GBMWolverine: Wisconsin Preview

Posted at 8:00am — 11/19/2010

GBMWolverine: Wisconsin Preview — The Big Bad Badgers

The stakes are high for the Wisconsin Badgers. If Wisconsin wins out, including a bowl win, a top four national finish is very plausible. Wisconsin played very well on the road at Iowa but historically this is not always so for the Badgers. Michigan can notch its biggest win of the last three years. Below is a short summary of the three Wisconsin units.

Offense:

As always everything begins up front for the Badgers. Wisconsin has seven offensive linemen with starting experience. The always-tough Badger line averages over 315 pounds per man and can literally take over a game. This unit has opened the holes allowing Wisconsin to rush for 2300 yards.

Running behind these earthmovers are three very good RB’s, led by 250-pound sledgehammer John Clay. The Badgers also have two speedier backs in White and Ball, who can also roll up big yardage.

Quarterback Tolzien is completing 72% of his passes and has thrown for over 2000 yards (averaging over 200 yards per game). He has some very good/dangerous targets lead by TE Lance Kendricks, who is big and possibly the most athletic TE UM will face this year. SE Nick Toon has been banged up some, but when healthy he is a great combination of size and athletic ability that will challenge any defense. He is joined by super quick SE Issac Anderson. The Badger offense runs a limited number of base plays, but with the use of multiple sets, formations, and player groupings, Wisconsin has sufficient versatility. We have seen Wisconsin use a standard pro set, TE and two backs, Ace formation, one back with two TE’s, single back with TE aligned in the slot and then motion into an H-back look. Wisconsin also has one of the better play action passing games UM will see this year.

Defense:

Wisconsin is a base 4-3, but will show different fronts and packages. The Badgers employ an aggressive defense that gets a lot of sacks, 20 on the year, and tackles for loss, 59 on the year. They are lead by 6’6, 290 pound DE JJ Watts with 6 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. His DE bookend, Louis Nzegwu, has 3 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss. The Lb’ers are the leading tacklers, led by Blake Sorenson and St. Culme. WLB’er Mike Taylor has chipped in another 8 tackles for loss. The safeties will hit you and CB Antoni Fenelus is among the Badger’s leading tacklers.

Special Teams:

The entire special teams group is sound, starting with punter Brad Nortman who is averaging 43 yards per kick. Place-kicker Welsh has a strong leg having recorded ten touchbacks. He is 50 for 50 on PAT’s, and 13-17 on FG’s. The return game is solid.

Here is a team with a solid foundation on all three fronts. This team accomplished a rarity this year, pushing the Ohio State defensive line off the ball consistently. But that feat was weeks ago and things can change. But the more consistent a team is the less likely things change. And Wisconsin has been pretty consistent.

Written by GBMWolverine Staff

Go Blue — Wear Maize!