Growing up as a child, my dad had about 20 or so go-to cliche phrases he would throw out during any applicable scenario, and the most applicable one for Saturday was, “How could this have been avoided?”
Despite a blinding rage coma following the shitshow that was the last 18 seconds of the Wisconsin-Arizona State game, all I could hear was my dad muttering, “How could this have been avoided?”
Yes, Stave took a knee then subsequently set the ball down, which could have been seen as a fumble. The ASU player fell on the ball, which could’ve been called a delay of game and yes, the ref had his hand up telling the Badgers to stop while the clock was ticking away a chance at victory.
However, this comedy of errors was not the reason the Badgers left Tempe with a loss.
There were 156 plays in the game, it’s important to not forget these plays and get hung up in the single play that didn’t happen. A long list of other issues resulted in the Badger loss, not only a questionable call by the officials.
The Badgers were in trouble from the opening kickoff, then gave the term “slow start” a new definition by not even gaining a first down until the final minutes of the first quarter.
Wisconsin’s offense looked completely lost on all but one drive during the first half, and if it wasn’t for a bad snap courtesy of the Sun Devils long snapper, the Badgers would have gone into the second half on the wrong side of the score board.
The best part of the Badgers’ performance was runningback Melvin Gordon. He rushed for 193 yards and two touchdowns, but unfortunately for Wisconsin Gordon doesn’t play defense.
As a whole, it is inexcusable to allow one player to cross the goal line four times. Period. No excuses. Running back Marion Grice’s four scores all came in the red zone too.
The Badger defense looked slow, confused and out of breath against the speedy zone-read of the Sun Devils. The Badger’s 3-4 front was exposed, and it became very obvious they had only been using the scheme for a few weeks.
The base defense was easily picked apart by ASU quarterback Taylor Kelly, a veteran passer who racked up 352 passing yards against the Badgers.
Because of their inexperience with the 3-4 set, the Badgers can only operate in very predictable, simple sets. The 3-4 defense performs best when the outside linebackers can maximize versatility and the front can cycle between 3, 4 and 5 men, constantly confusing the passer and the offense as a whole.
Watch NFL 3-4 defenses like that of the Houston Texans. Despite being called a 3-4 defense, the formation is never replicated. The Badgers vanilla defense led to multiple long touchdown drives by ASU.
What happened at the end of the game was crazy and very unfortunate for the Badgers, but how could this have been avoided?
Sure, kicking the ball with 18 seconds left might be one solution, but I don’t want to focus on that.
The Badgers could have avoided this painful defeat with more offensive production in the first half and better goal line defense.
The Badgers need to improve in both of these areas if they don’t want to experience a similar fate against Purdue next week at Camp Randall.
Do you think the referees are entirely to blame? What else could Wisconsin have done to leave Tempe, Ariz. with a win? Shoot us an email and let Grey know at sports@dailycardinal.com.
