When one thinks of Wisconsin Badgers football, chances are the great tradition of runnings backs over the past quarter of a century comes to mind. Rightfully so with names like Michael Bennett, Ron Dayne and Melvin Gordon to name but just a few big time running backs to come out of Wisconsin.
Yet, here we are after four games of the 2016 season and week after week we have seen the Wisconsin run game falter and fail to live up to the nearly 25-year legacy it has had. Case in point this past weekend against Michigan.
With redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook getting drilled continuously and the offense having issues moving the football through the air, the run game was not exactly around to pick up the pieces.
A 71-yard rushing day is all the Badgers offense mustered up on the ground against Michigan.
Wisconsin’s offense simply got dominated at the line of scrimmage, and it highlighted a major problem facing this team. One that has been brewing for awhile — the missing pieces to Wisconsin’s once powerful running game.
It hasn’t been for a lack of effort or a lack of trying either, as the Badgers offense under both Andrew Ludwig and Paul Chryst have tried to be run-first teams. That philosophy hasn’t exactly worked out though.
Over the past three years, the Badgers have only gotten progressively worse at running the football. Yes, Wisconsin led the Big Ten in rushing offense in 2014, averaging 320.1 yards per game, but that was also the season that saw Melvin Gordon smash through the record books with over 2,500 yards to his credit.
It also marked the final season the Badgers would top 200 or more rushing yards per game as a team, a mark each and every UW outfit was able to top since 2007.
Last season, that streak ended as Wisconsin averaged just 150.3 yards per carry. It was good enough for just 10th in the Big Ten.
Some would point to a brand new offensive line for the most part and an injury that kept UW’s star running back, Corey Clement, on the sideline for most of the season.
They would be right to point to that, but Badgers teams of the past always found ways to step up and take care of each other. What happened when Gordon tweaked an ankle? There was James White, Monte Ball or Clement himself to help pick up the slack before.
In 2015, it was a converted cornerback out of his depth at times (Dare Ogunbowale) and a promising redshirt freshman (Taiwan Deal) that also couldn’t stay healthy enough to consistently be counted on.
That was last season, and all of those issues were supposed to be the reason why the run game was back in 2016.
What is the excuse now? Injuries have ravaged this team at both running back and along the offensive line — a scenario this run game of 2016 should be very familiar with given what happened last season.
Eventually the excuses have to stop and the return of a run game capable of complementing a quarterback, let alone dominating a game, needs to return.
Time and experience for the offensive line under Paul Chryst would change things, or so one was led to believe just a few months ago.
Neither has really changed anything so far through the start of the 2016 season, and as we sit here on the Badgers bye week, there is no part of the offense that needs more work than the run game.
Wisconsin currently sits ninth in the Big Ten in rushing offense, putting up just 161.6 yards per game.
That is a far cry from the year-in, year-out averages this team had under Chryst’s leadership as offensive coordinator, and there’s no doubt everyone wants to get back to those golden days.
No statement was more telling about just where the Badgers run game is than this one courtesy of Clement himself following the Michigan game this past weekend:
“I think we had to switch it up a little bit more,” said Clement, via Badgers247. “They’re very smart up front. They knew what was coming the majority of the plays. If you can execute when they know what you’re doing, that’s the ultimate feeling, but sometimes it doesn’t execute in your favor.”
Clement also sounded confident that the team will turn all those problems around in the second half of this season.
“The season is only going to keep getting harder,” Clement said. “Sometimes you have to learn from stuff. We’re learning. We’re going to have a better season in the second half.”
No doubt he called his shot, and lets see if things can finally click after a year and a half of issues. Otherwise this team could be in some trouble going forward.
But, how exactly did the Badgers get to this point after churning out star after star at running back and offensive line.
We suggest one name — Gary Andersen — has a lot to do with the current situation of UW’s run game.
Gone are the days of talented linemen stepping up after learning for a few years and becoming stars to replace graduated stars. Instead, the Badgers have had to turn to a D3 transfer (albeit a very solid player) like Ryan Ramczyk to save its bacon at left tackle and have had to look to freshmen and sophomores to largely fill out the two deep on the roster.
Week in and week out the Badgers also produce a depth chart that features one name backing up four positions, Brett Connors. Oh, and he has already been called on to start the past two weeks as well.
How exactly does one program go from producing an offensive line group like existed in 2011 to the one that is on the field today? Let’s remember that that 2011 group included future NFL names like Ricky Wagner, Peter Konz, Kevin Zeitler, Travis Fredrick, Ryan Groy and Rob Havenstein.
Heck, that group also included a quality long-term option at left tackle, Tyler Marz, and Josh Oglesby as well.
Fast forward to the end of 2012 and the hire of Gary Andersen. He clearly had a different idea of what an offensive lineman should look like and play at UW, and his swings and misses along the offensive line and at running back can be felt to this very day.
Promising in-state names like Jaden Gault and George Panos did not pan out thanks to health issues, meanwhile Hayden Beigel, Kevin Estes and Jackson Keeler never saw the field and are off the roster as well.
Andersen’s smaller names have been the ones that have panned out a bit so far. Current starters Beau Benzschawel, Micah Kapoi and Jacob Maxwell all were Andersen recruits. Then again, this is the offensive line opening (or not opening) holes for this current run game of 2016.
Many of UW’s offensive linemen of today have bright futures to be sure, but on-the-job training doesn’t cut it with the schedule at hand. Let’s also not forget that the majority of this group had that on-the-job training last year.
It was that experience and learning ability that were supposed to return the Badgers run game to successful heights in 2016. That’s clearly not what has happened, with the UW run game topping 200 yards in just the Akron game to date this year.
That’s just the talk of the offensive line group, and one look behind them and you see a bit of a disaster on the recruiting trail as well.
If it weren’t for the late recruitment of Bradrick Shaw and Alec Ingold in the 2015 recruiting class this group would’ve been in even worse shape last year (in Ingold’s case) and against Georgia State (in Shaw’s case) this year.
Andersen’s running back recruiting is in major danger of being a complete bust, with his prized recruit of Corey Clement struggling to emerge as a legit star. Injuries haven’t helped Clement, but he hasn’t been consistent when healthy either.
The jury is still out on redshirt sophomore Taiwan Deal as well, a player who has shown flashes of being a quality running back, but also can’t stay healthy.
Andersen’s other running back recruits have had a horrible history, with Caleb Kinlaw never fitting in in the backfield and eventually transferring, meanwhile alleged speed back Jordan Stevenson never made it to UW due to academic issues.
It’s a spotty and somewhat terrible recruiting record for Andersen at the two most important offensive positions for the Badgers.
A record that has Wisconsin firmly in the mess it currently is trying to dig itself out of.
Sure, there is plenty of time for everything to be turned around and for Corey Clement’s words to be proven true. But, this has been the song and dance played for the last year and a half, so we’ll believe it when we finally see it turning the corner…
…and we will all rejoice in the real Badgers offense making a comeback.
Until then, thanks for nothing Gary Andersen.
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