to drive
the you know, get these guys to jump off sides.
They come to the line and who dumps off sides
with TJ. Slayton. Now they move it up half the
distance of goal. Of course you're going forward a fourth

(20:38):
from the two and a half yard line and they
get punched out. Yeah. I mean, they put a lot
of pressure on you and they make you work. I mean,
you know, they blew out Tennessee the week before, and
in the fourth quarter they were leading on fifty two
to whatever, and they're throwing half back option passes and
reverses and all this other stuff, and you're sitting saying,

(20:59):
what are they doing this for? Except it, Well, Green
Bay is going to have to prepare for that all week,
you know, so they make you do your homework. I
think they're an excellent football team. I think they're the
best team in the league right now. Whether well they
will they be in January is the big question. And
that's the if I were a Detroit Lions person, I'd
be worried about that. That and the fact they also

(21:20):
have to get a pass rusher. We think they're going
to get to Zidaria Smith. That's the feeling, at least
among the Detroit people I talked to. They're going to
get to zid Aia Smith, the pass rusher from the
Cleveland Browns or Rental Hudgerson. They're a great player. Their
great pass rusher is out for the season with the
broken legs, so they get to zid Aias Smith. That
will give them a little more pass rush pressure or presence,
and they feel they can make this Super Bowl run.

(21:43):
Doesn't mean they're going to win the Super Bowl. Remember,
last year. With San Francisco's year, they had the best
team last year. They lost three in a row about
midway through the season. Then they came back and they
were just lights out through November and December. They got
to January and they weren't playing quite as well. The
Packers could have beaten them. The Lions should have beaten them.
They get to the Super Bowl. They're hanging by a

(22:03):
thread against Kansas City because despite all their offense, they
can't pull away from the best defense in football, the Chiefs.
It gets to be a three point game late, it
goes to overtime, and when Pat Mahomes is on the
other side, you know who's gonna win the game, Pat Mahomes.
San Francisco not the team they work. Will they get
to the playoffs this year? Yep, because they played a
fairly bad division. They'll get to the playoffs. Somebody will

(22:24):
have to deal with them in January. But they're not
the team they were a year ago. And the Lions,
this is their year and if they don't get it
done this year, it's gonna be hard. You know, the
windows in the NFL go up and down by year.
You know, the outliers are the Brady Belichick Patriots and
Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and the Chiefs. Those are outliers.
Everyone else. You get a window to go through, you

(22:47):
better go through it and win it all or you're
not gonna get that chance. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Well, great time for a buye as we always say,
or from both eds, whatever it is, it's a perfect
time for a buy.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
I do think it really applies to this case with
the Green Bay Packers are the wa.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
It really does. Yeah, absolutely well, that'll do it for
us this time. Our producer engineers Dave McCann, our executive
producer of Jeff Tyler for mathis is Wayne, thank you
very much for listening to the Lery Villa Pey podcast.
The Laravian La.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Pay podcast is a production of iHeartRadio Podcasts with hosts
Wayne Larravy and Matt Lapey, with production engineering by Dave McCann.
The Lreovian La Pey podcast is presented by UW Credit Union.
Here for every you listen to other episodes available on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite podcasts.