Wisconsin Special Teams Scheme Exposed by Western Michigan
Isaac Punts may have exposed the Badgers special teams unit.
Luke Fickell and the University of Wisconsin football team narrowly escaped disaster in their 28-14 Week 1 win against Western Michigan, despite entering the game as heavy betting favorites.
The game nearly slipped away due to a brilliantly executed trick play that exposed a glaring flaw in the Badgers special teams unit.
For over a year, Wisconsin's field goal block scheme had become painfully predictable. As spotlighted in a YouTube breakdown by Isaac Punts, whenever an opponent lined up on the hash, the Badgers staff consistently ran the same six-man rush, bringing pressure from the field side, thus leaving the weak side vulnerable with just a linebacker for coverage.
This was a textbook look, repeated without variation game after game.
Punts also shared with BadgerNotes that there's one small wrinkle in their approach—occasionally, they’ll triple-team the tackle on the field side instead of the guard, which suggests they’re at least trying to exploit a weaker link. But schematically, it does little to discourage a fake.
Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor saw this predictable setup and exploited it masterfully.
Trailing 13-7 and facing a fourth-and-6 from Wisconsin's 30, the Broncos lined up for a 47-yard field goal. Their kicker, Palmer Domschke, had already missed from 48 yards earlier in the third quarter, but this time, there would be no attempt from the junior.
Instead, holder Ryan Millmore flipped the ball over his shoulder to Domschke, who took off down the right sideline for a 26-yard gain. Preston Zachman eventually forced him out of bounds, but the damage was done—WMU had a first-and-goal at the 4-yard line.
“It was something that we had prepared for in practice," coach Taylor told reporters. “I told our guys we were going to call it in a big moment and they were prepared to go execute it.”
Moments later, Jalen Buckley punched in a 1-yard touchdown run, giving Western Michigan a 14-13 lead with just over 14 minutes left in the game.
The Broncos' defense then followed up that touchdown run by forcing Wisconsin’s first punt of the night. Luckily for the Badgers, that lone punt ended up being a game-changer.
With Wisconsin trailing 14-13 in the fourth quarter, the momentum swung back in their favor when junior safety Austin Brown recovered an Atticus Bertrams punt that bounced off a Broncos player’s leg at the WMU 20-yard line. The Badgers capitalized just three plays later, finding the end zone and scoring 15 unanswered points to eventually seal the win at home.
“It was a challenge,” Fickell told reporters after the game. “I think more than anything, you’ve got to find ways to win. That’s what we did tonight.”
In a game that could’ve been the upset of the weekend by a MAC opponent, Wisconsin’s complacency on special teams nearly cost them. The Badgers may have come out on top, but hopefully, this gutsy play call from Western Michigan served as a wake-up call to mix it up — or get burned.
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