Tag: wisconsin badgers football

Five Nebraska players who Badger fans need to know

Here are five Cornhuskers who Badger fans should keep a close eye on throughout Saturday’s matchup between Wisconsin and Nebraska.

Fresh off of a crucial victory over Iowa last weekend to maintain possession of the Heartland Trophy, No. 13 Wisconsin hits the road to Lincoln to face a stumbling Nebraska squad on Saturday.

Head coach Scott Frost’s program has been one of the great disappointments in all of college football this season after opening as the No. 24 team in the land. While the Badgers were able to snap their two-game losing streak and stay alive in the Big Ten West race by taking care of business against the Hawkeyes, the 4-5 Cornhuskers are reeling after suffering three straight losses and mustering just one victory in their last five contests.

Wisconsin has won six in a row against Nebraska and is a 14.5-point favorite as of Tuesday, but Memorial Stadium can often be a difficult environment for visiting teams, especially for a rivalry game such as this. However, if an upset is in the cards, the Cornhuskers will need their stars at their best.

Here are five players on the opposing sideline who Badger fans should keep a close eye on throughout the game.

1. Adrian Martinez – Quarterback

2019 stats: 59.5% passing, 1,491 yds, 7 TD, 6 INT/4.1 YPC, 399 yds, 5 TD

Nebraska’s upset hopes will ride squarely on the shoulders of its sophomore signal-caller.

A dark horse Heisman candidate in the eyes of many college football pundits leading into the season after a huge year in 2018 as a true freshman, Martinez hasn’t come remotely close to living up to that hype through the Cornhuskers’ first nine games. His accuracy has regressed and he’s already tossed six interceptions so far this season, which is the fourth most in the Big Ten. He’s only No. 9 in the conference in passing efficiency rating as well.

Nonetheless, as Martinez goes, so too does the Nebraska offense, which is often the case with quarterbacks but especially true here given that he is the team’s second-leading rusher as well as its top passer.

The Cornhuskers will likely need Martinez to have his best outing of the season against the Badgers if a victory is on the table. If he can replicate his state line from last season’s 41-24 loss at Camp Randall (24-42, 384 yds, 2 TD to go along with 13 carries for 57 yards), they’ll have a shot.

2. JD Spielman – Wide Receiver

2019 stats: 35 rec, 688 yds (19.7 avg), 2 TD

Nov 2, 2019; West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Boilermakers safety Cory Trice (23) runs Nebraska Cornhuskers receiver JD Spielman (10) out of bounds in the first half at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

A Third-Team All-Big Ten selection a season ago, Spielman has followed up his outstanding play in 2018 by serving as Nebraska’s most dangerous weapon on offense this year, though there’s a case to be made for the next player on this list as well.

As he has been throughout his entire career in Lincoln, the Cornhuskers’ leading receiver has been a big play waiting to happen whenever he touches the ball, ranking No. 5 in the conference in average yards per catch. The Badgers are all too familiar with Spielman’s playmaking ability after he torched them for a school-record 209 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions in last year’s meeting in Madison.

Wisconsin could have its hands full with Spielman again this weekend, as the junior wideout is red-hot coming off of back to back dominant showings; he had 6 receptions for 123 yards in the Nov. 2 loss to Purdue and racked up 5 catches for 95 yards the week before in the loss to Indiana.

NEXT: Wan’Dale Robinson/Mohamed Barry/Lamar Jackson

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Wisconsin fixed problems against Iowa, but will that beat Minnesota?

Considering the Wisconsin Badgers’ situation relative to the Minnesota Golden Gophers after UW’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Had the Minnesota Golden Gophers not beaten Penn State and made themselves an even bigger target for the Wisconsin Badgers, we wouldn’t be devoting quite as much time or energy to the task of beating the Gophers on Nov. 30. Yet, one can’t work with events as one wishes they would be. One must deal with events as they actually are. It’s called living in the real world.

Minnesota has made itself more of a problem for Wisconsin. It’s not what UW fans wanted, but it is the reality the Badgers must confront. That will be a very hard game to win. Therefore, it is worth spending some of these November days focusing not just on Nebraska and then Purdue, but on P.J. Fleck and his folks. How will the Badgers go into Minneapolis and come away with Paul Bunyan’s Axe?

Based on Wisconsin’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes this past Saturday, a number of interesting questions and attached tension points have emerged. The question I will explore in this particular piece is as follows: Can Wisconsin win this game simply by eradicating mistakes, or will the Badgers need to push themselves far beyond their limits?

Yes, the best answer is “both,” but let’s be clear before we continue with this brief piece: Against Ohio State (or, to use a non-Big Ten example, LSU or Clemson), it is obvious that Wisconsin and other second-tier teams in the United States have to play way over their heads and make “value-added” plays to have a real chance to win. Is Minnesota that kind of opponent? I am inclined to say “no,” but my opinion doesn’t matter that much. A reasonable middle ground on this question is that while Minnesota certainly isn’t in Ohio State’s league, the Gophers made Penn State look bad for much of this past Saturday’s game and — had they not fumbled when leading by two scores in the third quarter — could have blown the doors off the Nittany Lions.

Minnesota went from being “a team which beats up on the bottom of the Big Ten” to “a team that is for real” against Penn State. Do we know yet if the Gophers are not merely “for real” and “a team to be taken seriously,” but genuinely ELITE? I don’t think so.

The tricky part for Wisconsin: The Badgers can’t use that lack of knowledge to assume they can win merely by avoiding mistakes against the Gophers. This leads us into the heart of this piece, and one of the most fascinating tension points of the game on Nov. 30 in TCF Bank Stadium:

The Badgers’ offense improved when the dumb penalties ceased. Wisconsin’s offense got out of its own way. Its running game flourished when the Badgers weren’t behind schedule. Two plus two equals four.

However, after the offense got out of its own way, the defense allowed a 75-yard touchdown and endured another one of its fourth-quarter swoons, the previous one being against Illinois. We wrote about the problems in the secondary which have allowed that alarming detail to remain part of this team’s identity in the second half of the season.

Imagine, then, if both the offense and the defense spend a full game not making huge mistakes, with the level of performance we saw from Jack Coan (tolerable, but not spectacular). Is that going to be enough against the Gophers? It’s an interesting query. One could go back and forth on that topic.

The strength of the argument rests with the offensive line. If there aren’t any false-start penalties and Jonathan Taylor gets four or more yards per carry, the Badgers could pound Minnesota’s defensive front and turn this game into the trench warfare battle they want. A game based on the elimination of mistakes could be all Wisconsin needs.

The weakness of this argument is based on the awareness of how much speed Minnesota has, not only in relationship to Iowa but to a Wisconsin team which was outflanked at times by Illinois. Keep in mind that if Jack Coan throws the ball against Minnesota the way he did against Iowa, the Gophers’ closing speed in the secondary might turn Wisconsin catches into incompletions on successful pass breakups. Eliminating bad mistakes from the ledger sheet will put Wisconsin in position to win, but that might not be enough to put UW over the top.

Yes, Wisconsin’s offense fixed its problems versus Iowa, and the team in general took a clear step forward from the previous two games. Yet, will that be enough to beat Minnesota? You don’t have to answer that question right away… and that’s part of the point. Wisconsin will have to wrestle with that question over the next few weeks. This is the reality facing the Badgers, now that the Gophers have made themselves such an obstacle, at least in 2019.

2021 WR Jaylin Noel Earns Offer from Wisconsin

Wisconsin extends a scholarship in the 2021 class in wide receiver Jaylin Noel.

Wisconsin’s 2020 recruiting class won’t be able to officially sign their letter of intent until the early signing period starting December 18. Wisconsin’s coaching staff still has to fill out the remainder of the 2020 class but that hasn’t prevented them from evaluating and offering prospects from the 2021 class.

On Sunday Wisconsin extended another scholarship offer in the 2021 class to wide receiver Jaylin Noel as Noel was on an unofficial visit to Wisconsin this past weekend to see Wisconsin beat Iowa.

It was Noel’s sixth scholarship offer and third from the Big Ten. Noel from Park High School in Kansas City, Mo. also holds scholarships from Iowa, Minnesota, Iowa State, Kansas State, and South Dakota State.

The wide receiver position could be one of the more heavily populated positions in the 2021 class considering Wisconsin over the next two years is set to lose four scholarship players at the position. Wisconsin currently has two wide receivers committed in the 2020 class as the Badgers in the 2021 class will likely exceed that number to replenish the talent at the position.

Noel is currently unranked by Rivals but he is rated as a three star prospect by 247 Sports. Wisconsin currently has five commitments in the 2021 recruiting class.

 

Bryson Williams Ruled Out for game Against Nebraska

Wisconsin starting nose tackle Bryson Williams is set to miss the Nebraska game with left leg injury. Bryson Williams NT, Semar Melvin CB

Wisconsin (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) will be without starting nose tackle Bryson Williams when they play Nebraska (4-5, 2-4) on Saturday. Williams, a native of Lincoln, Nebraska, had to leave the game against Iowa early because of a left leg injury.

This will mark the fourth game Williams will miss as he missed the other three games because of a leg injury. With Williams out for the game, true freshman Keeanu Benton will fill in for Williams.

Benton has done well for Wisconsin along the defensive line as he has appeared in eight games with five starts as the only game he hasn’t played in was against Illinois. On the year Benton has registered nine tackles (seven solo tackles), three tackles for loss, and one sack.

Williams was the only player to be listed as out for Wisconsin, but freshman cornerback Semar Melvin is listed as questionable after missing the Hawkeyes game.

 

The secondary is primary for Wisconsin if it wants to beat Minnesota

A look at the Wisconsin Badgers’ secondary heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

There is a difference between playing poorly and playing “not well enough.” This reality is a good framework to use when assessing the Wisconsin Badgers’ secondary the past few weeks.

Solid and competent through two and a half or three quarters, the Wisconsin secondary has let down its guard in the fourth quarters of recent games against Illinois in October and then this past Saturday against Iowa. The similarities between the two games are very obvious, and they inform how the Badgers need to improve before the clash against the Minnesota Golden Gophers later this month. Beating Minnesota will enable this season to be remembered with a sense of satisfaction. If the Badgers are to build themselves to a point where they can withstand all of P.J. Fleck’s arrows and spears, the secondary — which hasn’t been bad — needs to be a lot better.

If a team or position unit does its job for two and a half or three quarters, it doesn’t deserve extremely low grades, but if that unit has enough lapses in the final 15 to 20 minutes of a game, no one will care how good the first two and a half quarters were. Such was the reality for Wisconsin after the Illinois game. That scenario very nearly unfolded again versus Iowa, but Chris Orr’s tackle on the 2-point conversion spared the Badgers an overtime period and a possible crisis.

Wisconsin led Illinois 20-7 deep into the third quarter. Illinois scored 17 points in the final 16 minutes to win. Wisconsin led Iowa 21-6 after three quarters. Iowa scored 16 points in the final 15 minutes to very nearly forge a tie. The Badgers’ secondary is like LeBron James in his disastrous 2011 NBA Finals series against the Dallas Mavericks: He wasn’t worth a dollar because he always came a quarter short.

LeBron couldn’t solve the fourth quarter in that series, as a member of the Miami Heat. The Mavs raised their game, and LeBron froze instead of becoming sharper in the cauldron of pressure. Something akin to that has happened with the Wisconsin secondary against Illinois and now Iowa. The Badgers gave hardly anything away and put an opposing offense on lockdown for nearly 45 minutes, and then lost the plot in the final 15.

Iowa’s Tyrone Tracy got free on an intermediate/deep-intermediate pass and outraced the Wisconsin defense the rest of the way for a 75-yard touchdown which changed the tone and trajectory of Saturday’s fourth quarter in Camp Randall Stadium. Illinois produced pass plays of 48 and 29 yards against Wisconsin to fuel its comeback. The Illini also got a 43-yard touchdown run in their late rally.

The big pass plays which have struck Wisconsin’s secondary have not been long bombs, either. These are not cases of quarterbacks throwing 50-yard heaves and the receivers outleap Badger cornerbacks. These are intermediate or deep-intermediate throws which involve a long run after the catch is made. Angles, reactions, positioning, and responsibility all enter into these shortcomings. They keep recurring, and they have to be nipped in the bud.

Wisconsin has a 75-cent defense right now. Finding that fourth and final quarter of quality is primary for the Badgers and their secondary.

Jack Coan needs to start hitting his spots

An assessment of Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Jack Coan after Saturday’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Jack Coan wasn’t bad for the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday against the Iowa Hawkeyes. For the most part, the football went where it needed to go. Coan made enough of the throws he had to make to assist the running game and Jonathan Taylor. Wisconsin needed every one of the 24 points it scored to fend off Iowa and move to 7-2 on the season, keeping alive hopes for a New Year’s Six bowl bid.

Coan was solid. He did what he had to do. That certainly rates as progress after an Ohio State game which quickly went sideways and never got back on track. If Coan can make steady progress in and through the month of November, Wisconsin can beat Minnesota on Nov. 30, the game which looms as the defining moment of this season for the Badgers.

When considering Wisconsin’s checklist against Minnesota — a team which currently stands above the Badgers in the Big Ten pecking order due to their win over Penn State — one thing which has to happen is that Coan has to become a far more accurate quarterback. Explaining this point requires a look back at the Iowa game.

If you go through this contest, you will note that even when Wisconsin hit an intermediate or deep pass, the receiver gained enough separation from an Iowa defender that Coan didn’t have to be letter-perfect with his throw. Whether we are talking about zip, touch, angle, or placement, Coan was not at the height of his powers. He did get the ball there, but that was more a reflection of his receivers’ ability to separate from defenders.

Against Minnesota’s team speed (on a general level) and its secondary (on a more particular level), Coan will likely not have the same large windows to throw to. Margins are likely to be smaller. The Golden Gophers’ closing speed was a problem for Penn State and quarterback Sean Clifford, who was unable to gun the ball into coverage. His throws were often lobbed toward his receivers, and Minnesota was able to pick off multiple passes as a result.

Coan has to look at film of Clifford versus Minnesota (not this week, but certainly during game week in late November) and understand just how important it is that he not float passes into traffic. That is one part of the equation Coan needs to figure out in the coming weeks.

The other part of the puzzle for Coan — if Wisconsin wants to have the best possible chance of beating Minnesota — is that he has to be more precise with his throws. Think of Josh Hader this past season. His regression from 2018 cost the Milwaukee Brewers a division title and the National League Wild Card Game against the eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals. Hader simply didn’t hit his spots often enough. So it was for Coan against Iowa, even though he still made enough important completions to deliver the win.

Go back to the Iowa game and notice all the times Coan completed a short or intermediate pass into the flat or outside the numbers. On several of those occasions, a receiver had to reach up or to the side to gather the ball. This process of extending for the ball — instead of having the ball thrown to the place where the receiver could easily catch the ball in stride — slowed down the receiver’s momentum. A receiver could not make a catch and then quickly turn upfield to either avoid the Iowa defender entirely, or at least make an upward cut to gain five or six more yards after the catch.

Against Minnesota, Jack Coan will need to hit receivers in stride, so that the plays which gained seven yards against Iowa will gain 13 against the Gophers, and plays which gained 20 yards can become 30-yarders. The 30-yarders can turn into 60-yard home runs.

Jack Coan’s imperfect placement wasn’t punished by Iowa. An effective running game and a strong offensive line enabled Wisconsin’s passing game to be more effective, since Iowa was so focused on stopping Jonathan Taylor. Against Minnesota, though, Jack Coan will need to be more precise. It would hit the spot if the Badgers can make the Gophers miserable. Hitting the spot will happen, however, only if Jack Coan hits the spot himself.