As the four teams who qualified for the College Football Playoff begin to settle in for the actual playoff, Badgers Wire thought it would be interesting to examine what the Wisconsin Badgers could learn from each of the teams in the Playoff. This column will look at what they could learn from the Clemson Tigers.
Few teams in the nation have had more success recently than the Clemson Tigers. Here is what Wisconsin can learn from Clemson.
Clemson’s rise to the top of college football’s elite didn’t come out of nowhere. Since Dabo Swinney was appointed interim coach and then officially named head coach, the Tigers have shown that they were going to compete for glory. Clemson wins every way possible, too. The Tigers have done it with elite quarterback play — Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, and Trevor Lawrence — and they’ve shown that they can also win big with elite defense or a power running game — Travis Etienne, C.J. Spiller, and Wayne Gallman. In other words, Clemson can literally beat opponents in various phases of the game.
Here is where Wisconsin can learn something from the Tigers. Wisconsin tends to struggle if opponents shut down the Badgers’ run game. To that end, teams do everything in their power to stuff the run and force Wisconsin’s quarterbacks to beat them, which isn’t something they’ve shown they can do with great consistency — occasionally, yes, but not most of the time. It’s typically a one-and-done style from the Badgers. They have to improve in this facet of competition if they want to take the next step. The Big Ten Championship is a perfect example. Jonathan Taylor did his part, and Jack Coan played well, too. However, when Wisconsin fell behind by 13 points, the Badgers’ offense was not tailored to mount a rally. UW was plainly out of its element, then. That’s not a knock on Coan. It is more a reflection of the style of offense Wisconsin runs, with the passing game needing the threat of Taylor in the running game in order to be as potent as possible. Wisconsin needs passing game potency which can — at times — exist independently of the running game.
Coan and Wisconsin have to do more in some ways and in some situations, or the Badgers have to find a way to win when Coan can’t do more and Taylor has done all he can. Clemson can do it all, and Wisconsin can do most of what it takes. There is a big difference between all and most. If programs want to make that turn from pretender to contender in the national title race, they eventually have to do everything, not just most things, really well. If the Badgers and Coan can take that turn in 2020 while maintaining their defensive stature and running all over the field, they’re going to be a very tough team to beat.