WATCH: 3 takeaways from Badgers win over Florida Atlantic

[Da-news-now]

The Wisconsin Badgers rolled to a 31-14 victory over the Florida Atlantic Owls on Saturday. Yes, I said rolled and a 17-point win in the same sentence. That’s what happens when you dominate the stat sheet, hold a team scoreless for a half and have two running backs go over the 100-yard mark. Find out what the big takeaways were from this game with talking10’s Publisher, Andy Coppens.

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[Crease Creature]

Hornibrook started good, but then he forgot how to read a defense, lead a receiver, and put some zip on it.

 

[TW]

Hornibrook started good, but then he forgot how to read a defense, lead a receiver, and put some zip on it.

That's exactly what I saw. A guy who looked like he would be a solid QB turned into an inept, bumbling kid who didn't have a clue how to do anything on the field. It was a major step backwards for the Badgers, because the teams they play down the road, aren't going to be push overs.

Right now, I am having concerns about how well they're going to do against BYU. If Hornibrook could go downhill so quickly, it tells me he may not have bottomed out yet. Without any passing game, the Badgers running game is going to be in trouble. They were facing 9 men in the box half the game, and that gave Hornibrook problems passing, which is totally unacceptable. You can't blame it on the offensive line, it was purely him. Then there was Fumigali who kept forgetting that you have to catch the ball when there's a decent pass. He dropped four, if I recall, and that's not acceptable, no matter how good he did the rest of the game.

So, the passing game is a work in progress. But, that running game sure looks like it's about to be something to smile about.

On defense, I'm not convinced they will stop anyone who has a respectable passing game, or a top level running game. They look like they either don't understand their assignments on the field, or the coaches don't know what the assignments should be. They were soft in the middle, and had no clue how to play zone when they were in it. Either our defensive coordinator gets it straightened out, or it's a long season.

 

[Crease Creature]

Then there was Fumigali who kept forgetting that you have to catch the ball when there's a decent pass. He dropped four, if I recall

There was one egregious drop by someone, but most "drops" were really bad balls by hornibrook. He really hung Fum out to dry a few times. If Fumigali had four drops, two of them were way behind him and another was at his feet in traffic.

 

[57packer]

On defense, the only thing I was concerned with were a few mis-communications and the lack of pass rush against a very mediocre o-line. FAU has some talent on both sides of the ball and a pair of pretty good RBs. Overall the defense held up pretty well. Not as good a group as last year, but good enough to win all the rest of their games.

Now, the offense. If they lose, that will most likely be why, IMO. They can run it at times, but not when they need to. They have to score the TD on 1st and goal from the 2. Yes, FAU was run-blitzing on each occasion, but you need to find a way to score from there. OL was great and times and just plain bad at times.

Horni is a work in progress. His regression as the game wore on was startling. He's still tossing those floaters out there a lot. It was actually a shock when Coan came in and threw a pass with some real zip to it in his only attempt. Horni would have floated that thing out there. It's like he's got the yips. He also has little pocket awareness and no escape ability whatsoever. That's gonna hurt him (physically) at some point and the team. He also seems like a slow twitch athlete in the Stave mold. Maybe Coan becomes the answer down the road.

Also agree with Crease in that Fumigali had one really bad drop, one that he probably should have caught, and a couple more that were just bad throws.

 

[TW]

I can't argue against what you guys are saying about a couple of those Fumigali missed passes, but I see him as being one of the best in the nation at his position. To be that good, you need to make those catches. At least most of them. Overall, I see him as a potential first round draft pick as a TE, if he catches 3 of every 4 of those passes. He can be that good.

I think his biggest problem is Hornibrook. Does he even look for anyone else to throw to unless there's three guys on Fumigali? He's picked him out as his favorite target and some of his decisions on pass location is setting him up for some pretty serious hits. As much as I think you catch most of those balls, I understand the need to keep from getting being injured because of poor QB decisions. They need to school Hornibrook on what he's doing.

If there was one problem I had with Tolzien when he was a Badger, was his high throws that left our receivers exposed to hits in the ribs, and would end up making them gun shy after a couple of them. Hornibrook's problems are the high throw, and the one behind the receiver, when it needs to be in a lead. I believe it's because he doesn't see the progression of the play, just where it is "now," when he makes the throw. It's something that needs to be intuitive, so you can make those throws even before a receiver makes his cut. Hopefully, it will get there.