The Badgers had another disappointing outing against a top team on Saturday.
The Wisconsin Badgers lost its homecoming game to the Penn State Nittany Lions 28-13. The Badgers led at halftime 10-7 and didn’t have to face Drew Allar in the second half as he was injured. The Badgers offense continued to be too conservative and failed to move the ball up the field. Wisconsin is now 0-3 against ranked teams this season and dropped to 5-3 on the year.
Here’s what went wrong for Wisconsin in this game and what they need to improve on as they head to Iowa City next Saturday for another primetime game.
Conservative play calling
The Badgers have had success scoring touchdowns in their last three games because the playcalling was fresh and interesting. Offensive coordinator Phil Longo did a nice job incorporating end-arounds, long passing plays, and designed runs that gained lots of yards and helped the Badgers run up the score.
In this matchup, it felt like Coach Longo reverted back to his more conservative play calling that we saw last year and earlier this season, which prevented the Badger offense from doing much damage against this tough Penn State defense.
Many of the drives consisted of two inside zone runs and then a long passing play on third down. It just seemed like a formula that didn’t make a ton of sense in this game and didn’t set Wisconsin up for many scoring opportunities. It’ll be interesting next weekend to see the changes that Coach Longo makes as they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on the road.
Iowa isn’t the same caliber team as Penn State, so I expect the Badgers to have more success offensively in that game.
Drops
Wisconsin receivers had a fair amount of drops yesterday which killed a lot of the momentum that their offensive drives had. Both Will Pauling and Trech Kekahuna had drops from the slot position, which could have set them up for a scoring opportunity.
In games against top teams such as Penn State, drops are something that cannot happen and especially cannot happen more than once in a game. Both Pauling and Kekahuna are immensely talented receivers so I’m not too worried about either of them, but both need to work on these drop issues during practice this week.
Passing defense & lack of QB pressure
I was impressed by how well Coach Tressel and the Wisconsin defense played against Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, who are some of the most talented running backs in the nation. Allen did have a long breakaway touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but the game was practically over by then.
I was surprised at how much trouble Wisconsin’s secondary had when defending the passing game, especially in the second half.
When backup quarterback Beau Pribula entered the game, it felt like Wisconsin’s best chance at a big upset win in years. However, the Badgers secondary failed to limit the passing game as much as they had before which allowed for long passes that converted first downs for the Nittany Lions.
Another thing that stood out to me was how little the Badgers pass rushers were able to pressure PSU’s quarterbacks. In both halves, Wisconsin’s edge rushers were able to beat the offensive line but failed to tackle or sack the quarterback until he gained a fair amount of yardage.
If Wisconsin wants to win big games like these, they need to be able to garner pressure and sacks on opposing quarterbacks and push the opposing team’s offense back as much as possible.
Wisconsin’s defense only allowed 21 points to Penn State, as one of their touchdowns came from the costly pick-six from Braedyn Locke. 21 points is a pretty solid day against one of the most intricate offenses in the nation and shows that defensive coordinator Mike Tressel has done a very good job in his short time here in Madison.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I was disappointed in how the second half went for the Badgers but still saw a lot of promise in how well they defended Penn State in the first half and for most of the third quarter. I expect Coach Longo to draw up more exciting and effective plays for his offense this week so they can capitalize in their game against Iowa.
Wisconsin’s ability to limit the run yesterday bodes well for next weekend as they face one of the best running backs in the country in Kaleb Johnson. Iowa’s passing game is almost non-existent, so defending Johnson and the running game is the key to winning in Iowa City, which I believe they will.