In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, there are two words on the lips of every Wisconsin sports fan today: Micah Parsons. Parsons went down Sunday against the Broncos and tore his ACL in a noncontact injury. Oates could tell it was bad right away; there have been enough noncontact leg injuries in recent years to be able to tell pretty quickly what’s wrong. He was on track to potentially being named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, says Oates, and his loss will be felt for the rest of the season. Parsons is a consistent force of a player that offenses need to plan around and works to elevate the entire defense. With him out of the picture, someone’s going to need to step up. Who will that be? Hard to say, but Jeff Hafley is going to need to get creative on defence against the Bears on Saturday…

As for the rest of the game, which saw the Packers lose to the Broncos, it wasn’t too much prettier. On top of the many big names who were also injured, albeit less seriously, Green Bay just didn’t seem to show much force in the second half. Both cornerbacks failed to do anything, Oates says, before or after Parsons got hurt. Jordan Love was especially troubling, especially in the fourth quarter. They had plenty of chances to get back in the game, but nothing ever materialized. Yes, they were up against a great defense, but once Christian Watson went down it seemed like the entire offense went down with him. One good thing to note from Sunday is Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden , who were able to make a bit of difference after slow seasons due to injuries. Is it time for Golden to step up and start really producing? Lucas thinks he might.

In some more poor Wisconsin sports news, the Badgers Men’s Basketball team had a disaster of a game against Nebraska this weekend. The Cornhuskers are slept on this year, and losing to them shouldn’t bring too much shame. Losing to them by 30 points, however, does. On top of having not figured out their admittedly difficult defense, the Badgers simply looked soft against Nebraska. That does not bode well for when they take on the highly physical Big 10 teams on their schedule.

Finally, some kudos is due to Kelly Sheffield and the Badgers Volleyball team, who are heading to the Final Four once again. The entire team seems to really be enjoying playing the sport and playing with each other, and that enthusiasm rubs off on the fans. They’ll be playing Thursday night against Kentucky, and as they say, they refuse to… well… lose.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the brackets for the college football playoffs have been released and have been creating just a little buzz. Specifically, the inclusion of James Madison and Tulane has people a little confused. Tulane? Over Notre Dame? It’s all litigation, says Oates, between the entire selection committee. If you want to have a playoff system like this, everyone needs to be on board. To get everyone on board, you need to throw a few carrots sometimes. Does anyone really want to see either of these schools play in these playoff games? Not really, especially considering Tulane will be playing Ole Miss for the second time this season. Tulane got beat 45-10 in that matchup, by the way. The college football playoffs aren't like the big college basketball bracket, there just isn’t space for teams like this to be getting in over teams like Notre Dame. Will this lead to a 16 team bracket in the future? Probably, Oates thinks, but in the meantime Notre Dame is even going so far as to skip a bowl game this year and instead focus on next season.

Meanwhile in the NFL, the Packers beat the Bears on Sunday in what turned into a really entertaining game. Christian Watson is proving himself to be a real difference maker for the Packers’ offense; his size and speed have decidedly turned him into Green Bay’s number one receiver. It was a game that was all won on big plays, not just from Watson but from Keisean Nixon’s interception to end the game and from some really important plays from Jayden Reed. The Packers are starting to build themselves into a team of truly dynamic players, a rarity in the league. Watson, Reed, and Parsons all create an incredible impact whenever they are on the field. This is all not to say the Bears didn’t also play good football, especially in the second half. Caleb Williams is proving himself to be a pretty good quarterback. Sure he’s young and makes mistakes, but if he gets out of the pocket, Oates sees a young Aaron Rodgers. Next week the Packers will have an even tougher game against the Broncos. With their tough defense and their mile-high stadium, the Packers will have an uphill battle on Sunday.

Finally, the Badgers Men’s Basketball team took out Marquette this past weekend in a truly decisive victory. Shaka Smart was betting on his ability to not utilize the transfer portal, which while admirable didn’t really pan out. The Badgers will head to Nebraska next for what will be a really tough game. But the Badgers are starting to form a really tight team, as not only are the players finding their roles but Greg Gard is too. He’s been great at recognizing what will help the team the most and moving guys into positions where they can really thrive. Combine their three great perimeter guys and a group of young bigs, and the Badgers might have more than a few difference makers on the team this year.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Packers are getting ready to take on the Bears this Sunday in Green Bay. While we are still in early December, the Bears are somehow sitting at the top of the NFC. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that the Bears and the Patriots would be the top teams in football this year? If the playoffs started today, they would be getting a bye while the Packers would take on the Eagles. But the playoffs are not starting today, and before we get to that point the Packers and Bears will face each other twice.The Bears are winning games against hard-to-beat teams, but at the end of the day Oates doesn’t think they’ll be on top for the rest of the season. Caleb Williams has been doing alright for himself under Ben Johnson, especially considering the Bears’ long history of squandering quarterbacks, and the Bears have a decent running game. But Jordan Love showed some really great stuff against the Lions last week, while LaFleur made some gutsy calls that paid off. While losing Devonte Wyatt is a big loss, says Oates, they’ll still put up a good fight against Chicago.

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, the Badgers ended their season on a whimper of a loss. The axe will stay in Minnesota for another year, it seems. This year racked up very few wins with an offense that’s at the bottom of the pile. They garnered a little bit of good will after a few wins, but they lost it all on Saturday once again. Oates has a big statement to make: Luke Fickell has botched up the two most important things in college football - the quarterback and the offense. Why wasn’t Carter Smith utilized more in the second half on Saturday? We can say that it’s because we don’t know how well he does passing back from the pocket, but still.

Finally, the Badgers men’s basketball team will make their Big 10 debut this season on Wednesday night when they take on Northwestern. They showed a few weaknesses against TCU last week, mostly in their inability to react when under defensive pressure. But after Northwestern comes Marquette in a Saturday afternoon game. Marquette coach Shaka Smart has a philosophy not to use the transfer portal too much, a move which is respected by Oates. But it might still kill the team, as it is vital to college basketball today. Either way, it’s always an exciting game when Wisconsin takes on Marquette.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.