Tag: Penn State preview

It’s a Monday afternoon during the first Wisconsin football game week of the year.

So what does that mean? It’s time to open the film on Wisconsin’s opponent: the Penn State Nittany Lions.

James Franklin’s team went 4-5 last season, closing the year with a 4-game winning streak after dropping their first five games.

Much of their struggles were due to inconsistent play from QB Sean Clifford that was littered with turnovers, as well as an extremely inexperienced running back room.

Penn State relies on the layers of their ground game to attack opposing defenses. Many of their looks can go to a zone run up the middle, a Clifford read-option, a play-action pass or even a straight quarterback draw.

#Badger fans should expect to see a lot of this from PSU Saturday.

Layered looks: the RB up the middle, Clifford obviously running and even the TE (or a WR) leaking out.

It’ll be a game of physicality (obviously). But it’ll also be one of discipline for the Badger defense. pic.twitter.com/z8LaEOjylH

— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) August 30, 2021

It’ll be Clifford’s legs that will present a tough test for the Badger defense. He ran for 335 yards and 3 touchdowns last season and 402 yards the year before that.

In order to stop the Nittany Lion offensive attack, the focus must be on containing Clifford in the pocket, stopping their initial rushing attack and maintaining discipline against their multi-faceted looks.

Like here, 22 (Jamar Johnson) had to respect the QB draw because he just saw it the play before (& all game).

Allowed the PSU RB to ride his offensive line (who crushed the play) to a solid gain.

Clifford must be contained, interior DL has to win & LBs have to be in position pic.twitter.com/SvhGOhfkNT

— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) August 30, 2021

Because when Clifford was forced to do it all with his arm, we saw some pretty poor throws come as a result. Throwing on the run and escaping the pocket was a real strength, it was the drop-back, on-time pass that the Penn State quarterback struggled with at times.

So where am I going here? For Wisconsin to succeed they need to:

-Take away weapon 1: the RB
-With that, contain Clifford/the pocket & make his arm beat you
-Then…stay in front of Jahan Dotson/Parker Washington

Easier said than done, but their O has real talent & purpose pic.twitter.com/N6bzUg6rg8

— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) August 30, 2021

Scenario one above is where Wisconsin will need to excel: keeping Clifford in the pocket and contending with their threats (Jahan Dotson, Parker Washington) on the outside.

Scenario two is where they will find trouble, as there were countless examples of Clifford rolling and delivering strikes.

Few things on Clifford from the IU game:
-Franklin did all he could to get him/the RBs going
-When he could be athletic, he was pretty damn good
-but….when the pocket was contained, he makes some boneheaded mistakes

Here’s the good (And it ties into my next thought below): pic.twitter.com/0dxIrbIv66

— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) August 30, 2021

Stopping the Penn State attack will come down to everybody excelling at their job: Keeanu Benton and the defensive ends need to disrupt the line of scrimmage, Leo Chenal and Jack Sanborn need to take away Penn State’s options and the secondary will need to stick with the Nittany Lions talented wide receivers.

In my opinion, the game will likely need to be won on the offensive side of the football by Graham Mertz and the ground game. But once Jim Leonhard’s defense takes the field, they’ll need to be ready to stop every wrinkle Penn State throws at them.

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