Wisconsin

[Milwaukee]

LOL...the Wisconsin hate because they play above their recruiting is hilarious. Do they sometimes have an easier schedule? Sure, but they beat the teams they should beat. Let's not forget, the ACC has only recently been considered a strong conference. Remember how long it took for the ACC to win a BCS bowl game?

Wisconsin is one of those teams that have been consistent for close to 2 decades now. Their last losing record was in 2001. GT should admire their football model: Recruit underrated athletes, develop them in their system, and outplay their recruiting rankings. IMO, it's a program to be admired because of their consistency, and challenge recruiting to Wisconsin.

Great post. The only thing I would adjust is the last sentence about challenging recruiting. Sconnie has been consistently ranked in the top 5 for party schools the past decade, and Madison is like an amusement park if you're 18-22. That's how they land the majority of their recruits according to my contacts within the program. That place is seriously amazing if you're a young athlete and you love girls and partying.

 

[jeffgt14]

I don't see how Arizona State isn't a top 5 program every year. I'd definitely go there if I was a top athlete.

 

[Techster]

Great post. The only thing I would adjust is the last sentence about challenging recruiting. Sconnie has been consistently ranked in the top 5 for party schools the past decade, and Madison is like an amusement park if you're 18-22. That's how they land the majority of their recruits according to my contacts within the program. That place is seriously amazing if you're a young athlete and you love girls and partying.

Yup. Agree with the Madison scene. I have a female friend that went there and the stories I've heard from her. Man, makes me want to go back to college, execpt it would be creepy seeing as I'm in my 30's now. Ahem.

 

[JorgeJonas]

I don't see how Arizona State isn't a top 5 program every year. I'd definitely go there if I was a top athlete.

Because they fire coaches like it’s a bodily function. Their coaches recently have been Dirk Koetter, Dennis Erickson, and apparently Herm Edwards. Todd Graham should never have been fired there. The AD must be high AF.

 

[JorgeJonas]

Yup. Agree with the Madison scene. I have a female friend that went there and the stories I've heard from her. Man, makes me want to go back to college, execpt it would be creepy seeing as I'm in my 30's now. Ahem.

Do it and you could run for senate in Alabama!

 

[jeffgt14]

I'd be alright.

 

[okiemon]

I feel like we probably had a similar number of 4 and 5 star players in 2014 and we should’ve been undefeated during the regular season. Our two regular season losses were by a combined 11 points. We beat Clemson, UGA, and Miami that year but lost to Duke and UNC.

IIRC, we haven't had a 5-star recruit since Calvin Johnson. You'd have to check, but I doubt we had more than a handful of 4-stars on the team in 2014, or at any time during the last decade for that matter.

 

[Techster]

Do it and you could run for senate in Alabama!

Nah man...anyone who goes after under age girls should be shot where they stand.

 

[Jmonty71]

No. I addressed that by pointing out their SoS. It's not abvnormal for their SoS to be that low. We'd win a lot more games every year if we played their schedule.

Yes....and no. I always said GT is their own worst enemy. I believe we can beat anyone and also lose to anyone. I think the BIG10 has teams with Duke and UVA level talent scattered all through it. Yet, we managed to lose to both. At the same time the talent equals Pitt and Wake too, yet beat them.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Would we? Remember, we lost to:

Duke (37) - Wisc Comp = Purdue (35) - W 17-9
Virginia (67) - Wisc Comp = Minnesota (61) - W 31-0
Tennessee (94) - Wisc Comp = Utah State (83) - W 59-10

Not sure I understand the logic of your argument. You are posting GT results from this year to contrast the Wisconsin results from last year. As for this year, the only losses we had to teams ranked below us were UVA and UT. If you want to argue this year, then yes, there's no doubt Wisconsin has outperformed us. The question was about the performance over time in regards to seeming talent discrepancy. Wisconsin plays a notoriously weak SoS almost routinely. That does have a bearing on their record. That argument is not muted by inconsistency on the part of Georgia Tech. We haven't done well against two of our "weaker" opponents this year, but most years you can argue we've beaten who we're supposed to beat, lost to who we're "supposed" to lose to, with generally one unexpected win and one unexpected loss thrown in. I still hold that if we played Wisconsin's schedule our record would be improved. It might not match Wisconsin's, but we'd win more games than we are winning now.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Yes....and no. I always said GT is their own worst enemy. I believe we can beat anyone and also lose to anyone. I think the BIG10 has teams with Duke and UVA level talent scattered all through it. Yet, we managed to lose to both. At the same time the talent equals Pitt and Wake too, yet beat them.

If that is the case, then why is there a disparity in the SoS?

 

[SoCal_GT_Fan]

I suspect that a lot of the recruits from the state of Wisconsin are just not reviewed as much by the recruiting services and if they don't attend football camps, it'll be hard for the recruiting services to rate these players. So I would suspect that a lot of the recruits that Wisconsin gets in-state are under-rated.

Also, if you check Wisconsin's roster, they are plunking kids out of everywhere; California, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, etc etc (even international; Samoa and Brazil). Casting a big net to get players.

 

[ramblinwreck1378]

Not sure I understand the logic of your argument. You are posting GT results from this year to contrast the Wisconsin results from last year. As for this year, the only losses we had to teams ranked below us were UVA and UT. If you want to argue this year, then yes, there's no doubt Wisconsin has outperformed us. The question was about the performance over time in regards to seeming talent discrepancy. Wisconsin plays a notoriously weak SoS almost routinely. That does have a bearing on their record. That argument is not muted by inconsistency on the part of Georgia Tech. We haven't done well against two of our "weaker" opponents this year, but most years you can argue we've beaten who we're supposed to beat, lost to who we're "supposed" to lose to, with generally one unexpected win and one unexpected loss thrown in. I still hold that if we played Wisconsin's schedule our record would be improved. It might not match Wisconsin's, but we'd win more games than we are winning now.

You stated STTE if we scheduled like they did I'm sure we'd win more games. I gave three games from this year where we had comparable opponents to remove strength of schedule from the equation. In three games where we 'scheduled like they did' we lost all three. They won all three.

Also your last statement is my point exactly - we wouldn't have won as many games as Wisconsin with this our 2017 team against their 2017 schedule - nor do I think we would have with 2016's team, 2015's team, etc. So back to my original question, why? Coaching? Not recruiting the right players?

 

[redmule]

IIRC, the Big Ten-whatever hasn't scored in the last two rounds of the playoff. MSU was shut out in '15 and OSU was shut out in '16. I would expect similar from Wisconsin.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

LOL...the Wisconsin hate because they play above their recruiting is hilarious. Do they sometimes have an easier schedule? Sure, but they beat the teams they should beat. Let's not forget, the ACC has only recently been considered a strong conference. Remember how long it took for the ACC to win a BCS bowl game?

Wisconsin is one of those teams that have been consistent for close to 2 decades now. Their last losing record was in 2001. GT should admire their football model: Recruit underrated athletes, develop them in their system, and outplay their recruiting rankings. IMO, it's a program to be admired because of their consistency, and challenge recruiting to Wisconsin.

Totally agree. They don't set their conference teams. They played 9 conference games.(UGA is like a very difficult conference game for us.) Other than that they played Utah State, Florida Atlantic at home and BYU on the road. We made UT and UVA and Dook seem better than they were, IMHO. If we had beaten those teams, we would have been 8-3 with an ugly loss to the Dawgs. Probably going to the Music City Bowl or the like. WE. JUST. DIDN'T. GET. IT. DONE.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

You stated STTE if we scheduled like they did I'm sure we'd win more games. I gave three games from this year where we had comparable opponents to remove strength of schedule from the equation. In three games where we 'scheduled like they did' we lost all three. They won all three.

Again, we lost to a couple of teams we shouldn't have THIS YEAR. That has no bearing on the premise that, over time, GT would be more successful if it played a schedule as easy as the one Wisconsin usually plays. There is a reason Wisconsin is getting no respect in the CFP polls in spite of their record, and it's their SoS. Had we played a 2017 Wisc schedule in 2016, we probably win 11 games. This year is a different kind of year for GT, where a lot went wrong on O and ST, and the D didn't make enough progress to offset it. But I still believe GT would have a better record, and Wisconsin would have a worse record, if we switched schedules on a yearly basis. And none of this is to denigrate what Wisconsin is doing. They play the cards they are dealt well, and their fans show up to games. I have a lot of respect for the Wisconsin program, but I don't think we'll get very far trying to become Wisconsin South.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

Why have you determined that these can't be answers?

For instance, what is the total salary of all Wisconsin coaches, not just the HC? How much do the assistants make? What is the total football budget? How many recruiting personnel are staffed at Wisconsin vs GT? What facilities does Wisconsin have that GT does/does not have?

I confess I don't know the answers to these questions as Wisconsin has never really been on my radar. What I don't do, however, is begin a debate by automatically disallowing potentially valid responses. That would suggest I had an agenda and wasn't actually seeking legitimate answers to questions.

I don't know the answers to the questions you pose. I could look them up, but I wont. Suffice it to say, they get pretty much everything they want and have ever since Barry Alvarez became AD and to a lesser extent PAT Richter before him. Imagine what UGA would be like if they didn't have TECH to "drain off" their resources.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

Imagine if we recruited 2-4 Shaq Masons EVERY YEAR, YEAR AFTER YEAR. What a fantasy!!

 

[RonJohn]

Imagine if we recruited 2-4 Shaq Masons EVERY YEAR, YEAR AFTER YEAR. What a fantasy!!

Wouldn't match the fantasy of many on here. GT would be at the bottom of lists created by the recruiting sites.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

[ramblinwreck1378]

Again, we lost to a couple of teams we shouldn't have THIS YEAR. That has no bearing on the premise that, over time, GT would be more successful if it played a schedule as easy as the one Wisconsin usually plays. There is a reason Wisconsin is getting no respect in the CFP polls in spite of their record, and it's their SoS. Had we played a 2017 Wisc schedule in 2016, we probably win 11 games. This year is a different kind of year for GT, where a lot went wrong on O and ST, and the D didn't make enough progress to offset it. But I still believe GT would have a better record, and Wisconsin would have a worse record, if we switched schedules on a yearly basis. And none of this is to denigrate what Wisconsin is doing. They play the cards they are dealt well, and their fans show up to games. I have a lot of respect for the Wisconsin program, but I don't think we'll get very far trying to become Wisconsin South.

That's a fair point - I'm not advocating we become Wisc south. I guess what I'm getting at is we don't have to have 4 and 5 star guys to consistently win football games. There is very clearly a recipe to their success, and whether that's competition, coaching, or something else is unbeknownst to me. But I think there are elements of their program that we could emulate that may make us more successful. Maybe that stuff is within our control, maybe it's not, I'm just not sure, which is why I brought it up to get your thoughts.