Some say first impressions are everything. Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst probably doesn’t agree. When he took over as head coach at Pittsburgh, his Panthers lost in their debut in 2012 against FCS opponent Youngstown State. He didn’t have much better luck in his first game running the show for the Badgers.
It was a failure on a number of different levels for Wisconsin in its loss to Alabama. Some players got hurt, some players were out of place and others were just overpowered. The Badgers’ performance was a reminder that football is a team sport, and the positive showing by a few were overshadowed by the struggles of many.
As it has for so long in Wisconsin, it all started up front. The Badgers offensive line featured three new starters, redshirt freshman left guard Michael Deiter, redshirt junior right guard Walker Williams and redshirt sophomore Hayden Biegel. The three of them were given the very difficult task of facing one of the strongest and most experienced defensive lines in the country, and it didn’t go well.
The young right side of the line struggled early on, but both Biegel and Williams improved as the game continued. They each gave up a sack, but by the fourth quarter, they both found consistency. What helped, though, was that Alabama dialed back its blitzes once its lead was large enough. The defense was able to coast a bit, and that made things easier on the inexperienced line.
Deiter might have had the worst showing of the three. When Joel Stave was under pressure, more often than not, it seemed Deiter would be the offensive lineman who let his defender go by. The redshirt junior center Dan Voltz didn’t do himself or Williams any favors in the middle, but Deiter was vulnerable, and it made it more difficult for the Badgers to scheme their protection.
The early offensive line failures were the first dominoes that led to the Badgers’ defeat. Wisconsin could not get its running game going early on, averaging less than 2.5 yards per carry in the first half. They couldn’t get a good push up front, and to make things worse, their running backs really struggled to make plays one-on-one against defenders.
Part of the issue was Corey Clement’s injury, but even a healthy Dare Ogunbowale and Taiwan Deal couldn’t make guys miss. Lacking a threat on the ground, the Badgers were frequently put into third and medium/long situations. Nick Saban would dial up an exotic blitz, pass protection would break down and Wisconsin was forced to punt. There’s a reason the Badgers only ran 11 plays on offense in the first quarter.
Saban wasn’t coy about his defense’s success up front when he spoke to the media after the game.
“We were able to dominate the line of scrimmage and stop their run,” Saban said plainly.
The Wisconsin offense worked into a little more of a rhythm in the second quarter, finally putting points on the board, but the same thing was happening for the Alabama offense. The Crimson Tide had a scoring opportunity on each of their third quarter drives (scoring two touchdowns and missing a field goal), and the Badgers had to quickly abandon their running game. They handed it off only three times in the third quarter, and by the time they tried it again in the fourth, they were down by 25.
The Badgers’ offensive line issues were compounded by the mistakes on defense, particularly in the middle.
Sophomore nose tackle Conor Sheehy was bullied for most of the game by Crimson Tide redshirt senior center Ryan Kelly, affording Alabama a lot of success running up the middle. Sheehy didn’t have the best support behind him, though.
Junior linebacker Leon Jacobs struggled quite a bit prior to his injury. He filled incorrect lanes at times, and when an Alabama offensive lineman would meet him at the second level, he was almost always taken out of the play completely. His fellow starter, redshirt freshman T.J. Edwards, was much more reliable, but he also missed a tackle or two in important situations.
The run support issues continued in the secondary. After Michael Caputo went out with his concussion, redshirt junior safety Leo Musso was relied on to step into the box and make a play, and he was not up to the task.
On each of Alabama’s four rushing touchdowns, Musso was out of place. He was the last line of defense, and he seemed to lose track of the ball and the runner, completely over pursuing to a side. He was a sure tackler when he got to the ball carrier, but he really hurt his defense with his lack of awareness on the back end.
“Defensively, we’ve got to do a better job of leveraging the football,” Chryst said. “Some of the big plays are guys getting out of a gap and just got to be able to feel comfortable and confident in doing their job and that others will do theirs, as well.”
On both sides of the ball, the issues built on each other. There was a lot of rust and a distinct lack of awareness and understanding by a number of players. This was to be expected with so many new players making their first start, but across the board, Wisconsin players failed to do their job.
It was not a strong debut for many of the new Badger starters. Some of that falls on the coaching staff, and it is up to them to make the necessary adjustments to build a more successful unit moving forward. Fortunately for Chryst and Wisconsin, first impressions aren’t everything.
