The Wisconsin Badgers haven’t seen their offense play a complete game through the first three games of the season, primarily struggling to run the ball.
Wisconsin is playing behind a young offensive line currently, playing three redshirt freshmen at times during Saturday’s 38-14 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide. That has led to some struggles blocking up front, but it also hasn’t helped that teams have been loading up the box, daring the Badgers to connect on explosives through the air.
That, according
to Luke Fickell, is where the Badgers need to grow in order to see their run game flourish more.
“We’ve got to be better at pushing the ball down the field some,” Fickell acknowledged when discussing the run game on Monday. “Give those guys some opportunities to maybe not have as loaded of boxes. We’ve got to ID these things a little bit better, but I think it really just comes down to those guys working in unison. There was some yardage out there that we didn’t take advantage of on Saturday. Meaning, we shift, motion, it’s not the easiest thing to line up to. But, sometimes, that is where some of the youth makes it more difficult.
“What I mean by that is, when guys are misaligned: ‘Oh, that wasn’t the look I worked on all week, or the shade was supposed to be there, the linebackers [are in a different place].’ And then you get into games against teams like that, where I am not saying they junk it up, but maybe they weren’t aligned perfectly. And, when you’re an older guy, you keep moving forward and you understand that somebody is going to end up in a spot where you are supposed to be, and whoever that is at that point in time, you’ve got to block them. And for young guys, that is where the game can be a little bit fast. That is part of the growth. We know there are some spots out there, and those guys just need to work in unison together, and trust in one another too, so we can give some of our backs a little better chance.”
The run game is going to be a work in progress for the Badgers, but they need to earn some respect through the air if they’re going to see more success on the ground.
The opportunities have been there, more so in the first and second game than against Alabama this past week, set aside the 41-yard touchdown to Jayden Ballard late in the game. But, a lot of those chances also come off play-action, where the Badgers need 1) a consistent run game and 2) a quarterback ready enough to execute the timing on those plays.
With Billy Edwards nearing a return, perhaps the Badgers see more success there. But, they’ll need to find more consistency in the air to open up the ground game. We’ve seen glimpses of that where the quick passing game opens up the vertical attack, which can open up the run game. However, that needs to be there more often, which is something the offense will have to work on.
In years past, the Badgers could rely on their offensive line to create some of those opportunities in the run game when it was the team’s biggest strength. That isn’t the case this year, as Wisconsin is developing some of its younger talent, so there needs to be more emphasis on the other units to pick up the slack so that the offensive line can start to develop more.
