Wisconsin Badgers football head coach Paul Chryst announced this year that offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph had taken play-calling duties
Earlier this season, Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst announced offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Joe Rudolph had been the team’s play-caller to that point and would continue to be throughout the season.
The news came as a surprise to many. Chryst had been the team’s play-caller for some time, including for the team’s impressive display of offense during the 2019 season.
Related: Final game grades, report card for Wisconsin vs. Wake Forest
With the 2020 season in the rear-view mirror after the Badgers’ 42-28 victory over Wake Forest in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, I’m here to make the case for Rudolph to relinquish play-calling duties next season.
First, a necessary disclaimer: The Wisconsin offense struggled this year in large part due to Graham Mertz’s inexperience and up-and-down play, injuries to key positions and really good defenses on the schedule.
They also struggled, however, due to some of what Rudolph was doing with the play sheet.
Related: Studs and duds from the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2020 football season
The unit opened the season with 45- and 49-point performances against Illinois and Michigan, respectively — two defenses that struggled all season.
The Badgers then endured a three-game stretch in which they scored 20 points — games where the offense had zero life. If you’re looking for patterns here, when the Badgers played a team with a real defense they were unable to find the end zone.
It would take years to go through every drive and talk about every set of play calls, so I’ve compiled a list of several to focus on when questioning Rudolph’s game plan and in-game play decisions.
No. 1: vs. Minnesota, third-and-7, first quarter, opponent’s 30-yard line.
The call? An outside zone to Julius Davis with Jack Dunn as the lead blocker.
First, this was Davis’ first collegiate carry and Garrett Groshek had been shredding the Gopher defense to that point.
Second, this is a rivalry game and the offense is churning…So why go directly away from what works?
The drive ended in a missed field goal and the Badgers came up empty.
Example No. 2: vs. Minnesota, tie game, 1:28 left in the game, Chase Wolf in at quarterback, 3 timeouts remaining, opponent’s 40-yard line.
The call? A deep ball to freshman WR Devin Chandler.
This, like the Davis run, ended the Badgers’ drive — this one obviously coming when the team was on its way to kicking a field goal and winning the football game.
Again, Groshek was unstoppable that night. But the call instead to have a third-string quarterback hoist the ball deep? Curious to say the least.
Then there’s the Wake Forest game.
I’m just going to look at this game as a whole — and also note the team scored 42 points thanks to the defense’s four interceptions, a blocked punt and a long kickoff return.
So, during the win against Wake Forest we saw:
- Two consecutive shovel passes in the red zone when the team has an NFL-caliber tight end that is unguardable in those situations (shovel passes that led Groshek to where every defender was playing)
- Chase Wolf enter the contest for a drive to end the half and the offense try to throw it deep
- third-and-9 run outside zone calls to Groshek near midfield when the Badgers needed to put points on the board
- An overall lack of effectiveness when the team had a long field ahead of it (against one of the worst defense’s the team faced this season)
Focusing on the Wolf throw for a second; Mertz was benched in favor of Wolf to lead a 2-minute drive.
I can’t decide what’s worse here: Whether Rudolph and the offensive staff didn’t have Mertz prepared to lead an end-of-half drive (due to him needing to run over and get the play calls from the sideline), or whether he genuinely believed Wolf gave the team a better chance to score points there.
It was the last of numerous head-scratchers this season that included not nearly enough carries by Jalen Berger, a lack of creativity in the red zone and stale route concepts when the Badgers need conversions.
Rudolph is one of, if not the, best offensive line coaches in the country. Don’t get me wrong: he’s one of the most important members of the Badger coaching staff.
But play-calling is not close to his strong suit. It should 100 percent be Paul Chryst calling plays for the team in 2021.
