Wisconsin played its third conference game of the season against the Iowa Hawkeyes, losing 15-6 in Camp Randall Saturday. Luke Fickell and the Badgers will now look to another road trip against the Illinois Fighting Illini, before returning home to face the Ohio State Buckeyes.
BadgerBlitz.com brings you our weekly "3-2-1" series, honing in on the Week 4 win over Purdue, and what it will mean going forward.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED DURING WISCONSIN'S WIN
1. The units are moving in opposite directions
The Badgers did play poorly, but most of the negativity should be directed toward the offense.
They came out with energy and creativity on their first drive, running tempo and diversifying their play calls. It led them all the way to Iowa’s red zone, where they turned it over on downs after Braelon Allen was stopped on fourth-and-one.
This seemed to kill their spark, as the offense would go three-and-out on their next four drives.
What’s even more damning is that only two of the 12 plays in this span were runs, featuring a series of six straight passes. Allen’s brief injury factored into this, but Jackson Acker isn’t that much of a downgrade.
The offense was even so bad that they overshadowed a great defensive performance.
Iowa has far from the most talented offense in the Big Ten. But Wisconsin’s defense still looked incredible and deserves credit.
Mike Tressel’s play calling had all the creativity that Phil Longo lacked. Tressel's unique blitzes, especially on third down, frightened Deacon Hill so much that he only threw for 37 yards. Tressel even drew up a blitz that got cornerback Alexander Smith a sack off the edge.
The defense wasn’t even too phased by the early loss of James Thompson Jr., who’s become one of the best players in the whole unit.
They did let Leshon Williams run for an 82-yard touchdown, which became the most crucial play of the day, by far, but they gave the Wisconsin offense too many chances to take any blame for the team’s shortcomings.
