MADISON - The Jim Leonhard era got underway with some fireworks Saturday afternoon against Northwestern. The offense tallied 515 yards of total offense and the defense carried a shutout until there were 11 minutes left to play with Wisconsin up 42-7. Now the Badgers look to stack wins together as it hits the road to face Michigan State this weekend.
BadgerBlitz.com runs our 3-2-1 feature back to look back at three takeaways from the past week, two questions heading into the next game and one bold prediction for the Week 7 contest against Michigan State.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Wisconsin offense explosive in first day fully under Bobby Engram
Part of the scramble this week for the coaching staff, along with dealing with the emotion of the coaching change, was coming up with an offensive gameplan. The product on the field had been subpar but former head coach Paul Chryst played a major role in terms of coming up with the gameplan.
Well, in the first game under the full direction of offensive coordinator Bobby Engram, the offense had an all-time day.
Graham Mertz threw for a career-high 299 yards and five touchdowns, which is the fouth time a Wisconsin quarterback has done so. Chimere Dike was his favorite target on the afternoon with 10 catches for 185 yards and three touchdowns. The 185 yards are the eighth most ever by a UW receiver and he was only the 10th receiver to have three touchdown receptions in a game.
On the ground, Braelon Allen didn't explode but paced the team with 23 carries for 135 yards.
The gameplan on offense was notably different as well.
Part of the criticism had been that a Wisconsin had become predictable and left running backs facing stacked boxes. This past Saturday, UW threw the ball on 10 of 30 first down plays. To open the game, Mertz threw a pair of throws for 20 total yards in the first two plays. Mertz went 8-of-10 and threw for 78 yards on those passes.
Play action ticked up dramatically as well.
Against Northwestern, the Badgers ran play action 10 times. Before this week, the offense ran play action just 12 times through five weeks. Mertz went 7-of-10 for 86 yards and threw two touchdowns on play action.
2. Defense plays first complete game
