Wisconsin 24, NU 12

I've gotta say this. Madison was not as bad as I imagined it would be. I expected our seats to be surrounded on all sides by Badger fans, and I thought they'd be throwing batteries (car batteries), feces and what have they. As it was, our seats were among the calmer, more experienced (read: old) alums. The worst fan-based experience came from some unknown NU "supporters" nearby. I can only assume that when one of those young men twists a knee rollerblading to class, Marvin Ward will stand over him and yell "Get up, p-----! What the f--- are you doing going to class if you're just going to f--- up and hurt yourself?!"

On to the action. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. No wait. That was different. Much less than that happened in the beginning on Saturday. Points scored? 3. Turnovers? You know it. Much else? Not really. Then things happened and we all got sad. Sad to the tune of 0-17 at halftime.

And, despite two second half touchdowns by the ApostroCats, NU's defense wasn't solid enough to make up for a very bad day by Bret Basanez through air. Once again we get the Randy Walker-Josh Held Predicto-Stat Showdown. Turnover Margin: NU +1 (1 by, 2 forced). Passing yds per attempt: NU 4.3, UW 8.1. Now, I don't believe we necessarily need to have a greater PYpA than our opponents. Just maybe greater than 6 or 6.5. 4.3? I think not.

Anyway. Another Big Ten stadium crossed off my personal checklist. I need Ross-Ade (Purdue) and Michigan Stadium. It'll take a couple more years.

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In My Opinion:
Cats' O: Not too bad. I mean, we could'a beat Penn State and Iowa combined.
Cats' D: Too many big plays. As is usual in our losses.
Cats' Spesh: Very good kick coverage against Jim"my" Leonhard. Another Huffman ick-fest kept us out of the running. Who's our next place-kicker? I'd like to see him this season.

Go Cats! Beat the Boilermakers! Go alums! Drink some boilermakers!