And that's good, right?

Yeah, I mean, you know, I guess if you're looking at the positive side is there's there's plenty of room for growth.

You know, I mean, this is a team opportunity, you know, that yes, there's plenty of opportunity to to develop between now and, you know, even in the next couple of weeks.

Yeah, I just think that, you know, there's a lot of a lot of new players, a lot of a lot of new pieces.

And, you know, maybe the chemistry isn't there the way you would hope, you know, when you see your Big Ten team play an FCS team that just lost by 31 points.

Now, that was a rivalry game.

Okay, you know, the rivalry games in the FCS, you know, it probably brought out, you know, maybe a different level in Western Illinois there.

first two weeks um guard play in particular green bay packers fans you should know that there is good guard play in wisconsin football uh but but also like kevin haywood is is in there um you know that pj wilkins left tackle probably some growing pains there as he you know as he joins the program but in general mark i i feel like that's that's been a bright spot right or do you still see like that that also was an area that could use some improvement

How would you classify that as the performance you saw from the offensive line? Like what, what were your thoughts watching that unit play in this game?

Yeah.

You know, I mean, that's the, you know, and I hesitate when I look at, you know, in my stories, I meant I'll mention pro football focus occasionally in terms of, you know, snap counts and, And things that I usually don't mention what they rate guys because I don't understand what their metrics are.

Yeah, it's just an interesting read or kind of take it to kind of take a peek and see what they do.

I mean, their ratings for Wisconsin's tackles weren't great.

But you got to kind of consider who they're going up against.

I mean, you know, this is one of those games with the offensive line, and a lot of what Wisconsin is doing is that we're not really going to know, like, until they start playing other teams, until they play a Penn State, until they play a Michigan State, you know, a UCLA.

Who else? Who else stood out to you in this game against Notre Dame?

Colton Joseph, what have you seen from him, and does it feel like, assuming health, which unfortunately the Badgers simply cannot do, uh, does it feel like the quarterback position is in pretty good hands this year?

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think yes.

Uh, to answer the first part of your question, yeah, I think that, you know, Colton Joseph, you know, seems like a, you know, really good fit for this offense.

You know, Grimes like these, you know, he likes quarterbacks who are multidimensional, who can add that running aspect to, you know, to, uh, uh, to the team to create, you know, situations that the defense has to account for the quarterback.

Um, in fact, Grimes kinda touched on this last week in his last, uh, media availability.

He was asked about, you know, uh, why are there more big running plays, more explosive running plays in practice, and he pointed to the quarterback.

Mm-hmm.

Do you have any access to where you think you're comfortable knowing for sure where they fit the last three years in terms of money to spend? Or what do you say when people ask you?

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.

You know, everyone talks about the lack of transparency in in college athletics when it comes to, you know, how much players are getting paid.

But then no one wants to provide transparency.

No one wants to lead the charge, you know, toward, you know, transparency.

And, I mean, even, you know, in this state here, you know, there was just that bill that passed, I believe, sometime in the fall that, you know, gives Wisconsin about $14 million or something for their athletic facilities.

And part of that bill was that they didn't have to disclose, you know, what their student athletes were making.

You know, they need to win a certain games, but you need to see some players that are good, right? I mean –

Mark, what do you make of the hire?

You know, s- similar to Todd, you know, when this, when the position first came open, my, my thought was, "Hey, you gotta have somebody who is, you know, who's kinda done this before at the Power Four level, you know, dealt with football, um, and you know, has done, done it," you know.

And, and, uh, in Shawn Eichorst's, uh, case, you know, whether you like his experience or not, you know, he's been around.

You know, he worked at Miami as AD, he worked at Nebraska as AD, he was the, uh, deputy, uh, AD at Texas, all places where football is very important, not just in terms of it, its financial impact.

It's, you know, those are places where football culturally i- is a big deal, and I think you needed a guy who kinda understood that.

Uh, so it, it, it, you know, like I said, when you look at his resume, it, it, it didn't c- it didn't totally surprise me.

And then you, and then you, uh... add the, the in-state factor.

Mm-hmm.