Wisconsin and Oregon played one of the most exciting Rose Bowl Games in recent memory as they set a variety of combined, individual, and team records in 2012.
Once again the Badgers and Ducks could give Rose Bowl fans another exciting game between the two teams.
After the Badgers lost in consecutive weeks to Illinois and Ohio State to close out October it appeared the Rose Bowl was a long shot for the Badgers. But Wisconsin put together a month to remember in November and played their way back into the Rose Bowl game.
While Oregon similar to Wisconsin had an ugly and unexpected loss to Arizona State in November before they dominated Utah in the Pac-12 Championship game.
In order for Wisconsin to have success against the Ducks defense, Jack Coan is going to need to show that he’s capable of beating the Ducks secondary, which is giving up 222.7 yards per game through the air.
Coan’s play over the month of November is one of the main reasons why Wisconsin was able to get the Badgers back to the Rose Bowl Game for the first time since 2013. Coan will need to be able to consistently complete passes on all three levels in order to make sure the Ducks can’t consistently load the box to stop the run.
If he can it should allow Jonathan Taylor to have success on the ground. Taylor was able to win the Doak Walker Award for a second consecutive season as he’ll be going up against a rush defense that’s allowing 106.8 yards per game.
Taylor will be the best back the Ducks have seen all season as part of the reason why they have had the success of slowing opposing rushing attacks down is because they’re averaging 7.2 tackles for loss per game. However, Taylor rarely if ever gets tackled behind the line of scrimmage. Taylor’s ability to continue to pick up positive yards has allowed him to only lose a total of 41 yards this season.
Taylor’s ability to continue to pick up positive yards will allow for Wisconsin’s offense to try and convert manageable third downs or even a fourth down if the scenario is right.
Defensively, for Wisconsin, the Badgers will need to find a way to contain Justin Herbert. Herbert likely a first round draft pick in the upcoming NFL Draft averaged 256.3 passing yards per game this season. Similar to Coan, Herbert was efficient with the football completing 66.6 percent of his passes on 272-for-408 passing with 32 touchdowns to five interceptions.
Wisconsin has been able to disrupt opposing passing attacks by generating consistent pressure in the backfield. That will be challenged against the Ducks as the Ducks offensive line has only given up 23 sacks this season.
Creating a consistent pressure will be key in order to try and slow down the Ducks offense. Considering Herbert has plenty of weapons to throw the football too.
Herbert’s two main targets are Johnny Johnson III and Jaylon Redd as the two have both caught at least 50 passes this season and both have caught seven touchdowns.
Johnson leads the two in receiving yards with 818 on 55 receptions as he has been held without a catch only once this year, which came against USC.
Wisconsin’s corners will need to be sound in their defensive assignments and make sure to prevent Johnson and Redd from consistently picking up yards after the catch. If Wisconsin can have success in this area it will help prevent chunk plays through the passing game for Oregon.
Oregon has been able to create a balance on offense as the Ducks are averaging 183.2 rushing yards per game this season. Making it important that the Badgers defensive line finds ways of consistently creating rushing lanes for Zack Baun, Chris Orr, and Jack Sanborn to try and slow down Oregon’s CJ Verdell and Travis Dye as the duo are averaging 6.5 and 6.2 yards per carry respectively. Limiting their effectiveness on the ground will help make sure Oregon can’t consistently pick up positive yards against Wisconsin’s defense.
In the end, Wisconsin is able to create a balance on offense against the Ducks defense as Coan is able to find success against the Ducks secondary allowing for Taylor to be able to consistently pick up yards and for the Badgers to sustain drives. While Wisconsin’s secondary is able to limit the Ducks passing game and are able to create enough pressure against Herbert as the Badgers win 38-31.