Madison — Wisconsin is coming off its 17th straight victory over Purdue, and the Badgers are now 1-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since the 2020 season.

As the team enjoys its bye week, what are the hottest questions surrounding the football program?

A bye week is often an opportunity to take a break from scouting opponents and do a bit of self-scouting. What has your team been good at? Where do they need to improve? How can you develop counters and break the tendencies you've established? The Badgers will surely take some time to self-evaluate, but the bye week also presents a chance to work on adding new elements to your scheme.

In Wisconsin's first Big Ten game of the season, the Badgers looked more creative on offense. A large part of that had to do with quarterback Tanner Mordecai's rushing output and the plays Wisconsin was able to call off of designed quarterback runs and options. Another more obvious aspect of the increased creativity was the two Philly Special's Phil Longo's offense ran in West Lafayette.

Both times the coordinator dialed up the trick play, it was successful. The first was a 19-yard completion to Mordecai in the first quarter, and the second came after the Badgers' final touchdown, once again with Will Pauling tossing to Mordecai for the conversion.

Reporters saw Wisconsin run that play during fall practices, and were promptly instructed to keep it out of print. But what other tricks could Longo's offense have up its sleeve?

While Longo's offensive system is predicated on mastery of a handful of effective plays, rather than an overflowing play sheet, it stands to reason that there will be more wrinkles from that unit. The Boilermakers are not a great team, and for the most part, Wisconsin handled them easily. There are more daunting opponents the Badgers must face this season, and I expect them to have a few more aces in the hole from an offensive play-calling standpoint.

If there's any consolation to Chez Mellusi's season-ending injury, it's that it came right before a bye week — Wisconsin's coaches will have extra time to figure out how they want to handle the RB2 position.

After the Purdue game, Luke Fickell made it clear that Jackson Acker and Cade Yacamelli will be the two primary backups.

“Yeah, Jackson Acker and Cade Yacamelli are guys we’re gonna have to continue to get rolling,” he said.

“Jackson Acker has been a guy that’s played all over the place. When we came in, we didn’t know what he was gonna be...But I think he’s a guy that through all of fall camp has really honed his running back skills and I think we’ll see a lot more of him.”

“Cade is a guy that’s seen a little bit around here," Fickell continued. "I think going into the season, a lot of people were talking about him being the next guy when these two guys maybe are gone. So he’s gonna get a lot more opportunities to do it."

I expect to see both running backs deployed quite a bit, at least for the next few games. Neither projects as an every-down back, but on paper, their skills seem to compliment each other nicely. Acker is big and physical, and it's plausible that he would be solid in pass-protection with his 6-foot-1, 235 pound frame. Yacamelli excelled as a pass-catcher out of the backfield during spring practices, and he's one of the quicker backs on the team.

Acker is more experienced, and so he figures to get the bulk of the work early. Yacamelli, though, could be a nice change of pace option as long as the coaches think he's ready for his first career Big Ten action on offense.

This question goes hand-in-hand with the previous one, as they're born out of the same situation. Early in the season, Wisconsin has been at its best when it can effectively switch between the run and pass game at any given time.

After all of the "air raid" hype this offseason, would anyone have guessed that through four games, Mordecai would have just two passing touchdowns? How about the fact that he has twice as many rushing touchdowns? Neither of those were on anyone's bingo card.

Now, with the running game depleted and in serious trouble with Mellusi's season-ending injury, the passing game must take a step forward. Braelon Allen simply can't run the ball 30 times a game. With his physical style and injury history, Wisconsin needs to protect its star tailback at all costs. One of the most effective ways it can do that is to lean more on the passing game.

Through four games, Mordecai has averaged 32 pass attempts per game. That number should spike as the Badgers try to limit Allen's workload.

Ultimately, the prospect of Wisconsin airing the football out more will rely heavily on the performance of Acker and Yacamelli. If the two backup tailbacks prove viable behind Allen, Longo can attempt to maintain balance on offense. If they struggle to provide a spark in the backfield, Mordecai may average closer to 40 passing attempts per game throughout Big Ten play.

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