The Wisconsin Badgers earned their first win of the season against Western Illinois Leatherbacks with a 36-9 win on Saturday, following a tough opening loss against Notre Dame in Green Bay.
The Badgers scored on the first play of scrimmage with a 72-yard rushing touchdown by running back Abu Sama III. Wisconsin scored 17 points in the first quarter but were unable to score another touchdown until the last five minutes of the fourth quarter.
Although the defense kept the Leathernecks out of the endzone, they couldn’t create any turnovers and in the first half were on the field for 20 of the 30 minutes.
The win was expected, and there were certainly bright moments for the Badgers. But there are also things for the team to continue to work on in their game this week against the Eastern Michigan Eagles (1-2) and before their first big test on Sep. 26 at Penn State.
The defense needs to start forcing turnovers
It’s no secret one of the main criticisms so far is the defense has yet to force a turnover through their first two games. Linebacker Thomas Heiberger acknowledged fans’ disappointment with the lack of defensive takeaways, but told the Daily Cardinal it’s important for the team to not get frustrated with this.
One of Eastern Michigan's strengths is their senior quarterback Noah Kim, who has experience playing in the Big 10 and has nearly 5,000 career passing yards.
“He can extend plays and escape with a B gap. So we're going to have to contain him as best we can…make him uncomfortable and make bad decisions so we can capitalize and get the ball,” Heiberger told the Cardinal.
Still, the Badgers’ upcoming game will be another good opportunity for the defense to come up with some takeaways and build confidence against the Eagles, who have turned it over every game so far this season.
The passing game needs to be more consistent
The Badgers must continue to work on sustaining a more consistent passing game. The team currently averages just 195 passing yards per game — tied 97th out of 138 FBS teams.
Against Western Illinois, quarterback Colton Joseph only threw for 173 yards and had just 81 passing yards midway through the third quarter. With time, Joseph will need to continue to grow and gain more confidence at the Power Four level.
Joseph needs to improve his accuracy throwing the ball on short and intermediate routes. On a 3rd-and-11 in opponent territory on Saturday night, slot wide receiver Tyrell Henry was open on a screen pass, but Joseph threw an incomplete pass over his head.
The offense will have to clean up those plays moving forward.
Let’s keep getting the offensive playmakers the ball
An exciting part of this year’s Wisconsin team so far has been the playmakers on the offensive side of the field. Against Western Illinois, both running backs Abu Sama III and Darrion Dupree scored rushing touchdowns and the offense totaled 233 rushing yards.
The Badgers show quite a bit of promise with four wide receivers who can all make plays.
Although Malachi Coleman didn’t catch a pass against Western Illinois, he was the team’s leading receiver with four catches for 76 yards and a touchdown against Notre Dame.
Sophomore Eugene Hilton Jr. and senior Chris Brooks Jr, who caught his first career touchdown last weekend, should also help Joseph downfield.
Tyrell Henry showed he can be dangerous with his speed. He can win against man-to-man coverage, which we saw against Western Illinois with his 25-yard-catch at the beginning of the second quarter and 51 yard catch in the fourth quarter.
Creating and running more plays that get these playmakers into open space will be critical for how explosive this offense can be.
Don’t let your paw off the gas
Despite a fast 17-0 start, the Badgers — especially offensively — seemed to be unable to sustain this momentum and found themselves only up 23-9 at one point in the third quarter.
Head coach Luke Fickell said after the game the team’s “ability to sustain emotionally is going to be really important.” Heiberger echoed this message and said the beginning of the game can’t get in the players’ heads.
“Whether it's 17 to zero or up or down, it's just a one-play mentality about going as hard as you can, whether that be the first play or the 60th or 70th play,” Heiberger said.
Heiberger added the defense, which spent about two-thirds of the first half on the field, can better control this by putting the other team behind the sticks early. He said the overall mindset heading into week 3 is centered around being “tough, nasty and disciplined.”
“Those are the three things that we live by. So just playing every play like that, and then at the end of the day, the scoreboard's [going to] justify how we play,” Heiberger said.
