After a 487-yard performance against Michigan and coordinator Don Brown's typically stout defense, the hype surrounding the Wisconsin offense and its potential skyrocketed.
Taking on Northwestern a week later, a different narrative was told.
A couple days after Wisconsin's 24-15 win over Northwestern, credit was given where credit was due to a Wildcats' defense that contained the Badgers to season lows in total yards (243), third down conversions (4-of-16) and offensive points (10).
Among the areas where UW's offense stumbled included its passing game, which averaged 243 passing yards in its first three contests. Northwestern prowled into Camp Randall Stadium and stunted the aerial attack in holding UW to 113.
"They mixed up a bunch of different coverages and they disguised everything well," junior quarterback Jack Coan said on Monday. "They kind of were giving us the same look on most of the plays and then going to something different.”
Yet after reviewing the film, two key contributors to the offense and their head coach also acknowledged what they could have done better.
When asked during his weekly Monday press conference about what Northwestern had done to take away some things offensively, head coach Paul Chryst stated he believed the unit did not necessarily attack the whole field last weekend.
“You’ll be your best -- and I don’t care what style of offense you’re doing -- if you can attack the whole field, you’re going to be harder to defend,” Chryst said.
UW averaged 264 yards on the ground and 5.5 yards per carry in its first three wins, including the 359 against the Wolverines in a dominant victory on Sept. 21. Despite junior running back Jonathan Taylor going over 100 yards against the Wildcats on Saturday, the Badgers' rushing attack as a whole gained just 130 yards on 3.7 yards per rush.
On Monday, Taylor pinpointed a few factors that need to be refined.
“One of the biggest things is we got to stick on blocks, and we have to make sure that the running backs are pressing the blocks," Taylor said. "We got to make sure we’re protecting Jack. An accumulation of things that we have to make sure that we come together as a team this week, clean those things up so we can continue moving forward.”
Looking back at the passing attack, Coan completed 15-of-24 passes for the 113 yards with an interception. UW did not challenge NU's defense vertically, as its longest pass went for 19 yards. The one time the signal caller aired it out deep, safety J.R. Pace made a play and picked off a pass intended for wide receiver Quintez Cephus.
Reflecting a couple of days later, Coan complimented Northwestern but self-critiqued his play when having opportunities to throw the ball.
“I felt like on a couple of plays I probably could have trusted my read progression a little better," Coan said. "Then I also give a lot of credit to their defense. They had a good game plan, and their players were making great plays.”
On third down, Wisconsin moved the chains on just 25 percent of its opportunities, and according to StatBroadcast, the average length on third down conversions was 6.9 yards per attempt. On 12 of the 16 conversion attempts, the Badgers faced a distance of five yards or more. That excludes a 13th that was the final snap of the game. They only gained first downs on two of those.
Also seen on some downs last Saturday was the fact Northwestern would drop eight players into coverage.
“Whenever they drop eight, you’re usually going to have a little more time to pass the ball," Coan said. "The windows either become early windows or later windows in the progression, so really just playing ball when they drop eight.”
Looking at one tendency within Wisconsin's offense as a whole through four games has been the utilization of lighter personnel, as seen in BadgerBlitz.com's weekly breakdowns. Factors contributing to the 21 (two running backs, one tight end) or 11 (one running back, one tight end, three wide receiver) looks could include both the lack of depth at tight end this season outside of starter Jake Ferguson -- even with redshirt freshman Cormac Sampson moving back to that position from the offensive line -- and also the two-deep of starting-capable wide receivers the team boasts.
On Saturday, Wisconsin also extensively used Coan in shotgun or pistol looks. By BadgerBlitz.com notes, just 12 of the 60 snaps UW took against Northwestern were under center, with three of those reps at the end coming in "victory" formation.
According to Taylor, the shotgun and pistol formations spread out opposing defenses out and "makes them play honest." Yet, he also looked at the larger picture regardless of whether Wisconsin utilizes them.
“One of the biggest things is you got to execute, whether we’re under center, in the shotgun, pistol, we got to make sure all the blocking schemes are executed," Taylor said. "If it’s a pass play, we got to make sure that we’re getting all the protections down, and making sure that Jack is clean. We got to make sure that the run blocking is clean. We have to do every single thing to make sure that no matter what formation we’re in, we’re able to execute."
