Pop in and count it down, Jimmy.
All right.
Uh, when the timer hits 30 seconds, we'll go here.
Makes it easy math for me.
Um, segment one, this segment two will be Jake.
We'll do the guests right away and then you and I can adjust segment three to whatever we need.
Yep.
Sounds good.
Yeah.
Couple seconds.
Yep.
Here we go.
In five seconds.
Welcome into the weekend.
It is make the call part of the civic media radio network.
I'm Jimmy Koska sports director here at civic media as the radio empire keeps expanding beyond Wisconsin now in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and the UP.
I think we're taking over the entire Midwest at this point, but this show airs in Wisconsin and we focus on Wisconsin sports.
And with some help this week I have Parker Olson in the capital city the seat of the Empire.
What's up Parker?
Doing pretty well Jimmy.
I don't know about you, but I feel good
Yeah, I feel great considering that I had about two hours of sleep last night because I walked around at 11 o'clock at night calling everybody I knew.
I woke up my wife.
I woke up the dogs.
I found my kids.
They went to bed two hours prior and I woke them up, got everybody nice and riled up last night just to celebrate the brewers getting a sweep.
And I gotta tell you, I don't know what else there is to talk about today.
We do have a lot to talk about today.
We have plenty of guests today.
Jake Kokorowski will help us preview the Badgers big matchup with UCLA.
That's coming up later tonight.
If you're listening to this on Saturday, Badgers UCLA big matchup there.
We'll talk about that coming up.
Mike Clemens has been covering everything in the state with regards to sports.
He's been in Green Bay.
He's been in Milwaukee.
We're going to get a sports week in review with Mike Clemens coming up later in the show.
And it's the final week of high school football regular season.
Playoffs began beginning eight player football here on this Saturday.
And then next week is the start of the 11 player football playoffs in Wisconsin.
I will give a preview slash recap of everything going on in high school football later in the show as well.
But we can't start the show without talking about the biggest deal in sports.
The first time in our lifetimes, Parker and I anyway, that the Brewers are in the World Series.
They get the sweep of the Dodgers.
And once you know it, last week,
When we were previewing the series, we had Ken Kazuba on from Kesle Sports Corner there in southeastern Wisconsin.
And I got to say, Ken, as we welcome you onto the program, Ken, you really undersold this for your team.
I don't know why you underestimated this team so much.
You said five games here.
They get it done in four.
They're just making you look at at this point.
Well, I appreciate you having me in.
Jimmy and Parker, this is just outstanding.
I mean, to be a Brewer fan, I've been a lifelong Brewer fan.
As far as underselling them, I actually kind of goofed up the two series because I had them sweeping the Padres and winning in five against the Dodgers as your listeners heard.
So it's one of those deals where it's good to be wrong sometimes.
And in this particular case, sweeping the Dodgers, this was nothing more than what I deemed unfinished business after the way that they got their exit out of the playoff last year by the Dodgers was incredible.
So to pay them back in the manner that they did and to come back last night in game four with six unanswered runs after going down four zip.
My gosh, you could hear the air come out of that stadium, not only in game three on the Bowers home run, but last night when they got the lead, it was phenomenal.
My text chats were blowing up.
We must have had 40 guys on this text chat.
It was just crazy.
So it was, it's just, they're just unbelievable times.
This is the second time in my life, in my lifetime that the Brewers have won the pennant.
I was a sophomore in high school back in 82.
Unfortunately, they didn't finish the job in the World Series.
But you know what, boys?
They're going to get it done this time.
Well, there we go.
And as it was going to be, when we wrapped the segment, it was our prediction for the World Series, regardless of who they faced.
And by the way, I'm joking.
A five game prediction against a Dodger is pretty bold.
I think a lot of people were expecting, you know, the series to go longer, but boy, the Brewers getting a sweep.
I don't think it would have been on anybody's, you know, maybe the most ardent fans, most diehard fans would have said, yeah, they'll sweep the Dodgers, no problem.
But I don't think it was really expected that he do it.
the way they did it with dominant bullpen, with guys stepping up at key moments.
And the fact that every time the Brewers found themselves in a spot, they found a way to rally, this team is relentless.
Relentless, you know, to say the least.
I mean, there's a guy kind of an unsung hero on this team.
Yeah, Jake Bowers got the MVP deservingly, but you got to give it to David Hamilton.
I call him hand bone.
What that guy does when he gets in a ball game and he plays third base, I mean, his intensity is incredible.
Not only does he play good defense, but when he gets that bat in his hand, he's just looking to put the ball on the grass.
He'll get on any way he can.
The Brewer offense as a whole, the one reason why they are so successful is patience.
They will absolutely beat down a pitcher.
with patients.
They have great play presence.
They just do not seem to be fooled at all, or very rarely.
They have just an incredible game plan going in.
And with that being said, they execute it so well, and they are never down and out in any of these games.
I think they have, in fact, I'm almost positive.
I'd have to look up the exact stats.
Sorry, I don't have it.
But the most comeback wins.
in the MLB this year.
And certainly in these playoffs, I mean, they've come from behind numerous times.
And I think we've seen that so much throughout this.
Obviously, if you have the most MLB use, we've seen it throughout the year, right?
But it was interesting to me because at the start of the year.
Aaron Ashby I think we called him the vulture at a couple of points because he just kept stealing wins away From guys coming out of that bullpen is the offense would ramp things up as soon as he got into the game And we've seen that a ton now in the postseason I think he threw nine and two-thirds this series and he didn't allow a run I mean this bullpen has been absolutely ridiculous Ken is What is your
expectation for this bullpen as they face a new team, whether that be Cleveland or Tampa.
Are you going to, are we going to keep seeing Ashby's be so incredible?
Are we going to see somebody else step up?
I don't even know if anyone can step up though, right?
Because it's just been so darn good.
No, actually, they can.
In fact, there's a guy that you didn't mention that I equate to Ashby and you're going to see this combination after our starters get, you know, their five innings.
They might let a guy like Miz go as many as six, but for the most part, they just need five innings.
And then this guy, DL Hall.
Oh, is that kid a pit bull?
I mean, his performance in game three, outstanding.
But Ashby, yes, in terms of coming out of the bullpen, lights out.
Jojo Romero, you know, that mid-season trade or mid-to-late-season trade.
I mean, you see a guy high energy like that.
The bullpen as a whole is just loaded.
We still haven't even pitched all of our guys yet Do you understand?
Do people the fans even understand that there are guys we still don't we haven't seen Chad Patrick You know, I mean, so this bullpen is crazy.
I was surprised last I don't know if you guys were and I briefly talked to Parker about this before you came on or before we started this segment
that McGill didn't get to close it out last night, that Murph was so headstrong that he said, nope, Ashby, it's yours, kid.
You've done so well.
You stay in there and finish it off.
And he's definitely earned that right.
I mean, you've just pitched so well.
There's so many guys there and we have not seen Chad Patrick.
We have heard talk.
of a certain someone that we have not seen in a while coming back into the roster.
Brandon Woodruff, after it seemed like his season was going to be over yet again, somehow has had a chance to come back possibly.
Ken, do you want him on the roster?
Do you think that he would, that Murphy would make that decision?
And if you do make that decision, who would he replace?
Because they've all been so good, right?
Yeah, in fact, this will probably be a... Oh, it's going to be a difficult... What do I want?
No, I don't want to see Woody on the roster.
I'll tell you why.
Not because I dislike him.
Woody is a... Oh my God, just a phenomenal man.
And when he was healthy, he was outstanding.
He was lights out.
I mean, the way he pitches.
Not having him pitch all year long, he pitched a limited amount last year before he got hurt again, it would be a little unfair to anybody that has got this team to this point to not be on this World Series roster because they've earned it.
And Woody had his opportunities with other teams and I go back to 18 when they had a chance to close out the Dodgers and unfortunately they didn't do it.
But he's had numerous opportunities in the playoffs and so on and so forth.
I believe that his role for the World Series, I think what Murph's going to do with him, he's obviously been, as you can see, he's been in a dugout.
But he'll be helping Chad Green out quite a bit there in the bullpen and Chris Hook.
He has been instrumental in the way that he has worked with each one of these pitchers, and our bullpen and our starters look up to him like there's no tomorrow.
Would I be shocked if Murphy put him on the World Series roster?
No, but I don't.
believe Murph is going to do that because the guides that he has right now, when he needs them in certain situations, depending upon who we play, he's got it in his mind who he wants to come in at that particular time of the game and an injured Murph and an injured Woodruff.
I don't believe and we don't even know his status, right?
We don't know.
We don't know.
We know that he's thrown some bullpen.
We know that he's thrown a little more than that, but we really don't know his status.
So the whole feel good aspect of bringing Brandon in.
I don't think that's going to happen.
I really don't.
talking to Ken Kazuba of Kazasports Corner, the Brewers whip the Dodgers in the NLCS getting ready for the World Series.
They'll take on either Tampa or Cleveland.
That series is still ongoing.
Boy, that is going to be quite the advantage for the Brewers, the fact that they get
An entire week off and tampa and cleveland currently still has it's two one cleveland in that series They still have to play at least two more games of that series The rest factor should help the brewers after some pretty intense moments here in this nlcs I I don't know if it's rest or rust I know there's gonna be an argument in sport stock radio all week But I gotta say baseball it's such a long season to get that little bit of a break before playing in the biggest games of your lives like I feel like that
can only help things, especially if guys have been dealing with any kind of negging injuries to this point.
Yeah, I would agree it's a major advantage.
I mean, the other teams, yes, if a Cleveland can stay hot, right, and they can win these next two games and knock out Tampa, and I do hope it will be Cleveland.
I want to see Cleveland and Milwaukee in the worst way, two great baseball towns here in the Midwest.
It goes against everything everybody in Major League Baseball wanted.
to see in terms of the World Series.
And that's just another reason why I like it.
But yeah, I think that having this week plus off is a huge advantage for our team because our guys can get ready not only physically, mentally.
You can game plan.
You've got those extra days in there to game plan.
You can get more reps in at the cage.
There's so many things that they can do to prepare.
for their opponent coming up here in the World Series.
It's just a massive advantage in my opinion.
And the birds have done so well throughout the season.
They've ended with the best record in MLB.
That means that they're going to be home to start the World Series.
And talk, tell me a little bit about how important that home field advantage is.
I'll be perfectly honest I did not think that the Brewers would go obviously I didn't think they were gonna sleep But I didn't think that they were gonna finish off the series in LA by a long shot That really surprised me because they've been so good at home But they've seemed to kind of break that bad juju about road games in the postseason But kind of how important is it to be able to do it in Milwaukee in front of these fans that have been waiting 44 years to see a world series again
Yeah, I think it's really important but in this format you have to take advantage of the format and that's where Murph is a maestro he takes advantage of the format and Taking advantage of the format means you fans you're gonna get your two games in
Game one and game two next Saturday and Sunday or was it Friday 23rd and 24th?
So that's next Saturday and Sunday.
Am I correct on that?
I believe I am.
I believe it's
Friday.
Friday and Saturday.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, 23rd and 24th.
But with that being the case, like my friends at all were calling yesterday and other colleagues and they were like, I'd like to get game six and seven.
I said don't.
because this is going to be over.
I said, it's not coming back to Milwaukee.
This team has been winning on the road.
They get their two quick wins at home.
They go on the road and they close out their opponents.
This team is about winning series.
We're four wins away, which also equals 108 outs.
So get your chart ready and just keep like you do your picket fence and just keep knocking down the outs because the wins are going to come.
the way that this team has been able to play on the road later in the season, they are phenomenal.
And there's a comfort level to that, right?
When you're not at home and you're on the road, you can just relax and play the game.
And Murph knows that.
And those guys, when they're outside of Milwaukee, they're not worrying about getting tickets for people.
They're not worrying about hospitality, things that are going on.
You just get out there and play and you keep the
Your eye on the prize and that's the World Series to get Milwaukee the Milwaukee Brewers their first World Series is gonna be an incredible Thing here for the state not only for Milwaukee, but for the state of Wisconsin for the fans.
So as a fan Games one and game two be there be loud.
Look at I mean they're selling it out standing room only tickets 1300 bucks I mean it's gonna be crazy.
In fact, I hope they set up big screen TVs
in the parking lots for game three and four so that the fans in Milwaukee can just go and tailgate in the parking lot because the weather is going to be phenomenal and watch the Brewers' Window World Series on the road wherever that may be.
Ken Kazuba of Kazus Sports Corner in southeastern Wisconsin.
We appreciate your time, man It is so much fun right now to be celebrating as Bruce fans to get ready for the World Series Coming up next week.
We'll be talking to you again a week from now to preview the series a little bit perhaps because We well, I'm gonna restart this segment.
So with this momentum a little frenetic It's a Friday.
It's a Friday starts.
We can't do a preview three two one
Ken Kazuba of Casa Sports Corner in Southeastern, Wisconsin.
We appreciate your enthusiasm, your energy as we get ready for a World Series for the Brewers.
We look forward to talking to you again here real soon and hopefully it'll be to celebrate a World Series title for the Brewers.
Well, I appreciate you guys having me on and I'm looking forward to this team taking care of business like they have all year and winning this World Series for these players, for the organization.
I mean, these are great times, guys.
And to have something like this happen here in Milwaukee, here in the state of Wisconsin for all the Brewer fans listening, I mean, the dedication is incredible.
We've struggled through a lot to get to this point as fans.
And so with that being the case, the culmination is going to be winning the World Series.
And don't kid yourselves, folks.
This team is poised, ready.
We are going to win the World Series and bring it home.
All right, I'm ready to go now.
Let's play the series like right now.
We got a week to wait.
All right.
Ken Kazuba right there from Casasports Corner.
Brewer's World Series starts next week on many of these Civic Media Stations Friday and Saturday games one and two at Ampam Field.
So looking forward to that.
We've got more show to get to.
Jake Kokorowski of Badger Observers and help us preview the Badgers matchup with UCLA.
We're going to do that next right here.
I'll make the call part of the Civic Media Network.
All right, we're clear, boys.
Thanks, guys.
Awesome.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Really appreciate it, Ken.
Yeah.
And then we'll, uh, we'll see, uh, we'll see what happens for next week.
And, uh, let's see what.
Yeah, I was thinking
of my hat.
I'm like, we'll
forgive you, but I'm like, we air on Saturday and the first game's Friday.
So let's call you at midnight.
It's going to be tough.
So, um, no, it's
Uh, that was my bad.
That's why we'll edit later.
Um, that's why I get to do anything for the show.
more pain for me after a high school football loss tonight.
Appreciate you and we'll make sure it all fits and works.
Are you going to, do you have tickets to any of the games?
Are you going to any of the games?
Yeah, actually a good friend of mine who works for Miller, they've got a few suites.
So he's promised me a ticket for either game one or game two.
So I will take some video and then I can always upload that too from the suite.
It's a lot of fun, obviously, in those suites if you've ever had a chance to go in one.
So it'll be good.
Like I said, it's just so surreal to see what's going on.
So it's going to be a lot of fun.
I can tell you that much.
I wish there was a game that wasn't a Friday or Saturday when I'm in football mode because I have
We're at the playoffs, but I'm calling up high school football games in the playoffs for the next two weeks and then Saturday obviously college football So I don't get to go to any of the games.
I Could probably make a game seven work if that was a game seven that week is already be in white water, but other than that,
yeah
Well, let's hope that the Badgers keep their winning ways going and the Packers take care of the Cowboys on Sunday night.
So it'll be another great sports weekend coming up.
Yeah, for sure, man.
Hey, appreciate you, buddy.
Thank you.
You guys have a great weekend and we'll
talk soon.
Go Brewers.
Yes, sir.
Have a good one, Ken.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
All right.
Oh, I'm such an idiot.
Nah, you're fine.
Don't worry about it.
Well the first series started had a Saturday Sunday, which was great for us, but now that it's Friday Saturday like it's gonna be hard
Yeah,
like next week.
I don't even know what to do next week.
I Sadly I think oh wait.
What day is that the 23rd?
Oh I'm gonna be mmm.
That might be a problem.
I'm gonna be in whitewater
So I will too on Saturday I
will be Friday and said it's homecoming
And the newspaper is doing a 125th anniversary thing that I'm going to be at on Friday night.
I might just skip that because I'm not missing a World Series.
It's a problem for next week.
It is.
Jake could be calling any moment, too.
I told him 12.40.
We're driving in the desert right now.
I will say regardless, I think it would be better.
I think we just have to bite the bullet and do it at midnight.
Well, it doesn't have to be midnight.
It just has to be after the game after the game.
Yes, because I don't actually have a high school football game next Friday.
Yeah.
No,
unless somebody calls me saying, are we eating for the playoffs?
And that's.
Only happens every year, but it usually doesn't happen till later in the playoffs.
Sure.
Yeah.
No, I think that we should do it after the game,
especially with the Brewers playing like so many radio stations won't even have high school football next week.
So.
Oh, I suppose.
Yeah.
I just found out that we got radio rights with all these new acquisitions.
We now have Iowa, Iowa State and Illinois affiliates for college sports.
Iowa, Iowa.
Wow.
Awesome.
Geez.
I have, I have a lot of work, so much work to do when we get these officially.
Oh yeah, I suppose.
They're like, well, you know, you make the big bucks of sports director and I'm like, well, it would be great if I just knew the full scale of like what we actually acquired.
Yeah.
Well,
the fact that we're adding three Learfield affiliates sucks because Learfield is the worst to deal with.
And then I got to figure out what other.
Like high school and everything else we do.
And then I had to somehow manage all that on the calendar.
Like our calendar is already a monster.
Like having all
the calendars
in one bucket, it's already just unwieldy.
And I don't know that Google's the best format for it, but that's what we use to put things on websites.
Yup.
The problem is, is that anybody in the company can edit it.
Or if they're just viewing it and they accidentally click on something, they can move it without me knowing.
It doesn't notify me.
few times.
Okay.
Or like somebody assumes like.
Oh, yeah, this is happening.
So I'm going to change it.
Like somebody assumed that we would carry a Badgers coaches show over a Brewer's game.
And I'm like, no, like, no, no, we would
not.
Um, all right, we got Jake on the line.
How's it going?
Hey guys.
All right.
Just, uh, a lot of desert.
Yeah, I suppose that drive
is well,
hey, you've got desert.
We've got overnight lows in the 20s, so we'll be thinking of you.
Oh, that's right.
Yeah, I'm not gonna feel bad.
They're right.
We ain't recording right.
Fuck that.
There we go.
I ain't going back.
Living in the desert now.
So it is a, yeah, anyways, what's up?
No, we're going to talk football and volleyball as always here.
So we'll start with football preview the matchup with UCLA and then probably talk a little bit about volleyball because they're getting close to the end of the regular season.
Just, you know, where they're at, you know, what what's coming up.
They don't play tonight, hopefully either.
It's like they play Maryland tonight.
Well, that's not that's a nothing burger.
Not worried about that.
But they got to be getting close to the playoffs at this point.
like a month away.
Uh, big 10 tournaments end of November.
Like, yeah, I would say it's like a month.
Yeah.
Okay.
Got it.
They had a big stretch of road matches, I think.
Iowa and then I think it's USC next week or who is it out there?
Oh, nevermind.
I'm looking at the schedule around.
That's my bed.
Regardless, we're going to keep it general with that at the end, uh, just because they just had the Nebraska.
series and they've gotten through the hard part of their schedule and then You just kind of seen where things are we'll just kind of reset that but we'll probably spend more time on football.
So
All
right, if you're ready what's that
I Can there's gonna be about a two-second
delay, so we're gonna talk over each other a little bit.
I think it points
So you're going to hear some weird delays, but that's just the nature of, you know, technology.
All right.
I'm going to start when the timer hits 25 Parker.
So it's just easy math for me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Even though I messed up the last segment and now I'm really confused on where we are time wise.
Well, you know, worse comes to worst, you can kind of pad with your high school sports segment.
That's kind of the idea.
So yeah, all right.
Here we go in
five
Welcome back to make the call part of the civic media network I'm Jimmy Cusco alongside Parker Olson and we move right along from Brewers to Badgers as Wisconsin has a big game today taking on UCLA and we've got Jake Kokorowski a badger observer joining us from the road and Jake first of all before we talk badgers.
I just got to say
You know, the state of Wisconsin is pretty fired up after the Brewers make the World Series.
How are you feeling right now?
Oh, I have a static, especially being down here in, you know, the Southwest and California.
So now we just, uh, it's been good.
It's been,
know, I am excited.
I mean, I know I
about it, but I'm blue sky.
Just, I mean, I grew up, my formative years were around the days of, you know, uh, 92 was the closest year.
I think it was to burst into the playoffs.
And then, you know, the logo redesigned, the tier ratio of County Stadium, the really bad years, you know, your talent going away.
And now you have with Scott, you know, like the state of Scott, you've seen how, you know, mark out to Osio, the owners revitalized this, you know, this franchise over the last 20 plus years.
You've seen what's on like Pat Murphy after Craig Council last for Chicago.
I mean, you know, and then you see how they're winning games, especially the NLDS where you're trailing and they don't just roll over for a team with a budget that's exorbitant and whatnot.
So for me, yeah, encapsulates how the underdog mentality of Wisconsin and the state and just, you know, being here in California during the day and they clinch.
Hey, man, look, I don't cheer for a lot of teams, but you can bet I was wearing my brewer gear on Thursday.
Well, it's great.
We're going to talk about brewers.
Obviously, we've already spent most of the show talking about it.
But we do want to talk about the Badgers football program, because, well, Badgers, they've got a big matchup coming up here with UCLA and then USC next week.
But I just want to focus on this matchup for a second, because I think to this point in the season, you look at what the Badgers have done in football.
Yeah, they've had, you know, the big game against Michigan State, I think that might have changed some people's views on it.
The Penn State win at the time was a big win, although right away after that, they had a big clunker after that.
Now they get to take on UCLA, a team that is in the polls again as well.
But they are dealing, UCLA is, with a pretty significant injury.
And that is, I think, the biggest storyline going into this matchup, Jake.
Right now, I'm having people email me out.
huge loss for UCLA.
What's helping them is the run game.
It's like what tops the big 10.
It was about 250 a game.
They're averaging about 40 points per game.
But having someone with the talent like Nikko has,
You saw just what happened when she went out of the game and UCLA had a turn to the bench against Oregon and that was with the, mind you, UCLA forced down in the real and, you know, uh,
into five or six turnovers, six, seven turnovers.
But UCLA still couldn't convert those points.
So, uh, into those points all the way.
So it's still a close win, but still a significant win for.
for UCLA, but for Wisconsin, yeah, it's, I'm sure UCLA will scheme, you know, the offense to the quarterback strength.
I'll let you guess, we'll rely on the run game, along with running back late night and a good stable of backs, but it'll be a significant injury for the Bruins and something to see if the defense can capitalize.
Wisconsin obviously with a pretty quality defense that we've seen so far, maybe minus the Notre Dame game really, but not really only in the second half.
Wisconsin defense I think.
You'd have to be pretty excited if you're those guys facing a backup quarterback and being the stronger part of a badger team.
Over on the offensive side of the ball, though, for the Badgers, Jake, what's it looking like with Abu Sama?
Is he looking like he'll be back and how big of an impact can he have on this game if he is indeed healthy?
Yeah, I mean, it looks like based off of what Luke Vickalus said, that things are more, you know,
I think, you know, that possibility of having someone that could be huge for the run game.
Now, UCLA also does a good job against the run.
So, you know, I think it really goes back to, you know, for having someone, whether or not he's available, there's that home run speed.
I think
has to...
really go and In my eyes You know just get better at running between the tackles.
I feel like Gary on the free That's shown that he's a better back at that this point to run between the tackles, but so but what that means though is But then if you just put the onus on The offensive line, so it's not what could be back, but if that whole line, you know, which you know shuffled its groupings
last couple of centuries ago, it's Michigan State.
I think it's up to what Chevin Haywood, Colin Cumberley, if it's Austin Quecky or if it's Ryan Corey or somebody else at center, if you're looking at, you know, for guard, you know, Salis Blackburn or, you know, what happens with, you know, P.J.
Wilkins, Emerson Mandela, Tackle Spots, I think it's going Wisconsin's offensive line to figure out in a gelboard, which is not
that they haven't found the starting five.
I know part of it's with Kweke in his hand will be interesting.
So it's not completely out of Wisconsin, but you know, you're five games in against Michigan State and you're shuffling the line.
You know, you hope that Wisconsin now has found the starting line that then they can gel and create more of those opportunities because, you know, they're averaging over 150 yards per game and they're averaging 4.7 yards per carry, which are much better than last year.
But I think there's a lot, I think there's still hope for Wisconsin to be still like a top six, top five team in the Big Ten and rushing.
And that all starts with a line.
Talking to Jake Kokorowski, a Badger Observer, you can find his work.
BadgerObserver.com, subscribe and get all the updates sent right to you.
You don't have to go looking for it.
Make sure you sign up.
BadgerObserver.com.
Jake, the bye we came at, I think, a great point.
for the Badgers because it's right in the middle of the season.
It's one of those cases where sometimes you get that buy and it's like two games in.
What's the point?
And now you get it five games in, you get a little break.
What do you think was maybe the most important thing for them to work on during the buy week?
I mean, it's just self-counting.
You'll be able to watch UCLA against Oregon and they're able to see just one.
some of the UCLA, you know, what was behind Nico in that case.
So I think the big thing with the bi-weeks, if there are guys that need some rest, you can do that.
way healthy after a week, unless it's a very minor injury, but it does give players a mental break for a weekend.
It allows staff to do other things.
So I think the biggest thing right now is...
That's beyond because, yeah, sleep separation is very interesting when you're going time zones and then also trying to drive everywhere in the past couple days.
So apologies if you're there, but I will say with, I think it's just, you know, making sure, like I said, the offensive line, making sure that you work on the things that you need to work on there, try to gel better, especially with arguably its toughest schedule, especially the schedule coming up, where to rank UCLA team number 12, it's then USC, who's on a bi-week,
this week.
So we'll get a fresher USC.
They come to Camp Randolph Stadium for next Saturday night.
And then you go to, you have to go
think I was kidding.
So I think it's things where you work on yourself during that bi-week.
You kind of rest yourself as much as possible.
So I think those are the things.
I think the biggest thing with the self scouting is that offense of line and just even ways to show up to defense.
I would argue
run defense, especially at UCLA, being one of the best and not just the big 10, but the nation.
You saw Michigan State get a little bit of, you know, push early on in that homecoming game a couple of weeks back.
And that's something that, you know, being very extremely nitpicky.
I mean, Wisconsin held Michigan State to what, 260 yards.
And obviously, single digits of scoring.
Well, you know, I think one thing you can do to pick from that is
Michigan State line got some push.
So Wisconsin's front is going to have to be strong on both sides against the video.
Obviously it overachieving, but a good UCLA team.
And the Badgers football, obviously, will be playing UCLA this weekend.
You can hear them on the Civic Media Network on various local stations.
Moving over to volleyball, though, Jake, we've had our eyes on them, and they've played a lot of ranked teams already.
Unfortunately, in their most recent game, they ran into the buzz saw that is Nebraska volleyball and ranked number one in the country.
I believe in a sweep in that one they lost to Nebraska.
Jake, what have we learned about that match against Nebraska, number one team in the country, and how does that prepare them going forward?
Because honestly, they don't have a lot of really tough matchups for the remainder of the year until you get to the conference tournament, right?
Right, yeah.
This Penn State, Washington, has been ranked.
Penn State is always going to be good with Kennedy Martin there, but in my eyes, it's really, you know, we've learned that this team, even being young,
to compete with, you know, some of the best teams in the nation.
That goes back to the on-conference play where, you know, that you sweep a great Google team and you've seen them, but they've done it in the national champions at Texas A&M.
I will say they played Nebraska tough.
It's a sweep.
It's going to look like a sweep.
Well, it is a sweep, but they played tough the first and third sets.
That second set really got away from them.
So, and with this team where you have so many...
players that are young.
It's a team that you have so many new pieces.
You have not just Jayla Augusta as a middle blocker, Ava Travis as the outside hitter, which who are two key contributors for this team.
But you had nine freshmen come in and the good five to six are contributing heavily in different ways.
So, you know, there's a point where those freshmen are no longer freshmen, especially those that
rolled early, you know, towards the end of the season.
And so I think you're seeing them continue to grow.
I think there's still a lot of growth left.
Last year at this point, you know, after Wisconsin lost to Nebraska at home, then you started to see Wisconsin start picking things together and go on a huge streak.
But that was with Edie Collier, Carter Booth, Alicia, Ali Andrews, you know,
You know, long with Charlie Furbringer was a sophomore, but he saw the team, you know, gel further, but they also have, you know, more experienced players.
You don't really have that with this.
You know, I think this team is still getting better and it's still got to do me.
I think Kelly Sheffield put it perfectly.
I mean, the last couple of weeks, work in progress.
And so we'll see how pressure like Audrey Platt again, that's the least champion
Linnie Tarnow, you know, improved.
And we'll see how just JLo does continues because she had a great streak going in and then both her and Tarnow
were neutralized as middle blockers against a really good experienced Nebraska team.
So I think you see that they can compete even with the youth in an experience with some of the best teams in the nation.
But now it's like, okay, what's the next step to take a set at Nebraska?
And you know, also, you know, we go up against potentially Kentucky later this year or some of the other teams.
you know, can they rank teams in that tournament?
Can you finally get over that hump if you will, being able to defeat them, even being so young that they are?
When we talk about just the fact that, you know, the rough schedule that they've had, like five straight ranked opponents is incredible to me, Jake.
I just can't help but feel like
They get this burst of great teams in the middle of the year, right?
They always challenge themselves in non-conference.
And with all the new faces this year and the way that they've had to, you know, kind of grow up fast in a way, I can't help but feel like that's a big advantage for them as they now, not that anything's easy, but it's relative to what they face so far.
Yeah, there's a couple more ranked teams sprinkled in there, but I have to feel like the next month and a half or so is going to be a period where we see some
some pretty big strides and statistically, probably some high-popping stuff coming out with the Badgers as we progress through this back half of the conference season.
Yeah, and I think that's what you want to see Wisconsin do.
I mean, if you're looking, I mean, no, they're not going to take any opponent lightly.
Yeah.
Do you have Penn State Washington that have been ranked?
I know
Illinois on the road before the loss at Nebraska,
too.
They should win, right?
And there are some teams that they're facing that are towards the bottom half of the Big Ten.
But, you know, we see how Big Ten volleyball is.
And I think also the staff knows, too, if they're not playing sharp, you know, they're going to make adjustments as needed and then also talk to the players and make them understand that you can't slouch against any, particularly in the conference.
I think it sets up well.
I mean, I think it allows them that they can get on some streets.
But I also feel too like, hey, this is going to be, you know, they have to stay sharp and the staff will stay on this program and stay on its players to ensure they continue the standard that's been held up for so many years since Sheffield took over the program.
Jake Kokorowski, a Badger Observer, BadgerObserver.com, where you can find his work, make sure you sign up, get that subscription because you get the news sent to you every day, right to your inbox, sometimes many times a day, as Jake is covering it all.
We appreciate you, man.
Thank you for joining us from the road, and we look forward to talking to you
again here real soon.
Drive it through the desert looking for cacti.
I love it.
I love it I went to San Antonio and I spent the whole time looking to find an armadillo I'd never seen one and I found one and I was so excited Alright, that's completely beside the point.
I just I'm I'm relating here to Jake who's driving through a desert looking for cacti Which
very It's a very worthwhile endeavor and anytime you could sidetrack me with nonsense.
It's gonna happen on this program
But speaking of nonsense, we got a little bit of show to go yet.
We have Mike Clemens coming up with a sports week in review.
Also getting used to that for high school football playoffs which begin next week.
This is Make The Call on the Civic Media Network.
All right, we're clear.
Awesome.
Good talking to you guys.
Thanks for doing this, Jake.
Really appreciate it on the road, especially.
My pleasure.
No, I got nothing going on.
And there is a mountain in the background or a hill.
I don't know what it is.
It's large.
And I mean, and then I see, oh, it's a second cacti song.
you know, and then I see some trailers just in the middle of the desert.
And I wonder if it's a breaking bad situation.
And so I was going to bring that up.
I didn't know if I was going to be PC enough for the broadcast.
But that is a, so no, there's a lot going on.
But yeah, not really.
I love talking to you guys, so I appreciate you guys having me out.
Let me know what you need from me, you know, coming up over the next few weeks.
Sure.
We'll probably talk to you next week since, um, Frank only goes to home games.
So don't think we have it in the budget to send him to Los Angeles.
So
you got it in yours though.
So
I'll talk to you later.
Thank you.
Drive safe, Jake.
See ya.
All right.
But
my account, we're at about 33 minutes, which gives us about, I'm going to say four minutes after editing.
I'm going to say three or four minutes after editing to get us the 36.
I might cut out the part about the cacti.
Just, you know, it's fun.
I, so it was fun.
It was dumb, but I'll probably cut it.
So let's, let's just aim for four and I'll adjust later.
Um, we can talk about whatever you want
though.
Um, I mean, we should probably talk backers, right?
Yeah.
We'll start at 43.30 just to get it done and we'll go for four minutes.
Awesome.
Here we go.
Welcome back to make the call in the civic media network.
We've got a few minutes till Mike Clemens slides in to do his sports week in review and what a week it was Brewers going to the World Series Packers getting ready for big matchup next week There's all kinds of other things that the bucks are back in action high school footballs wrapping up We'll talk about that in a little bit as well But before we get to all of that dick we have to
Preview the Packers here for just a couple of minutes.
I know we talked a lot about it in our greeting gold review Which we do on Mondays here on on the civic media network But it just feels like what the Packers after the game against the Bears I feel like there's a little more optimism that the offense might actually begin to figure things out and keep keep Jordan love upright I don't know that this week presents a great challenge for them, but you know for them
Consistency is the word.
Dallas does bring a dynamic that they throw the ball a lot this week, which I think for the Packers, I think it plays pretty well in their advantage.
Yeah, I would think so too.
The Packers...
We've seen them get run over by Bijan Robinson and company throughout the season.
So the run defense is maybe something that you want to avoid just a little.
However, I have not been scared about it at all.
They did pretty well against the Bears against the run.
However, yeah, I mean, if that part of your team isn't going to get tested, then.
You got to be pretty excited that you're going to have an opportunity to have your corners shine and your secondary shine after what was already a really good game against the Bears last week.
But yeah, looking over on the offensive side of the ball for the Packers, Jordan Love last week played so well and I attribute this to A, the fact that he was physically playing well, but B also that the Packers were
taking that mentality of just letting him loose, let it rip.
I have said for a long time now in Jordan Love's career, he is more of a Brett Favre than he is in Aaron Rodgers, right?
He's not going to be absolutely perfect.
You're not going to go almost an entire season without an interception.
But he's got to sling it.
He's a little bit of a gun slinger.
And I really like that because he does still have enough of Rodgers in him to not make
totally careless throws, but he's got a little bit of that fire in him that Britt Favre kind of started for the Packers.
So I think letting him lose is an absolutely best case scenario for a Packer offense.
And Jimmy, I think that if they can do that against Dallas again, we might start talking about how well the Packers are playing instead of, oh, okay, the Packers are doing better, right?
We might actually be excited about this for once.
Yeah, I think that this that you know the fact that playing Sunday night There's no brewers conflicts.
So everybody's gonna be watching You know the brewers have swapped there on to the World Series At least for this week.
There's not a not any conflict to worry about it actually works out really really well I looked ahead on the calendar where it's either a brewers World Series game or a Packers football game Every day during the World Series where it's brewers brewers Packers brewers brewers brewers Packers brewers brewers
Packers play Sunday and Thursday, the two off days of the World Series.
It's like the NFL schedule makers knew that the Brewers would be in the World Series.
This is tinfoil hat time.
I'm putting the tinfoil hat right in my head that they had this set up, the Brewers that had the World Series and every other day that the Brewers were not in at the Packers.
That's nine straight days, potentially, where it's either Brewers World Series or Packers football.
Parker, this stretch is going to be absolutely incredible.
I can't wait.
Mwah.
Magnifique.
Excellent.
I love it.
Packers.
We are out of time on the show because we have a Sportsweek review coming out of my Clements.
Also, we've got high school football talk last week of the regular season.
We will tell you which teams have ranked where the playoff brackets are revealed later today if you're listening on Saturday.
So you'll get the full shake down on that coming up.
But this has been Make the Call.
And when we return, my Clements Sportsweek review here on the Civic Media Network.