Film room: Wisconsin football’s potential silver lining from the Iowa loss
Wisconsin football was extraordinarily poor in every facet against Iowa, but the Badgers may be onto something with their offensive line.
You don’t need me to tell you just how bad Wisconsin football was in its 37-0 homecoming shellacking at the hands of Iowa last Saturday night.
The statistics, the eye test — every possible metric will lead you to the same unnerving conclusion: this is the worst Badger football team in quite some time, potentially since the early days of Barry Alvarez’ tenure at the onset of the 1990s.
With yet another loss that rattled the fanbase to its core and raised a litany of existential questions about the program, attempting to search for positives may seem like a fool’s errand. Indeed, watching Wisconsin’s film from the Iowa game was akin to rooting through a dumpster.
Still, sifting through the offensive tape, I couldn’t help but notice an area of potential growth: the offensive line.
The following film breakdown will focus on the running game, but it’s worth noting that pass protection was a positive as well. The Badgers allowed just two quarterback hits and no sacks.
Now, again: this beleaguered and injury-riddled offensive line has plenty of work to do, and this potential silver lining should still be taken in the context of a humiliating 37-0 defeat. Nonetheless, this offensive front played as well as it has all year against the Hawkeyes.
The Badgers ran for 127 yards against Iowa, their highest rushing total since Week 2 against Middle Tennessee and the first time they topped 100 yards since that game. Needing 36 carries to get there (3.5 yards per carry) and with a long run of just 13 yards, it certainly wasn’t the most efficient ground game.
Regardless, going beyond the box score and diving into the tape, we can start to see the basic building blocks of Jeff Grimes’ downhill zone running scheme.
Though this is a modest gain, there are several things to like about this play. First of all, Wisconsin’s offensive line gets off the ball in a hurry. Every player’s legs are churning, moving forward, pushing Iowa defenders backwards. There’s a little congestion, and potentially even a missed assignment or two, but tailback Dilin Jones still finds daylight and bounces off tacklers.
Another thing I like about this play: the linemen are engaged until the whistle. Jones runs into a mass of bodies, but the pile is pushed, and you can see center Jake Renfro (#57) actually try to pull Jones further upfield. That’s the mentality you need up front.
Ah, yes, the quarterback draw. This is a play Grimes went to with the more mobile Danny O’Neil, but it works here with Hunter Simmons as well. Everyone holds their ground except right guard Kerry Kodanko, who ultimately gives up the tackle. This play could absolutely be executed better, but it’s still good to see Badger linemen out in space looking to throw a block, especially when that lineman is Joe Brunner (#56).
With this extremely handicapped offense, Grimes needs to manufacture yards any way he can, even if it’s just five or six of them at a time. The QB draw is something of an off-speed pitch in that regard. It may look clunky, but if it can get around five yards each time, it needs to stay in the playbook.
The next play might be the best collective rep I’ve seen from Wisconsin’s offensive front all season: