Indeed it is Make the Call here on the Civic Media Network.
I'm Jimmy Cuska.
Thank you for joining us this week.
It has been quite the week.
It's sports.
I believe we are all still here in celebration mode after the Brewers win.
the World Series this week.
I'm Jimmy Cuska.
As I said earlier, I'm the sports director here at Civic Media.
And I am joined this week as always by Greg Anderson, who is set up shop in the Northwoods.
What's up, Greg?
Doing Northwoods things, Jimmy.
That's always what's up in the Northwoods.
I'm north of eight, man.
What more do you need to know?
There you go.
There's Hodeggs and there's probably 10 feet of snow already because it's October 31st.
That's how it is in Northern Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, hanging out in Milwaukee this weekend is Parker Vertical Olson, who got to take in the Brewers Championship Parade yesterday and has been covering things on that end.
Parker, what's going on, man?
Oh, you know, not much.
Just hanging out in the championship city, you know, not a whole lot.
It's just.
Same
old deal.
Just another championship parade and another.
Yeah.
No big deal.
I'm just curious.
I saw a tweet.
Somebody asked, has Milwaukee run out of beer?
And I'm like, they can just make more.
That's what Milwaukee does.
That's our thing, guys.
Don't worry.
The brewers are here.
I know Tampa ran out of beer.
They did.
We went through a month of beer in one day with brewers fans.
I'm like, that's that's actually that's kind of expected.
So all right.
Well,
We'll dive into it here.
I want to set up the rest of the show and I want to get right into the Milwaukee Brewers.
Coming up later in the program, Frank Gargano is going to talk to us about Badgers in Iowa, a game that you saw teased on every single World Series broadcast in the bottom left corner.
It seemed like every inning they were telling us Wisconsin plays at Iowa this week.
Indeed, number 25 Wisconsin has Iowa in a
a big noon game, but it's 11 a.m.
Central.
So that'll be happening coming up later today.
For those of you listening to us on Sunday, well, the game's already happened.
So, you know what?
Just deal with it.
That's how things roll in radio.
We'll also hear from Mike Clemens, who will offer up a sports week in review, which includes the World Series, two Packers games, and of course, this Wisconsin Iowa preview.
So a lot for him to get to.
Oh, by the way, the Bucks started their season in all of this as well.
So don't forget that the Bucks are in college basketball.
football has started with exhibition games.
There's a million things to talk about today, guys, but we have to start with this.
The Milwaukee Brewers are world series.
Champions and it feels so good to say guys.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, it's hard to believe that we've been talking about them for months and we talked about everything the whole way the whole way through when they were on the rise when they plateaued and held there.
And could they sustain it?
Who are we going to trade?
Just mentally flashing back over the conversations that we've had in the last eight months is an absolutely wild ride.
It doesn't feel like we could possibly be at this point.
But guys, we're there.
Parker is literally there decked out as I've ever seen anybody in brew crew attire.
I mean,
I mean, I've never seen somebody look so good in yellow, man, not to not to be creepy or overly complimentary, but man,
you
look sharp.
I thought he was in one of those banana costumes for Halloween at first, but it's a Brewer shirt.
Can I can I tell you the story of this shirt, guys?
I got this as a giveaway at a Brewer game earlier this year, and they said, I believe it was double XL or medium.
And I go, well, I'm not a very huge, very big guy.
I'm going to go medium fellas.
My arms go this far, which if you're listening on the radio, not even straightforward.
That's how tight this thing is.
And hey, you know what?
We just want a championship belt, so I'm going to wear anything I can get.
That's Tommy Callahan, the third testing out his friend's jacket right there.
There you go.
But no, it's
just don't do the thing where you rip out the back.
I'm doing my best.
I thought I was going to pop a seam getting this thing on early today, but we're good right now.
Let me tell you guys, it is being at the parade yesterday.
Absolutely incredible stuff.
To see the city come together in this way.
It's so easy to rally around something like this, but I really feel like it's special because you've got that Wisconsin nice to begin with, right?
I'm going to go walking down the street and I could say something to somebody and they go, oh, yeah, and we chat really quickly about whatever.
That's Wisconsin nice.
In Milwaukee right now, it is absolutely special because you get that.
But you also get this kind of pandemonium euphoria of this is our city.
that just won the thing that they've been waiting for for over 44 years to even to get to this point to play for it.
And right now it is just absolutely incredible.
I really, really have been impressed with Milwaukee Brewers and everything that they've done.
The folks here are just so excited because there's so much going on and they got such a good team, right?
Well, I know Milwaukee.
is an incredible city.
And just even without the sports, Milwaukee is just incredible in general.
But with the sports, obviously it takes it to another level.
And I want to draw a little parallel here for the Milwaukee Brewers to win the World Series to win, you know,
the championship, win the whole thing, right?
Just, just in the days since they've done that, um, the post game interviews, the story that came out about them, uh, you know, smoking heaters in the batting cages, getting ready to figure if they could smoke heaters in the batting cage, you know, they can smoke heaters in the game, right?
Uh, I can get some hits, uh, seeing them go to Lambo field and do the Lambo leaf, seeing South Freelick about 120 beers deep on the parade road.
Uh, I got to say one, this is the parallel I'm going to draw guys.
This baseball team is the most Stanley Cup champion of any baseball team I've ever seen.
You
know, Jimmy, speaking of drawing parallels, listening to Parker describe the environment in Milwaukee right now, it almost sounded like a certain 22 year old shortstop, just describing the feeling of the victory after the game.
I've listened to that back probably 30 times at this point.
That's a man.
The only thing he didn't say was, I don't know what to do with my hands right now.
Wow.
It's only been four months.
I'd also like to point out to anybody expecting really hard hitting baseball dialogue this week.
I think that's on you right now.
I mean, we're still rolling in it guys.
This is just incredible.
Yeah.
I don't, the analysis is this first won the championship.
Like I, I remember the radio call was so perfect in the post game because Jeff Levering is sitting there's like, well, while we're waiting for them to set up lane, let's, uh, let's get some final stats and laying goes, no one cares.
They won.
That's the file.
It's so exhausting, right?
Because they've been working so hard on this all year.
And again, another close game.
Who to thunk it?
The Brewers would win the World Series in another close game.
But yeah, I mean, it was, it is very exhausting.
Everything that came together for this team this year, right?
Because everything that we were worried about before the year, it's like, what are they going to do on the left side of the infield?
What are they going to do with?
you know, the pitching combinations they've had after, you know, trading away, you know, a couple of guys after a couple of guys are, you know, the last couple of years they've seen Corbin Burns, they've seen Freddie Peralta, you know, William Domus, they've seen these guys leave, go on megabucks deals somewhere else.
And they're going to see that this off season a bit too.
I mean, Jake Bowers, as they said in the post games, probably making a bunch of money somewhere else next year, but the core of the team.
And this was pointed out in the broadcast too, the core of the team is signed for like a million years together.
They have team control on like all of the important pieces.
Jackson, Cheerio, Cooper, Pratt, Jacob Mizorowski, they've got team control guys for multiple years, which, you know, you think about already, you know, next year, and I can say this because Pat Murphy just said,
they asked him what he was doing after losing game four and extra ratings.
He said, well, I was getting, I was actually putting together my spring training stuff this morning before game five.
And I'm like, wait, you know, so they're already looking ahead to it.
But I think back of everything that we had any kind of anxiety about.
And honestly, now you could sit back a team that was predicted to win 82 games, you know, wins 21 more games than that.
And then 11 more in the post season.
And I think you can just say, you know what, this is a clear case where
We can trust the process.
They obviously know what they're doing.
And I'll be honest with this too.
I think there'll be a whole lot of other baseball teams, especially these big market teams that have spent a zillion dollars on guys.
They're going to see what the Brewers did and they're going to start trying to replicate.
It's moneyball all over again.
It'll be interesting to see.
Yeah.
I really wonder, I really wonder what the trade deadline will look like next year.
Right.
And I know that that's so far down the line.
I shouldn't have even uttered such a word, but I, the Brewers have got guys.
And everyone knew that they had guys.
Jackson, Cheerio, Christian Yelich.
Those are guys that probably aren't available in any stretch of the imagination.
But Luis Lara, I don't know how big his contract is.
Cooper Pratt, he signed a pretty sizable contract.
But in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure that another organization would say, yeah, actually, I can take that.
That's not bad.
It'll be pretty interesting to see what happens as we get down the road.
But I want to go back a little bit here, Jimmy.
They've just got so much, so much youth.
There is no reason.
that the brewers cannot be this good for years to come and actually be better for years to come.
And that's a really scary thought because we saw how dominant they were basically all year.
Well, they have the top farm system in baseball.
So, you know, what are they looking at to acquire if they do go to trade that deadline?
I feel like it'll be a lot like this year.
I feel like it'll be a lot like they've done the last few years.
They find guys that are going to help them in roles.
I mean, Dustin May.
played a pretty big role in just eating some innings for them as a starter with good experience.
You know, they found guys to fill the roles they needed for the team.
And everybody played their role pretty spectacularly.
I feel like when we got to the postseason here, I don't think there was a wasted.
um, position on the roster.
I don't think, you know, they, they had a feel good story with Brandon Woodruff coming out and throwing, uh, that aiding, you know, the world series, which was great to see, but I don't feel like there was anything that was really wasted with this team.
They got guys in spots and, and honestly, a lot of the guys that, even if they didn't perform well, these are guys they're still going to have, you know, years of team control with.
So they're guys that can build up from this too.
You know, guys, we've been diving in here a little bit to the, to the performance and the future of the team.
One thing I'd like to touch on, uh,
that blows my mind is just what this means for the entire other side of the spectrum, which is the viewer experience.
Something that we'll never be able to count is how many fans a given team has.
But one thing you can virtually guarantee when the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 2010, the number of fans, bandwagon, hometown doesn't matter.
It's skyrockets.
It absolutely skyrockets.
And that's something that the Brewers have lacked for how long is that boost that you get as a viewership.
Jimmy, I'm curious what it was like for you.
And if you don't
me getting personal as a father watching your two young kids take in the championship at the perfect age to fall in love, whether they even liked baseball that much or not.
What was that like just briefly if you could?
Well, I'll say this, I just spent, you know, before we did the show, um, already this morning, um, before soccer, my kids wanted to go out and throw baseballs.
So that's what we did.
We went to a batting cage yesterday.
I mean, they, they were all in on baseball right now, but, uh, having my kids up for two nights in a row on school nights was actually pretty awesome.
Uh, for them, I mean, for us as parents, not great cause they're crabby children the next day, but they get to stay up late and watch the championship.
I watched my 10 year old who's, you know, baseball, he's a pitcher and he's just locked into the final outs.
I mean, he is living in
on every single pitch.
And then there's just the pure joy when they win it.
I know they did the camera shot of all the players when they get that final out.
That's, that's the joy, you know, that you, you play this sport, you know, for a lot of these guys, they're in their twenties, maybe early thirties playing this game for 15, 20 years already.
You know, my kid is only a little bit into this.
Um, you know, so seeing my, seeing my children enjoy, I mean, that's just awesome.
I mean, and seeing the reactions from fans all over the place when this goes down, uh, that is.
I mean, that's the best.
The one we talked about this week, the word I would use to describe them winning this is joy.
And you see it not just with players, but you see it with the kids.
You see it with people who have been waiting for this as fans for a long time.
It's just pure joy.
And there's nothing better than that in sports.
You suffer as a sports fan through a lot of bad times and a lot of bad seasons and a lot of bad decisions and all this stuff.
And then it just pays off with championship.
And you know, if you're a Bucks Brewer's fan the last five years, you know, I know the bad things have happened with the Bucks lately, but you know, you've had two
championships now in the span of five years.
I mean, people will trade anything just to get one of those as sports fans.
Well, thank you.
I've been wondering that since we spoke about it the other night when that happened live.
It was really cool watching you having the direct joy of watching your favorite team win, but having that extra experience as a father watching your kids do the same.
I bet that's going to pay dividends in the future.
You'd never know what would happen if that didn't happen after all.
No, and honestly, in having the Brewers be the championship team to do this, I mean, this is what you try to
with kids, but baseball.
And I feel like in Wisconsin, it's been such an underrated baseball state anyway, with high school prospects.
You know, going pro, we've got the Northwoods League, we've got good development there.
UW Milwaukee, a pretty good D1 program.
So, you know, I think in terms of just the sport and the state, I think it just kicks it up a notch that, no, hey, there's a championship team here.
You saw the bump with volleyball with Badgers, volleyball getting really good.
Obviously football is very popular in Wisconsin.
The Packers are here, the Badgers are here.
You know, basketball, when Wisconsin's making their run, Marquette made their run.
run back in the 70s.
There's just all these things that are kind of connected in Wisconsin sports.
And I feel like baseball gets its turn.
And honestly, the Brewers have done this right the whole way for years, embracing themselves as a statewide team and not just a Milwaukee team.
And that's why the whole state is coming out to celebrate.
It's why they sold out two baseball stadiums during the World Series.
I mean, they had 31,000 people at Ampham Field, and then they had another 16,000 people at Tropicana Field in Tampa for games on the road.
I mean, if that doesn't tell you how dedicated and passionate
Wisconsin sports fans are.
I honestly don't know what does.
But speaking of that, we do have to move and change gears to another team, a team that has been described as the anti brewers.
And that's the Green Bay Packers who did get the win on Thursday night football, but it didn't look very good as you're watching it.
And there are still a lot of questions to ask about a team that is somehow five and three at this point.
We're going to take a look at the Packers in our green and gold recap coming up right after this.
This is make the call in the Civic Media Network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Welcome back to Make the Call on the Civic Media Network.
Well, we've talked about the Brewers winning the World Series.
We're going to keep celebrating that this weekend.
I'll be celebrating it during all the football calls I get to make later today.
We'll talk some badger football coming up in a bit here.
But before we get to all that, and Mike Clemens with the Sports Week in Review, we've got to talk about the Packers.
They played twice since the last time we did the show on a weekend.
They played Carolina on Thursday night football.
They played Detroit on Sunday.
And if we're looking for an overall theme from the two games, guys, I'll just start with the bad.
The bad?
Well, there's two bads.
The two bads are they still can't run the football.
And what the heck is up with the Packers and kickers
lately?
That was, oh man, the way I saw it put online, Jimmy, that that first PAT was somebody called it a thunderous doink.
And I thought, man, that's going to become Trace Mac's nickname at this point.
I know we were talking about how cool his name was and how it was basically fate.
It was a fate accompli, as they say, no way that he wasn't good.
Well, I think we found the way that he wasn't good.
You look at Trace Mac's face, even after he's making kicks in PATs, and it just reminds me of Mason Crosby's down year.
And right now, that would be the highest pop
possible watermark of what's going on there is that he's having some confidence issues, that he's able to correct that and maybe reset in the offseason.
But the thing is, this could turn into a non-functional thing, especially with the rushing issues.
I mean, looking back to Brandon McManus, after I think it was the fifth loss,
four of them last year I'm talking about, four of the first five losses the Packers experienced, there were missed kicks that could have made up the entire point differential.
And we aren't seeing that happen with Trace Mack.
It's hard to argue that he's, quote, losing games for the team.
But it's just a matter of time at this point before he misses a game critical kick.
I mean, three seconds left.
We're on the 35.
We're down by two points.
Do you trust Trace Mack right now?
I think for a lot of fans, the answer is absolutely not.
He's in the 68 percentile range when it comes to making his
kick right now.
And that's just not a sustainable professional kicker stat line.
I'm worried, guys, to put it in a word.
This was a bad week for him.
I mean, the Detroit game was bad enough.
Then you just kick one right into the upright.
You know, you got a little time now.
I mean, because now the schedule really lightens up.
I mean, yeah, they got the Vikings coming up, but like they only play three games in November.
There's a lot of time off now for guys to get healthy for Christian Watts and to get the ribs healed and, you know, pick out a new entrance theme for when he leaves the next ambulance and, you know, pops out of a casket or whatever he's going to do drops in from it, repels in from the rafters.
I don't know.
I was so, so crazy.
Probably the craziest thing on Thursday night was a guy coming out of an ambulance and playing half a game.
That's just insane.
Anyway, that's beside the point.
I do think though that the kicker issue that's that's limited to like one thing and that's like that's pretty easily solvable by figuring out if trace mac is replacement or below replacement and if he is replacement level or below replacement level Whoever off the street can come in and take that spot and give you again replacement level stats That's that's the move to make if you think trace mac is gonna beat out
whoever's out on the street right now, well, then you stick with them.
They have a lot committed to them financially too as a draft pick.
So, you know, do you burn that after seven games or do you just keep trying to work through it?
I can almost guarantee they're going to try to work through it at this point, especially with so much time coming up.
But I do want to talk about the real issue that the Packers have tried to solve and haven't solved.
And that happened with the rearranging of the line this week.
The guys they started up front against Carolina had a lot of people wondering what the heck is going on with guys starting in spots they have never started at or played at professionally, which is
where the Packers are at as an offensive line, but they can't run block.
And earlier this year, they were really bad at pass blocking as well.
Guys, I don't know what it takes to figure it out.
Carolina just fired their defensive coordinator.
So that wasn't the test for them, but they have Minnesota coming up next.
And that's a pretty dang big problem when you're facing off against a team that already showed you in week one, what they can do with that blitz.
Jimmy, you mentioned the
low number of games in the month of November.
I'm hoping among the things that you mentioned that they also take it as an opportunity to adjust in whatever way they might seem necessary to improve that run blocking scheme.
Honestly, I think Coach Buttkiss, the offensive line coach, he's still got a hot seat going on.
I don't know if the front office of Green Bay agrees, but I think the fans sure would at this point because you're right.
There was absolutely nothing to look forward to when it came to the offensive line performance to start this season.
Pass blocking has improved nominally, but let me throw you a couple stats.
here yesterday or excuse me against the Panthers Josh Jacobs managed 39 yards on 21 attempts the team as a whole was 64 yards on 26 attempts now let's that's that almost sounds like there's some hope there but hold on I need to pop the balloon a little bit more Savion Williams had an 18 yard carry at one point without that inflating the totals they managed 48 yards
on 24 carries.
Two yards per carry.
That is, like I mentioned about the kicking game earlier,
That's a non-functional professional football team.
You want to talk about below replacement level?
That's the whole offensive unit.
And thankfully they've managed a passing attack while Matthew Golden still leads the NFL in drops and is still going to by the look of it.
I'm so glad he could redeem himself and catch a touchdown against Carolina because very clearly he's going back after his drops and telling Jordan, hey, don't give up on me, go back to me.
But I just don't know what will it take for Golden to focus the way he does on the second throw?
But do it on the first throw so that we don't end up in those holes to begin with.
Because without that deep passing attack, if Christian Watson stayed gone against Carolina, I find myself sitting here wondering, is there even an offense at that point?
Because J. Michael Sturdivant got some work done, but not enough to replace Christian Watson.
Can anybody replace Christian Watson?
No, nobody.
And the thing that really scares me is Christian Watson is just above, I think, the 400 snap mark this season.
After two more games, he'll be nipping at the heels of the most snaps he's ever played in an NFL season.
With the injury issues he's had, he hasn't stayed on the field for an entire season at a time, so we've got questions that are worth asking about.
How much of him can we even expect to be coming on as strong as he has been in the beginning of the season here?
So we're not even in the second half yet, and he's already almost eclipsing the most snaps he's seen in a season.
I think we've got durability concerns, even though they might not be showing yet.
WWE re-entrance to the game aside.
Yeah, question marks all over the place.
The one person I really do want to give a shout out, if only for serviceable execution is John Williams.
The third center who entered into the Detroit game started against
Carolina really only credited with two pressures in that Detroit game.
And I think three of them against Carolina, the third center guys, the third center.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Somebody for doing
that thing.
Yeah.
And a guy who had never played the spot professionally, even practiced it.
And he steps in and does it.
Jordan loves it.
He'd never even taken a snap from him before he got put in the game against Detroit.
That's where things are at.
I mean, they are really scrambling right now up front.
And the good news is that they'll have a lot of time with November.
They'll have a lot of time between games to figure out.
They have a lot of time until they play the Vikings a week from Sunday because now the Packers are off.
They play three times in the month of November.
December's got that weird schedule.
They got the Christmas game.
They got a money night game.
They got some weird stuff that happens during the end of the year before it really
settles in, but you know, we're at the point in the year where the Packers have reached eight games at five and three, which I think we're comparing to expectations is, you know, I think you'll take over 500, even though at five and three puts them last place in the NFC North, which is absolutely crazy.
Coming up later in the program, Mike Clemens will offer a sports week in review.
We'll look back for the World Series, look back at the Packers playing twice this week, looking ahead to Badgers, Iowa.
That comes your way here later today.
If you're listening on the city media stations on Saturday morning, many of the stations
We'll have that game.
We'll talk about that as well.
But coming up next, we're going to do that.
We're going to preview Wisconsin and Iowa with Frank Garganoff from here at Civic Media.
That is next on Make The Call, part of the Civic Media Network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Halfway through on this weekend, we are getting set for a big football game this weekend after all the excitement of the week with the World Series, the Packers, everything.
Hey, we still have...
college football to be played here on a Saturday.
For those of you who are listening to the earliest version of this broadcast, if you're listening on Sunday, well, we're talking to you from the past.
So consider it an archeological dig.
But we are talking about the Badgers they're taking on Iowa.
And for the Badgers now in the top 25, who I think, I think that I think just in itself, as we welcome in Frank Gargano to talk about this, I think that in itself is, you know, from preseason expectations.
And now at the Badgers in the top 25, I think is a
Is it kind of a pleasant surprise?
Yeah, I mean, before I started going to these games, I think the number one thing I heard from people was, why are you going to go do that?
They're going to suck this year.
And I was like, they might, but you just never know what the Wisconsin team, especially with NIL.
And I tweeted this out even after they were ranked in the top 25.
I still don't know if this team is.
Good, but they can compete with anybody right now, especially when I don't know if there's one team in college football that I do think is good.
Maybe Miami.
The Big 10 is basically a toss up right now.
Franco, you were at that game against USC, which I think obviously is probably the biggest win that the Badgers have had this year.
It's a ranked win, obviously.
I don't know how much it really means, though, right?
I mean, it's a ranked win, which is huge, but it's not like a top five, top 10 win.
What's your read?
How important is that win and how much does that move the needle maybe for Luke Fickle going
See, I would disagree.
I think this is a very important win for this team.
Now, if you're looking at this Wisconsin Badgers team as national championship or bus, then no, it's not a very important win.
looking and especially coming into the season in week by week, even in the buzz in the press box, is everyone's asking, do you think this will be it for Fickle?
If he doesn't, we were all talking beforehand on press row.
If they don't win today, Fickle's out, right?
And I was like, maybe, what if he wins?
If he wins, is his seat finally cooled off?
And I think all the things that went into it, I think the stars really aligned for the Badgers.
You had all the excitement with the Brewers.
I mean, I had to fight tailgate party after tailgate party just to get to Camp Randall walking down the Regent Street.
And then you look on the sidelines and Caleb Williams, one of the most hated people in Wisconsin, is cheering on for his alma mater, USC.
You've got Will Ferrell in the stands, just a couple rows up with the civilians.
It was a banner when you had the students run
the field.
It was a full-blown party in Madison and then while the fans are on the field and everyone's trying to get them off, the Brewers scored a run I think and then the whole place erupted again.
I mean Wisconsin needed that win so badly for so many reasons and I think the exposure being on NBC and
Camp Randall being a party once again is going to do wonders for recruiting from here on out.
So I think barring a monumental collapse, Fickle will be back next year.
Talking to Frank Gargano from here at Civic Media covering the Wisconsin Badgers, they take on Iowa and this matchup is
I mean, fascinating on a number of levels because, I mean, if you're a big fan of punters, this is definitely the game for you, for sure, 100%.
And as a special teams coordinator in high school football, this is this super bowl for me.
But more to the point, these games tend to be lower scoring.
They tend to be quicker games.
And what I mean by that is the clock's always moving.
You're not going to see a whole lot of passing.
It can be a lot of wrong, grounded bound, short passes, seam passes, things like that, stuff that you're used to.
I'm just curious though,
These both of these teams are kind of in the same spot in the conference in the national rankings are kind of there.
What's our read on this?
ugly game.
I mean, I watched Michigan, Indiana before getting up to Madison last weekend.
And I thought that was the ugliest game of the season by far.
And then I got to my seat in the press box and I went, Oh my God, what happened in Minnesota between the Gophers and the Hawkeyes?
And that even looking back on the stats, Jimmy, it's
unbelievable.
I mean, 136 yards passing.
I was like, oh, that's pretty good.
Brown was 11 of 21 with a touchdown and two interceptions.
They had four turnovers, the Hawkeyes.
I don't think Iowa's very good.
And then they lost Kamari Moulton, their star running backs for the season.
I think...
You know, Wisconsin's identity is the defense.
It's actually kind of reminds me a lot of a Kirk Farron's team.
And if I'm an Iowa fan, I'm kind of scared that my team got out Iowa by Minnesota the previous week.
Look, if you're a true college football sicko, much like Parker is, and I tell him this all the time, this is the game for you.
It's gonna be so ugly that I don't even know what to predict.
I mean, the over-unders 36 and a half points.
which I think might be the lowest of the entire season.
Iowa favored by two and a half right now in Vegas.
It's anybody's game.
Frank, it sounds like you expect this to be absolutely worthy of the hundredth meeting of a border rivalry here that's shaping up to be a weird matchup of strong points and weak points that seem to just not fit together in a way that might be incredibly fun to watch, you know, holding USC to negative rushing yards versus losing your leading rusher for the season.
You mentioned it.
Is this going to you think this is shaping up to be a classic matchup?
Yeah, if you want to take a time machine back to the 70s and see some real two yards and a cloud of dust football, Gray, this is the game for you.
And if I tweeted this out, you know, if Wisconsin's a defense, they can frustrate anybody in the country.
And I don't think Iowa is up to the task.
But if you look at Wisconsin's offense, I want to give credit to the offensive line.
You actually saw them really moving bodies this past weekend against USC.
If they come out and can establish that run game earlier on, I think Wisconsin's going to run away with it.
Talking to Frank Gargano, the Badger's take on Iowa.
This game has got some national attention because it's, you know, promoting
heavily during the World Series.
It's obviously the follow-up to all the things the Packers and Brewers have done this week.
You know, top 25 team going into this.
I just wonder now, you know, all throughout the year with Badger football, you know, they haven't had a great schedule to this point.
You know, they had the Penn State game, which people saw, they had the Notre Dame game, which people saw
And I think you were onto it when you said that you don't really know if this team is good.
I don't think anybody really knows truly what they are.
I mean, even against USC, I mean, the fact that they threw for what, like 50 yards, 58 yards, still won.
I don't personally know.
I do know, though, that if you're looking at the things that the Badgers have always had as their hallmarks, that is line and linebackers, that seems to be those seem to be areas of strength for this team against just about anybody they play.
I mean, it's incredible.
And I was saying this last weekend, I mean,
Every single play, I swear to God, I see Posa or Catalano in the vicinity of the ball carrier.
I have not seen a linebacker...
duo swarm to the ball like that.
I don't think ever.
They might be the best that I've seen since covering college football.
They're unbelievable.
You know, Wisconsin stays healthy.
They could come away with this and get Joseph.
You know, here's another little quick stat that I was keeping track of after three offensive possessions to start the game.
They had eight total yards of offense.
If they just have a little bit of a hotter start, then this team might be borderline good.
Until then, I don't think I can give them that.
Are you saying that 10 yards would be really huge for the Badgers?
And that defense is so good.
I mean, you obviously talked about there with that linebacking duo.
Frank.
I think this is going to be the most grounded and pound ugly game ever.
And I think we've kind of alluded to that a little bit before.
Something that's really interesting to me about this is that Badgers are playing for Boy Eligibility this weekend.
They can get
that sixth win.
And they're also coming off of getting shut out by Iowa last year.
And they're probably their worst loss.
And who knows, last 20, 25 years to Iowa, there's going to be a lot of juice for the Badgers coming into Iowa City.
What's kind of your read on what the mix
is going to be pass to run because obviously it's Wisconsin Iowa.
It's got to be really physical, right?
It's got to lean into that run game.
But also, I think we've kind of seen the Badgers lean into a pass game.
more than we have in the past, right?
I feel like Fickle wants to be the smartest guy in the room and try to.
It wouldn't surprise me if they came out for that opening series and the entire script is past plays.
It's probably going to be a lot of screens from Joseph.
I don't think they trust him too.
As soon as I see that ball go in the air, more than 20 yards.
I have zero faith in a completion.
But those short little dump offs and hitting the check downs, if they can establish that early, I'm assuming fickle would want that because.
I think it's all about getting Joseph in a rhythm.
But another thing I'd like to see more out of this is probably more of that read option with Joseph, get him a little bit more on the ground.
I don't know.
I wouldn't be surprised if Fickle starts throwing the ball early.
Frank, my last thought for you is just in terms of when we were talking in the past, we talked about how October schedule really set up to be kind of that critical point for them.
And yeah, they've done almost everything they've needed to this month.
They got two wins and a loss, the loss being at UCLA.
But then you look at the month of November,
and how that sets up for the badgers.
And, you know, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, you know, and then they finish obviously with the rivalry game against Minnesota.
But there's a pretty strong case here now that if, you know, let's say Wisconsin beats Iowa, all of a sudden, if they start putting together some wins, that puts them in a pretty interesting spot at the end of the year where the Minnesota game might mean something in terms of, you know, maybe a much better bowl game.
Heck, I mean,
with how wide open college football is I mean is there any shot that they have any playoff consideration if they if they can win out run the table
I don't know if any team's good.
Maybe Miami.
UCLA's without their starting quarterback.
They're going to stumble at some point.
Julian's saying for Ohio State's out for the season, they're probably going to stumble at some point.
There's no horse really for the Big 10.
I don't think Indiana's as good as everybody thought they were going to be.
I said last time I talked to you, Jimmy, if they win two out of these three games with Iowa, UCLA, and USC, look out for the Badgers.
And they look as confident as ever.
I may be corny to say, but with the Brewers winning the World Series in Wisconsin, being like the cap, the sports capital of the country right now.
I mean, sky's the limit.
Well, I mean, Parker's in it right now.
He's celebrating in Milwaukee as I record this, you know, carrying on from the parade yesterday and the World Series championship earlier this week.
I think we're all kind of in that right now.
Parker,
Don't worry about it.
I'm watching a card.
Okay.
Right now.
There we go.
That's a true story.
Love it.
All right.
Well,
We will say goodbye for now, Frank.
Appreciate all of your insight and we'll be talking again after the next Badger home game.
Thanks, guys.
Frank Gargano from right here at Civic Media as we talk about your football.
Guys, just final thoughts before we turn it over to Mike Clemens for a Sports Week in Review.
This has been a pretty crazy week.
All things sports considered, like...
I just want to give you a chance to just kind of exhale now and just, you know, hey, let's come down from all this excitement of sports this week.
I mean, this is as good of a sports week as I can remember.
And, you know, since the Bucks won their championship, it's been a pretty awesome week as a sportsman.
I saw an interesting graphic the other day that was states that have won
pro championship in the last 10 years.
Yeah, 10, 15 years or
so.
Since 2010, yeah.
Since 2010, yes, thank you.
And there's three states.
And Wisconsin's right there.
Packers in 2010, 2011, I believe is the Super Bowl, I suppose.
Brewers right now in bucks a couple of years ago.
I mean, that's a really special place.
If that doesn't brew together.
No pun intended.
If that doesn't brew together a really good college sports scene coming up here against Iowa, I don't know what will.
Well, after talking to you guys every single day this week, following brewers and or packers games, as we've been recording segments for civic media, you're probably sick of me at this point, but I do want to say thank you and we'll talk to you guys here again next week and make a call.
Thanks, Jimmy.
All right, we'll hear now from Mike Clemens coming up next for the Sports Week in Review.
We also take a look back at level two of the high school football
playoffs in 11 player and the quarterfinals in eight player football.
That's next right here on Make the Call on the Civic Media Network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
It's time now to take a look at the pairings for the high school football playoffs coming up next week after the results on Friday night.
In eight player football, three quarters of the state semifinal field is set.
Belmont will take on Obino Leona on one side.
Gilman will take on the winner of Valley Christian and Owen Withie on the other.
That second matchup is happening later on Saturday.
In 11 player football, we're all along to the quarterfinals now.
In division one, it'll be third seated Hudson traveling to West Apir.
It'll be Racine Case heading to Muskego.
Wanaki will go to Bayport and Arrowhead will go to Hamilton.
Division two features a pair of Cinderella.
Brookfield Central, a seven seed will go all the way across the state to take on top seeded new Richmond.
And it'll be sixth seeded Grafton, the defending state champions in D3, heading to Minona Grove.
On the other side, West Bend West is at Union Grove, Pulaski will be at Notre Dame next Friday.
In division three, Piwaki will take on the winner of Reedsburg and New Berlin Eisenhower, that game being played later Saturday.
It was an upset win by seeding as fifth seeded Catholic Memorial defeated New Berlin West, a top seed, they'll get Whitefish Bay.
Fox Valley
Lutheran will visit La Crosse Logan, and Plymouth will be at Port Washington.
In Division 4, it's mostly chalk here as Northwestern will go to freedom.
Delevent Darien will visit Lake Mills.
West Salem will be at Racine St.
Catharines, and the one Cinderella in this division writes down they defeated Stratford 9-0.
They'll be visiting Little Shoot.
Division 5 is all chalk.
Just one in two seeds left in this field.
Lake Country Lutheran is at Racine Lutheran.
It'll be St.
Croix Falls at New Glarus.
Grantsburg at Ambrose.
and Durant, Arkansas will be at Darlington.
Most of the home teams won as well in Division 6.
It'll be a rematch as Regis will visit Mondovi.
Kenosha St.
Joseph Catholic will be at Manitowoc Lutheran.
Wilmyra will be at Edgar and Cedar Grove, Belgium will visit Bonduil.
And in Division 7 River Ridge will be at Cochrane Fountain City, Boysville at Glenwood City in a rivalry matchup.
Pilburg at Coleman and Isla Grant at Ithaca Western.
It's time now for a Sports Week in Review with Mike Clemens.
you
The Brewers win the World Series.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with the Wisconsin Sports Weekend Review.
It was the scene at Tropicana Field in Florida as the Brewers beat the Rays Wednesday night 4-1 to win the best of 7 and the first World Series title in franchise history.
More of that coming up.
First we begin with the NBA where the Bucks season is underway.
In the past week they've lost to the Wizards, the Bulls, and the 76ers.
They picked up a win against the Pacers but lost by 32 points to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
On Friday head coach
which Taylor Jenkins at practice was asked if Miles Turner or Collel Ware will play as a power forward or center.
Yeah, I think it's still early to kind of make that real firm going one direction or the other.
The Bucks host the Cleveland Cavaliers this weekend before heading to Minnesota on Monday night to take on the Timberwolves.
The Bucks headed into this weekend with a record of just one in four.
College football, Wisconsin Badgers entered the week ranked as the 25th best team in the nation after their huge 24 to 7 upset win over USC last weekend.
Head Coach Luke Fickle after the win.
What an incredible night.
I mean, I don't know where to start, to be honest with you.
You know, last week was a tough one and, you know, give our guys incredible amount of credit to come back and go out there and play like they did tonight.
Man, we are growing just so happy and so proud for these guys, for this whole team, for the whole fan base, for everybody.
This was a night we needed.
Wisconsin battles Iowa this weekend.
Next week, they'll host Rutgers on Saturday.
NFL, the Packers playing in two games this week.
On Sunday, they lost in Detroit to the Lions 20 to 17 on a last second field goal.
During the game, the referee's called unnecessary roughness on the Packers Devontae Wyatt, claiming a play was dead, even though no one blew a whistle.
I also charged Carl Brooks with roughing the passer.
I asked safety Xavier McKinney after the game, what was going on with those types of penalties being called?
Uh, what do I say?
I say sh**, it happens.
Sometimes that's just how the dice roll.
Last week after the win, we were talking about roughing the passer calls.
This week after a loss, we're going to do... Ah, yeah, I mean, what do I say?
I'm not a big fan of...
I don't know how the NFL gonna treat it, but I'm not a big fan of the rest right now.
I don't think it's great officiating if I'm being completely honest.
I think it's bullshit a lot
of the times later in the week.
McKinney confirmed he was fined over $25,000 for that rant, but said it was worth it.
Thursday Night Football, the Packers played host to the Carolina Panthers in Green Bay winning 27 to 13 to improve to five and three.
Running back, Josh Jacobs, though, claimed he was not simulating wearing handcuffs while celebrating his first touchdown of the night.
Yeah, they didn't even get the whole celebration in one second that they just saw me.
But anyways, me and Savion came up with a celebration if they would have seen the whole celebration.
Basically,
Last week, we said the first celebration, when I scored, I was gonna thank God, that's what I did last week.
The second one was gonna be Break Every Chain, it's a gospel song.
That was gonna be the next celebration.
It's just a correlation, but like I said, the media gonna run with it.
They gonna make it something that it wasn't, but it is what it is.
And
in baseball, they finally did it.
After 44 years, the Brewers returned to the World Series, and this time they won, winning the fourth and decisive game.
Game five, four to one over the raise on Wednesday night Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
It's incredible.
You know, I know the man, Yook upstairs is looking down.
I think about the city of Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin.
They pushed us through for sure.
And this group of guys right here.
20-26 team will be remembered forever and they deserve that because they were a team.
And I couldn't be more grateful and more proud to be a Milwaukee Brewer.
Thank you.
Shortstop Cooper Pratt set World Series records set by Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays for the most consecutive hits and being done by a rookie just 22 years old.
How do you describe this feeling now that it is a reality?
This is...
No, no, this is surreal.
I only took four months.
We have the best fans.
It's loud.
It's crazy.
The pressure is out of this world.
It's some of the hardest, but most fun baseball I've ever been a part of.
And I messed up a lot of times this postseason.
But the guys picked me up.
And we're here.
And we're world champions.
And it's so special, man.
I'm so blessed.
That's
the Brewer's Cooper Pratt with the Wisconsin Sports Weekend Review.
I'm Mike Clemens.