11AM: Matt Lepay Stops In!

0:00Three time Wisconsin sports writer of the year Jason Wilde. Joining us now is the Green Bay Packers new head coach Matt LaFour on Wilde in Towsh. Packers Hala Famer Mark Towshier. Matt LaFour, Matt Nagy and Matt Patricia. Who is the most famous non NFC North head coach? Not named Matt No, I'm sorry. Broadcasting live from the Everlight Solar Studio at ESPN Madison. Who is the most famous non NFC North head coach? Name Matt, Matt Damon, Matt Ryan, somebody else. And celebrating 10 great years on ESPN Wisconsin. Can you repeat that question? Sorry. This is Wilde in Towsh, presented by Pella Windows and Doors of Wisconsin. The 11 o'clock hour of Wilde in Towsh begins. I still can't believe we get to call this guy our teammate now.

1:22I couldn't call him an icon, we can call him a legend, old, say old. I did. We can call him part of the 10 for 10 series built by outdoor living and unlimited with Matt LaPay in studio. 10 great years. I didn't realize that I was going to be witnessing miracles this morning. 10 incredible guests. This is for Mark Towshier, Towsh, as they say. This negativity's got the stuff. 10 unique ways to feature those who have influenced this show the most. Oh, I'm shocked you guys still have my phone number, much less still having you on the air. Wilde in Towsh's 10th anniversary is presented by Steinhoffels and this is the 10 for 10 series built by outdoor living unlimited Wisconsin's best deck builders. It is our 10 for 10 series and it is our teammate Matt LaPay, the voice of the badgers live in studio.

2:24My understanding is you only come on normally. I mean, now you're going to come on with us every week. But before that, like every time I was out Towsh would invite you to come on. I don't know why because I enjoy talking to you too. But it feels like every time I'm gone, you come on. Is that not fair? Sure. Attack your it. Yeah. It's good to see it in person. It is great to be seen. It's good to see you. Are you guys, do you guys have to do any run-throughs? You don't have preseason games like Larry McCarran and Wayne Larvey have. You're right. Yeah, Jesse didn't even know it. We were at the Verona, Monona Girl game the other day. We were just sitting under the bleachers discussing different schemes and things. I don't feel like Dennis and I were up there doing a lot of fun. You didn't hear a lot of fun. You guys were just down below it getting set for it. Actually, I know Matt likes doing this. We go to different bowling alleys and we just want to discuss the oil and we really delve into. Are the numbers hard to read at the bowling alleys? Yeah, we can't believe it. We can't believe it.

3:24As we get older, yeah, the uniform system. Pop like they used to. Stuff getting old. So you guys obviously have a rhythm and so much experience with each other. Are there some kinks in the holes as you get started in the first game of the season or not really? Probably early on and then we get over that. We laugh at each other and we move on. We don't get too hung up. If you make one mistake, you can't let it lead to the next. Make new mistakes. Don't let the same ones over and over again. Yeah, let a team beat you twice. That's a great philosopher once said. That is what they said. Yeah, no, I think there's, especially now there's so much that you just don't know. I think you start getting into a, after you watch a couple of games, you'll kind of get an idea of what Wisconsin, especially from the Wisconsin side of it. You have an idea of what we're trying to do. Now I think you have an idea, but from the Notre Dame standpoint, yes, they have a lot of guys back, but they're still going to be, you know,

4:25Coach Alvarez would always say these first games, there's going to be unscouted looks. There's going to be all these things that people don't know, and it's even more so now, if I'm Notre Dame, you're probably looking at it thinking, I have an idea, but you don't know everything that you're thinking. There's going to be all of that. And one of the things I don't know if it was with Molly and Jim this week, you know, pathways to victory and all the other stuff that people want to talk about, special teams is always one of the most fascinating parts of these opening games in college football, because they're not hitting as much, there's not as much tackling, there's a lot of making sure you get people lined up and getting out there, and that almost always in games that you can keep tight makes such a huge difference. So there's so many variables now, even more so than there was four or five years ago. Yes, Steph further, Wisconsin's field goal kicker, the next field goal he attempts will be his first. He has been a kickoff specialist and actually took a red shirt last year, so he's got a really strong leg, but he has not been asked to put the ball between the uprights in a college game.

5:28And I'll say this, at Badgers practices, and they're not spilling any details, they have refs that say the field goal is good or they're not. So, sitting there practicing mat and I said, boy, it's just so nice, you see. You don't have to guess and they actually have refs that they're gonna put there. Yep, it was good, no, it was wide. And that's something that you didn't have to look at. We did have this training camp. We did have it in the games and all 16 times that Trace Matt kicked in the games, it went through the uprights. Now we'll see if he can do it for real. How far into your prep are you on the fight in Irish? Because I think Jesse, because he's so knowledgeable about college football and believes the Badgers can win that they don't have as many transfers. Where do your ball coach say something very similar to that on the Berry Outer? Nobody's getting after coach on the Jesse Nelson show featuring Berry Outer. Is that the new Berry's cabana and at the Hard Rock Casino Rockford on Tuesday night, six to eight, two hour special?

6:28Yes. I just love the national perspective. The fact you hear almost all of the experts and again, everybody that thinks they're an expert right now, they had Florida State winning a national championship, Clemson, all of the... It is, this team is an absolute juggernaut. Great quarterback, great corner, running backs, they got defensive, it's every place is great. And you know what, they are really good. But you gotta go out and see it. So yes, I think the national Notre Dame is gonna be extra motivated. There's all this other stuff that's going on. Yeah, they're gonna be really good. But I think Wisconsin's gonna be... I feel very confident saying Wisconsin's gonna be a lot better than the last time we saw that group put itself out on a football field. Yeah, I think the national pundits, and Notre Dame is really good because much of that productivity from last year was back. Now the top two running backs were first round draft picks. Jeremiah loved you during the price, or they're both in the league right now. But if you're gonna make an assumption, which is we all know is dangerous. But if you're gonna make one, you figure these other running backs are gonna be really good.

7:30That's why they're at Notre Dame. But the quarterback really well established. The defense should be, put it that way, should be among the best in the country. They've got a cornerback who maybe is good as it gets. Pretty much erases one side of the field, the way people describe. But we think we know more about Notre Dame than we know about Wisconsin because of all the transfers. And many of them are going to be counted on from Colton Joseph and Abu Sama and the list goes on and on. So nobody really knows. I mean Florida State beat Alabama, the first game last year. Oh, the Noles are bad. Until they weren't. So we tend to... We're gonna take way too much out of the first game. Good or bad for Wisconsin. I mean, great opportunity for these guys. But if they lose and it's decisive, I don't think it means they stink. If they win, great story, probably the best story of the first week college football.

8:32Does it mean they're back? Not necessarily. You still have a lot of other games ahead of you to prove that you're really back. What are you most excited to see or to as watching this team throughout camp? What do you think our fans are going to be most excited to see about this year's version of this team? I think the defense has a chance to be pretty good. I really do. I think the secondary can be better. There's more speed back there. There's good experience. You know, Javan Robinson has played on big stages. Cornerback coming over from Arizona State. Marvin Berks coming over from Missouri. Matt Young another year in the system. I think that'll be really important for him. Bryce West coming over from Ohio State. I do want to see if they can get some past rush. I want to rattle off a bunch of names. I was doing this with Ben, Kyle and Bruce yesterday. I could tell and this happens whenever I talk to people. I can rattle off these names and almost like names out of a phone book because of the world we're in right now.

9:32I think a guy like Sebastian Cheeks who's been in the program now. Last couple of years, I think they're really counting on him to be able to get to the quarterback. Good depth in the interior and the linebackers with names that people might actually know. Mason, Posas and Cooper, Catalano, really eager to see what they do the way they finished last year. How they can build on that this year. Yeah, and Mason Posas got all the love and deservedly so. He stepped in along with Cooper. A lot of, I know we pay attention to this, lighten the butt, all the stuff that some of the Notre Dame talking heads are saying. Cooper, Catalano is a pretty dang good player. Yeah, he is. I don't know if there's any light about Cooper. It seemed like it was a little misinformed, maybe. Tell me this. Did we talk about this earlier in a week of practice? This kind of a scenario is in Barry's wheelhouse. There night respect that that's at all.

10:32There the greatest team ever assembled. I don't know if Luke is wired that way, but all week. Just so those that aren't watching. As much as that sounds like Towsha's invitation of Barry, that was actually Matt's. Just for those of you that were unaware. I couldn't afford it. It was Barry. He was saying that on Tuesday night. Maybe it was Tark. All right, you're going to stick around for a little while longer since we did such a bunch of managing the clock. You said something last week when you joined us. I was at Packers practice that I wanted to circle back to. It's regarding the quarterback position because I know there's a lot of excitement about that and about the history versus what we might expect this year. But we can't get to that until Towsha tells us about all the great things outdoor living unlimited is doing for him as he gets his backyard together. We are excited last week with brothers week with the mountains and the mountains and the floors and everybody else and the brown brothers Aaron and Eric brothers and owners of outdoor living unlimited.

11:35That's who we have decided to work with. You know what? We love the fact that his family own and locally operated and their showroom is a must we've worked with. Looted design it. We have everything planned out. We got all the colors. We got all the stuff figured even though that was not my wheelhouse. Luckily we have a smart team with outdoor living unlimited start with outdoor living unlimited dot com and you end with an amazing outdoor space. Check them out at outdoor living unlimited dot com more with Matt LePaynex. This will be its house. This is will the end house presented by Pella Windows and doors of Wisconsin called today 855 Pella WI and online at Pella WI dot com slash radio. Yeah. Will the end house continues with the voice of the badgers and our teammate Matt LePaynex.

12:41Since we've mismanaged the clock I'm going to ask you a quick question and we'll take another break so we can make sure we don't run out of time with you. But we talked about Colton Joseph last week and what you brought up was the fact that when you look at Ryan Hopkins the true freshman when you look at do sadoms the transfer. They have more quarterbacks and I am not an apologist for Luke fickle at the same time I think if we're going to be fair to Luke fickle for those of us that are on the outside looking in. You lose your transfer quarterback three straight years you're probably not going to win as many games as you're expecting to my question is when you look at we talked a lot about Colton Joseph last week. How confident are you in those alternative options if as James Campon used to say Colton Joseph can't find his helmet or he breaks his chin strap or he breaks a shoelace and he's not available. I'm as confident as you can be given the fact that Ryan Hopkins is a true freshman right and do sadoms started one game at Louisville last year but both of those guys can throw it and run it they can be threats with both their arm and their feet.

13:51And so it doesn't the offense doesn't have to go through some dramatic overhaul in my opinion because they do have similar skill sets Colton Joseph's QB1 for a reason but Adams can he can throw it runs well Hopkins can he really throw it well and really runs well but he is a true freshman so I would feel they'll hopefully that doesn't happen due to injury but I would feel a more confident this year than what we have seen maybe in the past. I just feel like I look back on these past seasons and when that high profile transfer quarterback was unavailable things really seemed from the outside looking into kind of go to hell and a hand basket and obviously now that's why I'm curious about it because to your point hopefully Colton Joseph is as healthy as healthy can be any place every snap but all life is good but it just feels like the luck has been that that's not the case. Hopkins has a seems to have a maturity I have to say seems not like I really know the kid but he seems to have a maturity a presence to him that's a little uncommon for a true freshman the modern day it you know the senior year nationally respected program in Southern California and Adams is you know he's been around he just started the one game at Louisville but the coach there is pretty good with quarterbacks Jeff wrong you know so that you're learning a lot there so it's and it's not a

15:17knock on you know what they've had in the past you but these guys just like to me they just seem like an entouched down a few agree they just seem like they have a better skill set for what they want to do offensive. There's no doubt there's more depth and I do think the the skill set there is a you know you bring in Colton Joseph you're in a run and I think college football has been leaning this way for a long time you need to have someone that can extend plays but also make plays with their feet and you know you ask any defensive coordinator what drives you nuts it's third and six you have the right coverage you have everything something breaks down the guy goes makes a play with his feet that's something that we just have not had and I know that's something that you know this offensive staff every offensive staff in college football and in the pros wants to have and we have guys now that are going to be able to do that so you know we want to see it there's there is definitely a lot more depth at that position than what we've seen under Luke fickle up to this point we'll spend some more time with Matt Lape after I tell you that this is your chance to experience a game day like never before you could win a pair of tickets to see green Bay host Chicago on October 11th which includes reservations to the tundra trio green base upscale tailgating destination upscale homes steps from the stadium featuring gourmet food and premium drinks thanks to Dr. Pepper

16:47and ESPN Wisconsin you can enter to win right now at ESPN Wisconsin dot com and nothing hits like a dirty Dr. Pepper the unmistakably Dr. Pepper flavor with a touch of vanilla and cold foam now available at McDonald's yeah get one on the way home today no purchase necessary you must enter by September 20th more will the entouch straight ahead stick around this is will the entouch driven by Zimbrick Chevrolet and Sun Prairie on 100.5 ESPN see their full inventory at Zimbrick Chevrolet dot com more with Matt Lape after Tows tells us about brown strouth brown strouth say 100% employee own structural steel company from agricultural equipment to warehouses sports stadiums to

17:54manufacturing facilities brown strouth is helping build the Midwest as an employee own company the team at brown strouth has a vested interest in helping contractors manufacturers and companies that they work for succeed the most trusted source for steel and a dependable partner that helps keep projects and businesses moving brown strouth steel learn more at brownstrouth.com all right so um i believe Jesse has something that he'd like you to hear from one of his oh god is he gonna have more stuff for Matt or critique and i mean you're really good at this you're talking to Sean i course about my high school bowling uh ventures earlier this is where you know might as well keep you do have any show ever met she's like god there's this kid he claims he's your son and he won't stop talking about bowling did that happen or is that you know i talked to Sean for a little bit this morning and uh well i'll fill you in on fair jimsy great i heard your feelings on the air sounds good kids tell me he's got a seven ten split news not talking about his pants so there are two things that have come up over the last week that i wanted to play and then hear from my fake damn i real dad says hi by the way um

19:08so the first was from the berry alvarez show at the cabana on uh Tuesday night earlier this week so um we're recruiting a group now that's uh going to be part of an effort here okay uh i'll play this for you and then we'll see if you well well first what you think of the clip and then also if you want to join our club archtoucher did say that he's since we're doing the show at the cabana if Wisconsin beats Notre Dame when we come back here in another week or two we all jump in the pool when we do the show Sean would you like to join us in that uh where the hell where the hell's that camera i'm gonna turn that show swim shirt at all yes it's a big swim everyone he's he's he's committing everyone child goes in we there will be no water left in the pool Sean that sounds a little low blow man right he you look fantastic yeah i know this shirt i still will wear a swim shirt but yes yeah this is where i don't know if this is where Jesse wanted to go with this definitely in the lukefickler this would be the bit but i i would i i actually have said

20:13if we could pull this off sunday night as big underdogs against all this great powerful team and oh my god like this is what i'd be doing and i know berry would be doing it as the head coach and i'm sure you you know when you're an underdog is this would this be the biggest upset in the history of Wisconsin Badgers football hmm because it's in the it's in the conversation if it happens be on a short list it would i mean they haven't beaten a top five team since ls u 10 years ago at lambo field yep so Ohio state or the kick return game obviously that was a big upset and then obviously going way back into before either of us um you've gary allerson and the mission one against mission anyway yeah yeah but in today's day i i think any of the 93 wins on the way to the rose bowl Michigan post list on breather game yeah i don't think they were as big and underdog as as this team is for this game um try to be trying to think like taushin in your time

21:22maybe your freshman year they didn't i mean badgers didn't win the game but they were massive underdogs at Ohio state you know how state hit a big play in the fourth quarter and that was the difference um that was Ronnie's freshman year um but now this would if it's not at the top it would be on the very short list i'm gonna i'm gonna add this little tidbit from a piece years ago by mike lucas on uh you don't be badgers.com uh that 1981 team that beat michigan 21 to 14 the previous matchups with michigan in the years leading up to that Wisconsin lost 56 nothing in 1979 1977 what 42 to nothing in 1978 what 54 to nothing in 1979 what and in a big step forward 24 to nothing in 1980 so they had gone four straight years without scoring against michigan and then they

22:23beat michigan i think that's probably gonna stay number one even though none of us were there for it madman and boom three interceptions in that game if i recall my history correctly um i was not in attendance i was in my previous life in Ohio but where i was at and when that score was announced there was a roar i bet i bet i bet there was i could have been anywhere all right jessby what was your other clip so um when you guys have shared a broadcast booth together um is either of you more for lack of a better word like klutzie than the other. I explain. Anyone ever like trip over cords or getting the way stuff. We're both very athletic. Yeah, sounds great. Now that I got this neat, now that with MoMA, the help from MoMA and my knees feeling better. Yeah. So I don't want to describe Dennis Semrao that way. The Dean. The boss to the sea. It has to be absolute legend.

23:23He says, my guys could be in the hall of fame, WBCA hall. Yes, get a game tonight at Pratt Mania. Slider Bowl tomorrow night, Lakeside Lutheran and Lake Mills. Battle of Lake Mills. Dude's two schools separate by the boss. A lot of she's walking in half. You're going to have a couple of sliders to honor it. Lance Davis, VS. Ben Milwaukee, going to be joining Dennis for the call tomorrow. And I probably because Dennis doesn't want to work with me anymore because of how I threw him under the bus last week. So you're about to run out. I know he listens around this time on Thursday. So I wanted to save this for the voice of the badgers here. So this happened, I don't know if dad, if you would recommend going about our business any differently next time when something like this happens during our Pratt Mania broadcast. We've got an injured silver eagle player down on the field. So we'll keep an eye out on who this player is. Let you know momentarily as there's a brief stoppage. So first, we want to take this moment to tell you that Zimbraconda's presentation of Pratt Mania is brought to you in part by Hooper Service. At Hooper Service, customer comfort comes first. Their home comfort priority plan keeps systems running their best,

24:25saving customers money with priority service. And for heating, cooling, plumbing, or fire protection, Hooper is their 24-7. Turn to the experts, carrier, and Hooper. The injured player still down for Manona Grove. And apparently the way he could drive, what shot Peeler on that catch? Oh, 27 yards. You were very stealthy doing that, Dennis. No one noticed. Yeah, right. You're a truck. So he tripped over the entire cord as he was setting it down to go check with the official score and then kicked the cord. The entire headset went stumbling across the press box. And he was picking it up all along, telling everybody about Hooper Service. Well, we would not have known that. Now you've just shown them under the bus. I mean, there was fans, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What am I supposed to do in that situation? Be a pro. Be a pro. Be a pro. Come on, son. Come on. You got to be better than that. I bet you've never been more disappointed. I am.

25:25Except for when you found out he was calling himself yourself. Well, that's a good point. But I thought I'd taught you better than that. Come on. I just, I sometimes, it's just so on the note. Like I usually try to be a pro, but what a dean. So he gets hands that around like a soccer ball in the press box. I'm just thinking like, all right. Like, stealthy, I thought it was a pretty good word to use to describe him there. Seems like a good time to suggest that if you need to get away and you need to feel like you've escaped, you can escape to Milwaukee's Potawatomi casino hotel with the biggest hotel rooms in Milwaukee, nearly 500 beautifully designed rooms and luxury suites. And you're just steps away from all the fun stuff happening inside. And if you're hungry, there's so many options. Dream Dance, stay-couse, the marketplace, rock and bruise, Canal Street Cafe, Ruyi Asian Kitchen, and the Cream City Coffee Company. Sophisticated relaxation. Incredible flavor and a full night out. All in one place of Potawatomi casino hotel. We'll wrap things up next. This will be in Towsh. This is Richeyeson coming up on a monster Thursday show.

26:25Giant Swannam back cam scatiboot. Mike Tomlin, now of NBC Sports will join us and in studio. The star of the new movie by any means, Mark Wolver. Thursday's Richeyeson show on Disney plus the ESPN app and ESPN radio. We're almost out of time. Jesse, did you have anything else for Matt LaPay? I don't want to take away any more of your quality time with him. Jesse, Coach Mack is still very upset with you earlier in the week. Apparently with trivia, you were like the deck was stacked. I'm just the messenger. I'm just passing that along. He's not pleased with you. You know, the trivia tournament of champions, congrats again to Tucker and Wasson. Who are you going to play for this now? No, that's not it. College football has proven fellows. You would know controversy makes the sport a little more interesting. Who gets left out, whether the rules are completely fair, whether NFL guys can go play in college. All these different rules are controversial in college football

27:25and it makes the sport intriguing. The willy and tows trivia of tournament of champions, lived up to that as well. Do you like laying kiffin or what? Yeah, kind of. Yeah. And all that noise in the back of the day, that's it for us today. Have a great day. Take care. Be good. Miss any of today's episode of willy and towshe presented by Pella Windows and doors of Wisconsin. Commercial free full show podcasts are available free. Only ESPN Wisconsin app.