The Wisconsin Badgers (2-0 Big Ten, 5-0 overall) offense was completely shut down last Saturday, only managing seven points in a 7-38 blowout.
If the Badgers could have stopped Ohio State defensive end Chase Young they may have had a chance in the game. However, they could not as Young terrorized the Badgers offensive line, racking up four sacks and two forced fumbles.
On almost every drive that had scoring potential for the Badgers, Young was able to pressure Badger quarterback Jack Coan, preventing big plays from being made. Coan hasn’t been used to this kind of pressure on him this season, and he didn’t make the necessary adjustments in-game to find success.
Coan threw for just 108 yards on 10 completions, most of which went to his favorite receiver, Quintez Cephus.
The Wisconsin offense overall was not very good, however, and putting all the blame on Coan is unfair.
The offensive line got torched down the stretch, breaking down in key situations on third and fourth down. Ohio State’s Young looked more like Aaron Donald on the field than a junior in college, blowing up almost every play.
The Badgers only had nine first downs and 191 yards to go with two turnovers and only 28 minutes of possession. Ohio State was extremely dominant in all of these categories.
Communication was difficult all game between the quarterback and the offensive players, as the Ohio State fans were so loud it was hard to hear anything, which caused mistakes for the Badgers.
“There was some miscommunication that didn’t get across the whole line,” Badger offensive lineman Jason Erdmann said to CBS Sports.
Pre-snap miscommunication penalties weren’t even the issue for Bucky, as they were only flagged three times throughout the entire contest. The O-line’s problem was consistently missing, or getting blown off of key blocks that would lead to lost yards or turnovers.
“UW’s issues offensively have boiled down to one missed assignment per play, and that assignment costing the Badgers a big play,” said Ohio State offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen to CBS Sports.
The Buckeyes far outpaced Wisconsin in time of possession marking the first time this season the Badgers had less TOP than their opponent. They were rarely even able to convert first downs.
Jonathan Taylor, usually the star each game, did not perform his best when he was needed. He only gained 52 yards on the ground with a paltry 2.7 yards per carry. Taylor struggled finding holes to run, and ran into the piles of players on just about every down. He only had one catch.
A lot went wrong in this game for the Wisconsin Badgers, and their offense has a lot to work on. The game against Iowa on Saturday, is going to be a make or break type game for the Badgers, to see if they still have life to make a major bowl game.
