Wisconsin leading receiver Quintez Cephus out for year: LB Chris Orr out vs Iowa

Submitted by Bambi on

Wisconsin's leading receiver sophomore Quintez Cephus has been announced to be out for the year. Cephus took over the top spot when the two guys who were thought to be the top 2 options coming into the season, seniors Jazz Peavy and George Rushing, failed to produce. Rushing hasn't played all year and Peavy has 5 catches for 55 yards this year and hasn't played since 10/7 against Nebraska. Cephus has 30 catches for 501 yards and 6 TDs.

Also out for the game against Iowa is LB Chris Orr. He missed the game last week against Indiana as well. He has 35 tackles, 2 sacks and a pick in 8 games this year. Wisconsin is missing LBs Jack Cichy, Zach Baun and Mason Stokke (all out for year) as well. *To clarify, all have been out for year since before the season started.

Star safety D'Cota Dixon is listed as questionable for this week.

Link to full Wisconsin injury report

 

Inman

November 9th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^

I really love our chances in this game, even more so now. My only fear is we will be looking ahead to Osu.. Harbaugh is still fuming after the way we got hosed and he knows what that win would mean...

Wolverine In Iowa 68

November 9th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^

Iowa is notorious every season for winning a game they have no business winning (see: OSU), and losing a game they probably shouldn't (see: Northwestern....[unless NW is actually good]....). 

They've done both already this season.  Ferentz the younger called a brilliant offensive game plan last Saturday and the Hawkeye O played out of their minds.  If they shot their wad and have a fall-off (similar to OSU after pulling off the big win over Pedophile State U), Wisconsin could pound them, especially since they're playing at "Not-Kinnick".

If Brian Ferentz can pull another rabbit out of his hat, and the Iowa D can keep up the same pressure they put on JT Barrett and the Buckeyes and keep up the momentum they built, they should absolutely crush Wisconsin.

One thing I've learned, living here the last few years, is this team is so fucking bipolar, you can't count on them to do what you expect.

Goggles Paisano

November 9th, 2017 at 5:57 PM ^

Need to keep Jonathan Taylor in check (he is really good) and make Hornibrook beat us thru the air.  Fumagali scares me, but other than that they don't have much firepower on offense.  I think we are the better team and have a great shot to win that game, especially if we can get a fairly officiated game.  

Jazz Peavy and his lack of playing time is surprising.  He was pretty good last year.  

Bambi

November 9th, 2017 at 12:45 PM ^

Wisconsin's 4 deep at WR is now 3 freshman and a sophomore (one is a true freshman, one is a walk-on). Their leading receiver (non TE edition) is sophomore AJ Taylor with 14 catches for 231 yards and 2 TDs. Leading overall receiver is TE Troy Fumagli with 30 catches for 401 yards and 3 TDs.

The only players on our team with more receiving yards than Taylor are Perry (285 yards-injured?) and McKeon (253 yards) to put into perspective how bad our passing game has been. Both teams will be completely 1D when we play, with Wisconsin still a little less so.

rc15

November 9th, 2017 at 1:58 PM ^

From a Wisconsin poster on CFB reddit:

gerkenjerken 2 points 

Just so you know, he's not coming back, and it's not his decision.

EDIT: To me that seems like a guy with an insider subscription somewhere trying to say something while still being cryptic and not giving away paywalled info...

stephenrjking

November 9th, 2017 at 1:59 PM ^

This suggests that our defense's main weakness, which is safeties in coverage, will not be stressed as much as in past weeks. This is not to say that Wisconsin won't find ways to test it, but they're not going to consistently beat us over the top. 

Their RB situation is better now than it was last year, but we still match up well against their running game. They're higher-scoring than in the past, but... this game seems to play to our strengths a bit. Winnable.

In reply to by CLion

mrkid

November 9th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ^

I remember when we played a team in 2016 with bad LB luck. It would be nice to replicate that result when we play Wisconsin.

Watching From Afar

November 9th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^

I wasn't all that concerned with their passing game up to this point, but that definitely doesn't help their chances. Hornibrook is throwing for less than 200 yards/game partially because why throw when you can run(?) but they also haven't been playing great pass defenses. The best they've played is probably Indiana (who has no pass rush) and they had the ground game going in that one. Decent stats, but I'd be interested to see how he does if the running game can only muster, say, 100 yards and 1 or no TDs.

Bottom line, stop the run. Hill and Long should be able to take care of whoever they line up against on the outside. Basically the exact plan as last year. Wisconsin hit 100 yards on the nose due to Peavy's jet sweep. Outside of that, they couldn't get going, tried to pass, and that resulted in a bad outcome.