Wisconsin Football: Key matchups to watch vs. Northwestern

[Da-news-now]

Here are three matchups that will decide the outcome when Wisconsin football hosts the Northwestern Wildcats. Wisconsin football is flying sky-high coming off a very impressive win over Michigan. The Badgers came out hot on offense scoring on the first drive and didn’t look back. They were up 35-0 at one point in the game […]

Wisconsin Football: Key matchups to watch vs. Northwestern - Badger of Honor - Badger of Honor - A Wisconsin Badgers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

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[TW]

Thanks for posting. These weekly updates, and links to information, are great.

 

[57packer]

Turns out, the key match-up was Mike Hankwitz vs. Paul Chryst/Joe Rudolph. Hankwitz pretty much dared Coan and the passing game to win the game and without the scores by the defense, it would have worked. Hankwitz played an interesting defense pretty much all day.

He didn't really push his safeties up tight to the LOS to stop the run but he almost never dropped them deep - rarely more than 7-10 yards off the ball. They crashed hard on running plays and were still deep enough to stop the anemic passing game. Coan and the WRs were really exposed on Saturday. Those short throws to the sidelines were not gonna get it done. The Wildcats tackled securely and stopped every short pass in its tracks. They dropped 8 into coverage most of the time leaving little space other than downfield, and Coan and Co. were simply not up to it. Even when there were occasional openings Coan threw short or did not lead the WR downfield. Teams can go to school on what Hankwitz did. We'll see.

 

[Keg Man]

2 horrible aspects of yesterday's game:

1) Quarterbacking. I don't think Coan's the guy.
2) Punt returning. The guy struggled all day. And, the muff. No muff, no TD, no scare.

 

[TW]

I'm not certain what to make of Coan's play yesterday. I believe that a lot of the unexplained shortcomings may have had to do with the way Chryst decided game management should be handled. I believe he may have well felt they could win the game with "some offense," and a whole hell of a lot of defense. That could have played a factor. I just don't know for sure.

 

[FlaPack]

This was a perfect set up for a letdown game and it happened. Coming off a big win vs Michigan it was bound to happen. Fitz has had PC’s number for years so what happened on offense was not surprising. I actually think it’s the first time Taylor went for over 100 vs them.

As to Coan i am not going to overreact to one game. He was flawless vs a very good Michigan defense. If I had any issues, the OL got dominated at times, play calling was somewhat questionable. And the face mask vs Wildgoose changed the feel of the game. UW would have been setup on a really short field just after a score. It’s that game gets to 14-0 in the first it may have opened things up

 

[TW]

Couldn't agree more Pack.

 

[Keg Man]

I'm not certain what to make of Coan's play yesterday. I believe that a lot of the unexplained shortcomings may have had to do with the way Chryst decided game management should be handled. I believe he may have well felt they could win the game with "some offense," and a whole hell of a lot of defense. That could have played a factor. I just don't know for sure.

I sure as hell hope that's not Chryst's strategy. Both the Badgers Defense and Northwestern outscored his offense. We must score points to win.

Not being able to throw downfield worked against the USF, CMU, and, surprisingly, MI. It's going to be a liability going forward.

The defense can only do so much. Horrible special teams and horrendous offense almost doomed a dominant defensive performance (And, of course, "analytical" decisions by Northwestern's coach to go for 2)

 

[FlaPack]

I sure as hell hope that's not Chryst's strategy. Both the Badgers Defense and Northwestern outscored his offense. We must score points to win.

Not being able to throw downfield worked against the USF, CMU, and, surprisingly, MI. It's going to be a liability going forward.

The defense can only do so much. Horrible special teams and horrendous offense almost doomed a dominant defensive performance (And, of course, "analytical" decisions by Northwestern's coach to go for 2)

Except they did go downfield vs Michigan. The long 4th down play to Q. I know it’s only one play but this offense is not built to stretch the field. Q is the only one at WR who had that ability. No different when Hornibrook was at QB. You pick your spots and they had Q open deep and the safety made a nice play and picked it off.

 

[Mark87]

I said in shout and after rewatching stand that our schemes and play calling where awful. Also Coan had many many plays where he had no one open.

Hey Kegman how come Hornibrook was garbage according to Badger faithful. but last night vs NC state he goes 29-36 316 and 3 td the week before he goes 15 for 20 for 255 and 2 TD ???? ( PS he was sacked 6 times last night didn't faze him, so much for those theories as well)

I'll answer my own question here.... scheme... talent at WR and crappy OL play in the pass game not the QB.