Saddled with patchwork O-line, Wisconsin football offense still looks the part
A shuffled front predictably gave Wisconsin's offense some issues, but the rest of Jeff Grimes' unit was humming in a Week 2 win over Middle Tennessee.
The issues were clear immediately. When the Wisconsin football offense trotted out to take the field in Week 2 against Middle Tennessee, all eyes drifted to the offensive line for multiple reasons.
First of all, change up front was expected given left tackle Davis Heinzen’s less-than-stellar play in the opener. Head coach Luke Fickell acknowledged during the week that measures would be enacted to rectify the poor play from the blindside tackle spot, and he stayed true to his word: Heinzen was replaced by Riley Mahlman.
What’s more, starting center Jake Renfro was a surprise inclusion on the Badgers’ pre-game injury report, and he didn’t dress for Week 2.
Those two occurrences set off a chain of events that culminated in four of the five spots on Wisconsin’s starting offensive line being shuffled from the last time the Badgers took the field. Saturday afternoon, the Badgers deployed (from left to right): Mahlman, Joe Brunner, Kerry Kodanko, Colin Cubberly and Emerson Mandell.
Predictably, that didn’t go too well.
On Wisconsin’s first drive, Kodanko snapped the ball well before quarterback Danny O’Neil, or anyone else on offense for that matter, was ready for it.
On the Badgers’ fourth drive, an exceedingly high snap caused a loss of 19 yards.
On Wisconsin’s last drive, a poorly-timed snap caused a meaningless yet disheartening fumble.
But make no mistake, it wasn’t just an issue with the center(s). The Badgers’ running backs averaged just 3.7 yards per carry. Middle Tennessee’s defense picked up seven tackles-for-loss. Any sort of push up front was wildly inconsistent, especially in the first half.
And yet, with all that being said? Despite the rag-tag offensive line that played accordingly, despite a backup quarterback?
Wisconsin’s offense looked as good as it has in some time.
Let’s talk about that aforementioned backup quarterback for a second, because he was absolutely sensational. Before Saturday afternoon, Danny O’Neil may have reminded some Badgers fans of a certain former quarterback (whose tenure was quite regrettable) who also wore No. 18 and also had a similar, six-foot-is-generous stature. But after his performance against the Blue Raiders, he’s resoundingly put himself into a category of his own.