The college football season is just over 24 hours away from kicking off, and there’s no doubt that Wisconsinites are excited to get this season going against the Bayou Bengals.
When this game was announced few gave the Badgers a shot, after all LSU was coming off national championship level play. Yet, as we sit here with the game in front of us, these two teams are a lot closer on paper than pundits would’ve thought just 18 months ago.
Having these two teams so close means there are going to be minor details in the game that will matter in a big way. That’s where we come in with the return of our weekly football feature —”5 things to watch for.”
5 Things to Watch For:
5. Melvin Gordon Going for Over 150 yards: Fact is, Wisconsin is best when it’s running game is going wild on opposing teams. Another fact is that going over 100 yards isn’t exactly earth shattering stuff at UW over the past 30 years. However, LSU gave up less than 150 yards rushing per game to opposing teams and that helped them stay in games. Therefore if Gordon can get going and get closer to 200 yards than 100, it gives the Badgers the best chance to win the game. If Wisconsin wins, expect to see Gordon break one or two for over 30 yards to help that cause.
4. Big Plays on the Edge: This goes both ways for the Badgers, as they need to get going on the edge in order to soften up the LSU defense and UW needs to stop LSU from bouncing plays outside on the other side of the ball. It sounds simple, but let’s harken back to a season ago against BYU and Arizona State for a bit. In both of those games the Badgers defense did a pretty good job of shutting down the edge and making running quarterbacks less of a factor. BYU’s Taysom Hill ran 17 times for just 53 yards and no touchdowns, while ASU’s Taylor Kelly ran the ball 11 times for 24 yards and no touchdowns.
LSU will start a mobile quarterback, whether it’s Anthony Jennings or Brandon Harris and UW will have enough to deal with from the power run game. Shutting down the quarterbacks from running to the edges will be massive.
On the flip side, Wisconsin needs to get to the edges in the run game — its where the Badgers did some crazy damage last season and adding a more mobile starting quarterback can only help that run game go crazy. If successful off the edge in the run game it also means some huge potential to hit the Tigers in the play-action pass game.
Bottom line is that Wisconsin needs to get going on the edge on offense and play like it did against BYU on defense to get the job done.
3. Win the battles on the line of scrimmage: Another seemingly no-brainer, but when you’re talking about playing against one of the nation’s best offensive lines and one of the deeper and talented defensive lines in the country, that’s easier said than done.
UW’s offensive line is no slouch either, but this is likely to be the biggest test they see all season long. The inside trio of Kyle Costigan, Dan Voltz and Dallas Lewallen are going to be challenged in a big way, and considering the need for a good inside run game, UW needs to have them win that battle.
Defensively the Badgers are going up against a huge line, but aren’t exactly the heaviest group (nor the most experienced) themselves. Finding a way to use that athleticism and get off blocks quickly is going to be huge. All it does is free up linebackers to make plays, and UW’s linebackers apparently like that idea.
2. Attack on defense: Wisconsin didn’t do a whole lot of attacking last season, at least not in the way Aranda’s 3-4 defenses are supposed to. There were few exotic blitzes, few sub packages for certain situations or anything that screamed downhill football (outside Michael Caputo).
This season the Badgers are looking to be more athletic, moving Warren Herring out to defensive end, starting Chikwe Obasih at the other end and pairing Vince Biegel with Joe Schobert on the outside at linebacker.
Look for Biegel, Herring an Obasih to be massively important to the chances of success for Wisconsin, and that means they need all three to be playing downhill in the run and pass game. Their ability to do that will only help mix things up on the defensive side of the ball. If they are getting going and you are hearing their names often the Badgers are likely winning this football game.
1. Get McEvoy Going Early: It seems logical that you’d want any quarterback to get going early, but that’s especially the case when you are starting a brand new quarterback and doing it against an opponent like LSU.
We aren’t necessarily talking about getting McEvoy going in the pass game either, especially since he won the job because of his athletic ability. The reality is, the sooner McEvoy gets involved in the game outside of handing the ball off, the sooner he will settle himself down. Don’t be surprised to see the Badgers try and get McEvoy going in the run game early, but I’d be shocked if UW didn’t take a chance deep down field in the pass game during the first series. Get it over with in terms of calming the nerves down and giving some confidence if it’s completed.
It will also be important for UW to not go three-and-out on the first series. McEvoy settling down quickly is a key component of that happening.
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