Big Ten Network analyst and former Michigan tight end Jake Butt took to the video board this week to break down Wisconsin’s recent resurgence, specifically on the offensive side of the football.
That resurgence has seen point totals of 52 and 42 over the last two weeks in the Badgers’ blowout victories over Purdue and Rutgers, respectively. The unit has suddenly found a balance with RB Tawee Walker running the ball effectively and QB Braedyn Locke improving by the week.
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Butt explained some of the reasons for Wisconsin’s night-and-day improvement on the offensive side of the football:
“It starts with the run game, and they’re finding something with Tawee Walker,” Butt began. “Well, off that run game you can start to affect the linebackers with play-action. Tawee has been a physical back, Rutgers knows they have to come downhill — bang, we’re going to rip a post right in that vacated area.”
His demonstration continued to show the different concepts and schemes Longo can build off of a strong, successful, downhill rushing attack. It also continued to show Locke’s improvement under center and his ability to threaten defenses sideline-to-sideline.
Here is the full two-minute breakdown:
@BadgerFootball @WisconsinOnBTN Have really found something these last two weeks as they’re outscoring opponents 94-13… We’ve been waiting to see the “Air Raid” identity since Fickell brought in OC Phil Longo. Take a look at these 4 plays- all on one drive and nearly… pic.twitter.com/spJ3Fb6ceO
— Jake Butt (@Jbooty88) October 17, 2024
Butt went on to stress the importance of the Badgers’ upcoming trip to Northwestern.
“The big question was ‘who are they going to be as a team?'” he continued. “Luke Fickell comes in and he wanted to reidentify, offensively, defensively. And that’s why these past two weeks, and this weekend, are so important. Because you talk about Wisconsin playing those opponents, now all of the sudden it’s ‘Penn State has to play Wisconsin, Oregon has to play Wisconsin.’ They’ve become a dangerous team there in the middle of the conference.”
Wisconsin is next on the field on Saturday at noon ET, 11 a.m. CT against Northwestern. Another decisive victory would build substantial momentum entering a big-time home matchup with top-ranked Penn State on Oct. 26.
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