Three weeks ago, he was so full of life and potential. But now, it seems, Bucky is dead.
At one time, his Badgers were thought of as a Top 5 team in the nation; now it’s an open question whether they are even in the top half of the Big Ten. Formerly, the talk anticipated the travesty of an undefeated Wisconsin team being frozen out of the BCS title game and being relegated to the Rose Bowl. Now the Badgers will be lucky to make it to Pasadena.
Bucky is dead, and it’s such a shame. His death is so senseless, so unnecessary, and so premature. He didn’t need to die: he should have emerged from East Lansing and Columbus very much alive and well.
And now Badger fans are left to wonder about the cause of death.
Football does not have an autopsy. We cannot identify with scientific certainty the reason for Bucky’s demise. But I have a hunch that the cause of death in this case was coaching. Bad coaching.
I’m not thinking of any single coaching decision. This is not like a game that is lost on some boneheaded play-call, a failure to challenge, or even the mismanagement of the play-clock. There is a larger concern here, it seems to me.
I believe that the Badgers are better than the Spartans. Put that game in Camp Randall, and I imagine Wisconsin would have won going away. Likewise this weekend’s game against Ohio State.
And, for that matter, I think the 2010 Badgers were better than the TCU team that beat them in last year’s bowl game.
Is this a pattern? And if a team chronically underperforms, how is that not a coaching problem?
Our two fourth-quarter comebacks prove our ability, our potential. But those brief demonstrations of intensity and explosiveness also serve to illustrate how largely ineffectual we have been for the first three quarters of both games. In other words, the few moments when we have performed are evidence that we are mostly underperforming.
Two consecutive losses to lesser opponents. Two consecutive games with punts blocked, leading to touchdowns. Two consecutive fourth-quarter leads lost to improbable, Hail Mary passes. Take away just those two nearly inexcusable errors from each game and that represents a 14-point swing. Fourteen points!
With our front line, our running backs, and our quarterback, there is no excuse for losing to the two teams that we have. Perhaps against Stanford in the Rose Bowl, but not against the struggling Buckeyes in the horseshoe.
I suppose it is still theoretically and mathematically possible that the Badgers can make something of their season. Bucky isn’t actually dead, after all. But I’m afraid that poor coaching is killing his chances.
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