Wisconsin’s blowout loss to Alabama Saturday was nothing like its opening-night debacle against LSU a year ago. Save for a brief period in the second quarter, when it looked like the Badgers could keep up with the Crimson Tide after tying the game at seven, UW never showed it had the ability to beat the No. 3 team in the nation. The Badgers never led, they were bested in every offensive category and were clearly outclassed both physically and from a coaching standpoint.
The loss to LSU Aug. 30 of last year was a completely different beast. Wisconsin ceded a 24-7 third-quarter lead because its defensive line was hammered with injuries and Melvin Gordon, for some mysterious reason, stopped getting the ball. That night in Houston was a disaster, and it hovered over the team until its Oct. 4 nightmare at Northwestern provided further proof that 11 a.m. games in Evanston, Ill. exist in some foggy, joy-depleted parallel universe.
What happened at the Jerry Dome Saturday isn’t going to loom over the Badgers, but instead is going to provide a road map for a return visit to the Big Ten Championship game in December. As head coach Paul Chryst and a number of players pointed to after the game, playing against Alabama was a privilege for UW. It sounds like a football coach buzzword, along with “24-hour rule,” “high motor” and “he had a really great camp,” but in this case, “privilege” holds real weight.
What separates elite teams in college football from the rest of the pack, in combination with superior talent, is the ability to make in-game adjustments to fight off what’s working for opposing teams and to take advantage of weaknesses that become evident. Alabama clearly has that weapon, shutting down Joel Stave’s running back dump pass over the middle that was effective in the first half, attacking the middle of the field when Michael Caputo left in the first drive of the game and squeezing its secondary toward the line of scrimmage, forcing Wisconsin to turn to a vertical passing game with little success.
Teams like Miami, Troy and Hawaii, Wisconsin’s next three opponents, incidentally, can’t make changes on the run like that. They won’t put pressure on the Wisconsin coaching staff to move to its secondary game plan, nor will they provide the same type of physical challenge Alabama did. The Badgers are essentially going from competing on the American Ninja Warrior course in Las Vegas to the jungle gym at Vilas Park, but that’s just fine.
The Wisconsin football program is undoubtedly in a state of flux right now. With Chryst making himself comfortable as head coach, the team still does not have much of a grasp on its identity, but the matchup against Alabama helps. It created questions the team will have to address, namely how to solidify its interior front seven, maintain pressure on the quarterback, work the ball vertically and find an effective mix between the run and pass. Wisconsin would only be vaguely aware of those concerns if it had faced off against some other unranked opponent, like nearly every other Top 25 team did this weekend. And now it has the ideal time, and opponents, to answer those questions.
Peer ahead at the schedule, consider how deeply Wisconsin has already cut its teeth and think about how the Badgers should be 4-1 when they head to Lincoln Oct. 10. And 9-1 when they take on Northwestern, the football embodiment of the grim reaper, just before Thanksgiving. And 11-1 when they hop on the bus to Indianapolis in December.
Was Wisconsin’s trip to Arlington, Texas, a lost visit, or are the Badgers better off for taking on an SEC opponent early in the year? Do you think the rest of the Big Ten Conference should follow suit and schedule tougher non-conference games? Were you impressed with Paul Chryst’s debut as a head coach, or is his play calling and game management falling short? Let us know what you think at sports@dailycardinal.com.
