I suspect this may be a rather bland recap, at least based on re-watching the first quarter. The Badgers quite simply seemed to lack any fight up front.
We ran 13 plays from scrimmage in the first quarter, four runs and nine passes, making it the second straight week where we opened pass-heavy. Once again, I focused on the underclassmen starting on the line -- RT Faalele, RG Andries and LG Olson. And it was difficult to identify any major problems with their performances in the first quarter.
I ended up dinging Faalele for pass protection on our last offensive play of the quarter, but I can't say with any certainty he was actually deficient. It was a tunnel screen to his outside, and Faalele opened wide and deep. The defender beat him pretty badly to the inside, but since the pass was going far outside, the defender essentially took himself out of the play. But Faalele completely failed to make contact, increasing the likelihood of the pass being batted down. Seemed to me the preferred route would have been to engage with the guy when he went inside, and drive him toward the center of the field.
Kinda picking nits, I know.
The only other play where our guys weren't clearly successful was an inside run to the right side that only netted two yards. The camera angle was lousy, and I couldn't really tell where the play broke down, or if Wisconsin just happened to have too many bodies at the point of attack for us to account for.
Two other notes:
• I noticed Schlueter make a couple nice run blocks from his new position as a TE.
• TE Paulson failed on a run block, which is unusual, because he's usually pretty solid. (For a bit of fun, watch him come across the formation in motion and kick out the outside rusher sometime; some nice collisions there.) But he may have just been defeated by an exceptional effort from the DL. Sometimes when you do everything right, the other guy just simply does it better.
For the quarter:
• Faalele: 100% rushing, 89% passing
• Andries: 100% rushing, 100% passing
• Olson: 100% rushing, 100% passing
Gee, can't wait to see how this one turns out!
JTG
We ran 13 plays from scrimmage in the first quarter, four runs and nine passes, making it the second straight week where we opened pass-heavy. Once again, I focused on the underclassmen starting on the line -- RT Faalele, RG Andries and LG Olson. And it was difficult to identify any major problems with their performances in the first quarter.
I ended up dinging Faalele for pass protection on our last offensive play of the quarter, but I can't say with any certainty he was actually deficient. It was a tunnel screen to his outside, and Faalele opened wide and deep. The defender beat him pretty badly to the inside, but since the pass was going far outside, the defender essentially took himself out of the play. But Faalele completely failed to make contact, increasing the likelihood of the pass being batted down. Seemed to me the preferred route would have been to engage with the guy when he went inside, and drive him toward the center of the field.
Kinda picking nits, I know.
The only other play where our guys weren't clearly successful was an inside run to the right side that only netted two yards. The camera angle was lousy, and I couldn't really tell where the play broke down, or if Wisconsin just happened to have too many bodies at the point of attack for us to account for.
Two other notes:
• I noticed Schlueter make a couple nice run blocks from his new position as a TE.
• TE Paulson failed on a run block, which is unusual, because he's usually pretty solid. (For a bit of fun, watch him come across the formation in motion and kick out the outside rusher sometime; some nice collisions there.) But he may have just been defeated by an exceptional effort from the DL. Sometimes when you do everything right, the other guy just simply does it better.
For the quarter:
• Faalele: 100% rushing, 89% passing
• Andries: 100% rushing, 100% passing
• Olson: 100% rushing, 100% passing
Gee, can't wait to see how this one turns out!
JTG