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.