Wisconsin Snowflakes: The Offense
October 1st, 2016 at 8:31 PM ^
Had some nice punts though.
October 1st, 2016 at 9:05 PM ^
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:18 PM ^
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:21 PM ^
A: He's fast enough.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:22 PM ^
Thought the running game and run blocking were solid. 39 carries for 160 yards (sacks removed) against that defense is perfectly respectable. 33 for 150 or so before the six carries at the end of the game is flat good.
Concerned by the confusion on the line, a lot of the pressure/sacks were because guys came unblocked. And when Speight did get passes off, he was inaccurate except the one deep ball that won the game.
Competition adjusted they played well with major room for improvement. State's gonna disguise their blitzes and that's going to be a problem.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:42 PM ^
State's D is doo doo. But definitely a lot of room for improvement. I'd rather destroy Sparty than just beat them by the spread.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:47 PM ^
That may be true, but I think Wisconsin has a superior secondary. If the blitz pickups hold in EL, I think it will end well.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:39 PM ^
Anyone else think Chesson must be a little slower or less explosive post-injury? He got behind the defense so much last season... this year it doesn't seem like he's open deep nearly as much.
And I'm not too worried about Speight. He was going up against a great defense, and he finished 20/32 for 219 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Far from horrible. Second interception of the season. Beautiful throw to Darboh. Let's remember today was Speight's 5th game starting, and this was the first real test.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:45 PM ^
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:53 PM ^
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October 1st, 2016 at 9:33 PM ^
October 1st, 2016 at 9:06 PM ^
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October 1st, 2016 at 11:11 PM ^
Brian Griese (11 games): 175-277, 63.2%, 7.4ypa, 2,042yd, 14td, 5int
Wilton Speight (5 games): 72-114, 63.2%, 7.7ypa, 875yd, 9td, 2int
Look familiar? Speight is literally the exact same QB as Griese was in '97. I remember not being super inspired by his play that year. He'd hit a wide open Jeremy Tuman (TE) and drop in the occasional bomb to Tai Streets and the rest of the time he was totally pedestrian.
It's almost scary how many parallels there are with that team.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:43 AM ^
The defense if very similar to '97. I think we have the talent to head into Columbus undefeated but if our offense does not improve by November, we may not win the B1G.
October 2nd, 2016 at 10:01 AM ^
Went back and "watched the tape" so to speak, and I think too many of the offense's failures were blamed on Speight. He wasn't perfect, by any means, (bad throw in the red zone nearly picked off towards end of 1st Q, two bad deep balls where WR was led too far inside, and while the interception he threw was off a tipped ball, Butt was too well covered to have even attempted that pass.) I'll also criticize Speight for taking the sack before the third missed FG.
There were a lot of miscommunications on the offensive line in pass protection, which is what UW's defensive schemes try to do. Speight's 2nd quarter was a bit underwhelming, but watching again, I didn't see open receivers that he missed. I saw where he threw on rhythm (even under pressure) and missed receivers that were well covered.
Wisconsin's defense did a lot of things that UM's offensive line didn't seem to handle well. I'll agree to the default that "I trust Harbaugh (and I'll add his coaching staff) more than Speight" but in yesterday's game specifically, I think too much blame was assigned to a QB whose offensive line had some problems in front of him. I think minus a couple plays (which you'll always have), Speight played well yesterday and shouldn't be at the top of the list of those blamed for the offense only scoring 14 points.
October 2nd, 2016 at 11:12 AM ^
The propensity of letting defenders through unblocked is really puzzling. It's a pretty consistent issue as it's happened in multiple games this season. Would like to see that communication improved upon between the OL, RB and QB. Not sure whose job it is to figure that out (Speight or Cole?) but someone needs to call out the protections for these guys.