Wisconsin Football Notebook: Final Thoughts, Takeaways From Week 4
Some reflections, observations, and random musings from Week 4.
Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football program came out guns blazing, with the Badgers scoring on its first three drives en route to a 38-17 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers on Friday night in West Lafayette.
Now, 3-1, the Badgers head into a bye week that suddenly seems like it came at the perfect time before returning to the field in Week 6 for a home game at Camp Randall Stadium against Rutgers.
There were some key takeaways from the Friday night lights performance, so let's dive in.
Wisconsin Football Thoughts, Observations, & Other Badgers Ramblings From Purdue Game.
First things first, Wisconsin football playing all-conference inside linebacker Maema Njongmeta for a total of one snap against Purdue is a real head-scratcher.
I suggested last week that the Badgers coaching staff reduce his number of snaps for myriad reasons until he could return to 100%. What I didn't think would happen was a borderline DNP coach's decision. Because Luke Fickell said after the game that he was available to play -- this leads us to draw one of two conclusions: either the coaches didn't like the matchup and chose to sit him, or something happened during the week, and that's why Njongmeta didn't see the field.
I have no inside information on this, but I assume it's the ladder. Especially when you consider the lackluster performances from Jake Chaney and Jordan Turner. I'll be curious to see if the Wisconsin football inside linebacker rotation returns to normal after the bye week.
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At the risk of speaking for everybody, I feel like the Badgers have struggled mightily through the first four games on the tackling front. On Friday night, that issue was worse than ever, and PFF credits Wisconsin's defense for having a season-high 16 missed tackles.
I get that Mike Tressel's defense is in transition, but the product on the field is littered with holes that better teams will likely exploit. To their credit, Wisconsin football is No. 44 in the country in scoring defense (top third in college FB), but the Badgers simply don't have the talent to play this sloppy against better opponents.
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