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The case for OC Joe Rudolph to relinquish play-calling duties next season

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.

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.

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.

Then…
3-7, 11 personnel again
-Julius Davis comes in at RB & receives his first college carry…but on 3-7 when the team's bordering on scoring range, w/ Jack Dunn lead blocking?
-Minn gets a push up front, play didn't have a chance from the start

This one really puzzled me… pic.twitter.com/KdaoT0E2bB

— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) December 21, 2020

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.

The INT:
-1and10, +40, 1:28 left, MN running out of timeouts, backup QB in the game

This decision to heave it deep made ZERO sense. Groshek had not been stopped once all drive (or night). Run the ball, kick the FG, win the game before OT pic.twitter.com/NHnVl9wGFR

— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) December 21, 2020

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

1-10, 40sec left, 3 TIMEOUTS REMAINING, and you run everybody deep? With a shell of a receiving core? With a 3rd string QB in the game?

Seriously, what is going on? pic.twitter.com/ngOb92abRv

— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) December 30, 2020

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.

Final game grades, report card for Wisconsin vs. Wake Forest

The Wisconsin Badgers finished their season with a Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Final game grades and a…

As Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson said after the Wisconsin Badgers’ 42-28 Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory, “they didn’t beat themselves, and that’s what good football teams do.”

That sentence perfectly encaptures the 2020 Duke’s Mayo Bowl, as Wisconsin played a consistent game of football and took control of the ballgame when Wake Forest Sam Hartman threw four second-half interceptions.

While there were more points scored than we see during a normal Wisconsin football game, the game followed the script of nearly every Badger game this season: the team who won the turnover battle won the game handily.

Yesterday I went through the film of the game and focused on the performances of freshman quarterback Graham Mertz, freshman offensive tackle Logan Brown, the secondary and more.

From the film, here are final game grades and a report card for Wisconsin’s win against Wake Forest:

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What Wake Forest HC Dave Clawson said about Wisconsin after the game

The Wisconsin Badgers defeated Wake Forest yesterday 42-28 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Head Coach Dave Clawson spoke about Wisconsin football

The Wisconsin Badgers rode a four-interception performance by the defense and a few splash plays on special teams to a 42-28 victory over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons yesterday in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

The win puts the Badgers at 4-3 to finish the year, and even though the team struggled at times as well and missed games due to COVID-19, they finished the season strong and now have momentum to carry into 2021.

When Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson spoke after the game he had nothing but good things to say about the Wisconsin football program and the way they executed on the field yesterday.

“First off congratulations to Wisconsin. Good win for their program,” Clawson said. “Football is usually a game where the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins. They made a lot less mistakes than us, they played much better fundamental football. I’m proud of the way we compete to the very end. I thought our guys battled physically. But we just made too many fatal mistakes to overcome.”

The story of the game was Demon Deacon quarterback Sam Hartman’s four third-quarter interceptions, those coming after the team had only thrown one pick all year.

The Wake Forest coach discussed the turnovers, citing both mistakes from the quarterback and crediting the Badger defense for capitalizing.

“We threw one interception all year,” Clawson said. “I just think we telegraphed some things, I thought [Sam Hartman] held on to targets too long and Wisconsin did a great job of breaking on his eyes and breaking on the arm action.”

His description continued to note his offense’s missed opportunities and how they put the team in a tough spot in the second half.

“We had open guys in the first half that we missed. I thought we should’ve come out of that half up 21-7 or 28-14 and we just missed some plays” Clawson said. “We dropped the ball, we missed open receivers. And Wisconsin is just a steady, consistent program that doesn’t beat themselves. It’s not one thing, they did a great job and we didn’t play well.”

Clawson then had some words on the interceptions relating to the scheme of the plays and what Wisconsin did on defense to counter them.

“They ran a field pressure and our quarterback thought it was man, a man pressure but it was a zone pressure,” Clawson said when talking about Noah Burks’ interception. “They dropped one guy out and the ball just shouldn’t have gone there…We hit that thing earlier against man and we got a nice sideline route to Christian Beal. But that’s not where the ball goes against zone…The other the safety jumped it. We were running slant routes, we threw the ball late and the safety just jumped it. The other two I’ll have to watch closer but just not a good day.”

Here is how the Wake Forest head coach finished his comments on the game and on the Badgers’ performance.

“Credit Wisconsin, but we beat ourselves. They didn’t beat themselves, and that’s what good football teams do.”

Five takeaways from Wisconsin’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory over Wake Forest

The 4-3 Wisconsin Badgers closed their season with a decisive 42-28 victory over the 4-5 Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl

The Wisconsin Badgers finished their 2020 season on a high note today as they defeated the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 42-28.

The game saw the Badgers struggle at times to stop the high-powered Wake Forest attack. But thanks to four second-half interceptions by Jim Leonhard’s defense and an effective red-zone offense, the Badgers outscored the Demon Deacons 28-14 in the second half and pulled away with a decisive victory.

Stay tuned to BadgersWire in the coming days as we recap the game and put a wrap on the Badgers’ 2020 football season.

For now, here are five takeaways from Wisconsin’s season-ending victory: