Shades of Gray

Pitt's big man in the post, Brian Gray, may miss tomorrow's game against the Badgers due to flu-like symptoms. Pitt hasn't lost a non-conference game since 2002 and has beaten Big Ten teams 10 times in a row. The Badgers should face a stiff test regardless of whether or how much Gray plays.

Who is Running the Asylum?

Espn.com's Pat Forde details the behind the scenes melodrama unfolding at Arkansas' football program.

There was a meeting last week between parents of three Arkansas freshman, including highly touted QB Mitch Mustain, and the Arkansas athletic director to discuss "the direction of the football program."

It all started when head coach Houston Nutt, desperate to secure his job after an ugly 4-7 season in 2005, taped into the Springdale (Ark.) High School recruiting pipeline last winter. He hired the school's coach, Gus Malzahn, to be his offensive coordinator. That paved the way for the signing of four players from Springdale's undefeated state champs, most notably prep All-American quarterback Mustain.

Three of the four players played significant roles in Arkansas' success this season, but apparently it was not enough. Parents of the three players met with Arkansas AD Frank Broyles last week. The purpose of the meeting: The parents reportedly wanted to know whether Malzahn's no-huddle, spread offense would be the Hogs' offense of the future. It was not implemented this past season, which apparently runs counter to what the Springdale Mafia was promised during its recruitment to Fayetteville.

Anyone who has seen tape of the Hogs' offensive attack knows it will be centered in the near future around sophomore RBs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, who combined to for a combined 2,576 yards this year. Arkansas has a "Wildcat" package, which sets RB McFadden in the shotgun and gives him the option to either run or pass. In fact, McFadden has 3 touchdown passes this year (on 6 completions out of 8 attempts), which is only 7 behind QB Casey Dick's total.

Because McFadden is such a great RB and the offense should revolve around the strength of the running game, it appears the parents' appeals will fall on deaf ears. However, it is interesting how these parents have continued to be overbearing and intrusive even after their children have left the nest and Nutt's use of a coaching staff hire to recruit high school players didn't come without its problems.

Respect?!?

I see we're getting load of respect from the football odd makers. Arkansas favored by 1 1/2. I'd take Wisconsin in a heart beat! Put 9 in the box and stop the Arkansas running attach. Sounds easy enough.

1st Team for Thomas

Joe Thomas was picked first team all-AP, joining nine other Big Ten players, but the lone Badger. Arkansas landed three players, including McFadden as the first team RB. I think Ike and Beckum should've received consideration, but their time will come.

Bowl Pick 'em Showdown

Cnnsi.com's Stewart Mandel picks the winner of each 2006-2007 bowl game, much like I did last week. Check back to see who comes out on top. Here is what Stewart said about the Capital One Bowl:

CAPITAL ONE BOWL
No. 6 Wisconsin (11-1) vs. No. 12 Arkansas (10-3)
Bret Bielema was an accomplished defensive coordinator at Kansas State and Wisconsin. The 36-year-old had the smarts to lead his team to an 11-1 record in his first season as a head coach. He's probably figured this out by now, but just in case, a helpful hint: MAKE ARKANSAS PASS.
Wisconsin 30, Arkansas 28

Bielema Bests Ferentz

Coach Bielema's ability to sway Joliet Catholic's Kevin Rouse to switch his commitment from the Hawkeyes to the Badgers is another sign that the young coach may be an upgrade from Alvarez in the Midwest recruiting wars. Ferentz has cleaned up on recruits in the Chicago area in recent years, often at the expense of UW. Rouse sounds like a perfect fit at Mike backer, or perhaps as a changeup to Levy and his eventual replacement at Will assuming Hodge takes Zalewski's place next year.

Big Ten Wonk Badger Update

The Big Ten Wonk posted an update to Wisconsin's offensive performance after the first 9 games. Here it is:

"In my preseason walk-around of the Badgers I said the essential question with this team will be its ability to make shots. So far they've been doing just fine, thank you (54.0 eFG pct.). Then again in early December it's hard to know just how much of that is improved marksmanship and how much is the defenses they've played.

Like Marquette, Wisconsin doesn't shoot many threes (Jason Bohannon notwithstanding). So the upswing in their shooting numbers is largely attributable to better results inside the arc thus far from Alando Tucker, who takes almost twice as many shots as any of his teammates. After having done a little of everything in his career in Madison, Tucker has settled into the role of designated scorer (no boards, no assists, but also, to Tucker's credit, no turnovers). It's a role in which he has performed quite capably, though he is still iffy at the line (66.7 percent this season).

Still, Tucker's had help. Kammron Taylor hasn't shot many threes but when he has they've gone in (48.3 3FG pct.). And the 2005-06 version of Joe Krabbenhoft (37.7 2FG pct.) was apparently hustled away over the summer and replaced with a similar-looking but much better-shooting cyborg (57.1 2FG pct.). Add to this the fact that, aside from Marcus Landry, the Badgers simply do not turn the ball over and you have a very good offense.

On D, Wisconsin enjoys the luxury of two monsters on the defensive glass: Brian Butch (best defensive rebounder in the Big Ten, albeit in somewhat scarce minutes) and Krabbenhoft (right behind Butch on the leader board). Indeed, Bo Ryan's team has been its usual stout self on defense this season--with the glaring exception of defending the three. Opponents have hit 38.4 percent of their shots from beyond the arc."

As has been said many times before, if Taylor, Flowers, Hughes and Bohannon can step up the three point shooting, the Badgers will be a force to reckon with. According to www.kenpom.com, the Badgers get 23.2%, 56.3% and 20.5% of their points from FTs, 2 pt FGs and 3 pt FGs, respectively. Not surprisingly, the Badgers rank 313 in D-1 in 3 pt offense.

However, because the Badgers take and make so many 2 pt FGs, they rank 19th in D-1 in offensive efficiency, which looks at the raw points per game scored by a team and adjusts it by the number of possession a team has. Bo Ryan has normally set the goal of 1 point per offensive possession and currently the team is averaging 1.15 points per offensive possession. Air Force, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona are the top 4 teams in offensive efficiency and they all exceed 1.22 points per offensive possession.