What Did We Learn - Wisconsin Edition



The thought I had during the game was it's seemed like NU has been really unproductive running inside zone going back to the Frost area and now the Air Raid guy has them gashing Wisconsin.  Maybe I've been in a haze of discontentment, but it sure seems like NU's best runs this season had come from Counter GT.  If my perception is accurate, I think it's safe to say Frost and Satt didn't rep this stuff out diligently enough.  

 
floridacorn said:
The thought I had during the game was it's seemed like NU has been really unproductive running inside zone going back to the Frost area and now the Air Raid guy has them gashing Wisconsin.  Maybe I've been in a haze of discontentment, but it sure seems like NU's best runs this season had come from Counter GT.  If my perception is accurate, I think it's safe to say Frost and Satt didn't rep this stuff out diligently enough.  
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Good stuff as always. It's kind of hard to judge success & failure just from memory when the first half of the schedule was easy (and is less fresh in my mind) and the second half of the schedule was so much tougher and is fresher.

Frost pulled Jurgens at center a lot, but I think you're right that he wasn't pulling the guard and tackle a ton.

I've said this many times on this forum but I also think a big part of the problem from games 7 - 10 was:

  1. Starting Dowdell.
  2. Running Dowdell in zone rushing schemes, period.

Dowdell is your guy if you're in the 'I' or if you have a H-back, with lead blocker stuff. In those scenarios he is without a doubt the best option on the team.

But in zone and just overall, Emmett is just the better player. It just almost even isn't debatable, in my opinion. I don't understand what could explain the staff going with Dowdell so much in games 7 - 10.

If we had the playbook from the Wisconsin game against UCLA, I feel like we win that game. And that is hugely frustrating.

 
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Undone said:
Good stuff as always. It's kind of hard to judge success & failure just from memory when the first half of the schedule was easy (and is less fresh in my mind) and the second half of the schedule was so much tougher and is fresher.

Frost pulled Jurgens at center a lot, but I think you're right that he wasn't pulling the guard and tackle a ton.

I've said this many times on this forum but I also think a big part of the problem from games 7 - 10 was:

  1. Starting Dowdell.
  2. Running Dowdell in zone rushing schemes, period.

Dowdell is your guy if you're in the 'I' or if you have a H-back, with lead blocker stuff. In those scenarios he is without a doubt the best option on the team.

But in zone and just overall, Emmett is just the better player. It just almost even isn't debatable, in my opinion. I don't understand what could explain the staff going with Dowdell so much in games 7 - 10.

If we had the playbook from the Wisconsin game against UCLA, I feel like we win that game. And that is hugely frustrating.
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To piggy back off this, I have not been a fan of Dowdell running from the gun, which NU had done a ton going back to the Indiana game.  EJ has had his moments of dancing behind the line this year, but he definitely has more juice, and played inspired vs Wiscy.  EJ doesn't look like the same athlete he was last year imo and Dowdell doesn't look like this same athlete they had in spring.  But, unless he makes another leap, I'd look to keep him in the role he was in vs Wiscy.  

 
The problem with Dowdell is he is rarely successful on outside runs, or receiving the ball, at least going off of my memory. So you put him in and the defense either knows what type of play it will be if it's a run, or they stop it easily because it's a play he's not good at.

EJ on the other hand can have success even running up the middle by making someone miss. So he can get yards in the same situations Dowdell can get yards, plus the ones he usually can't. Maybe goal line is the only time where that's not the case. When they're anywhere else, I don't see how EJ isn't the best choice. Even if one of the reasons is the defense is less likely to know what type of play it will be.

 
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Rewatching the game and that throw and catch to Banks at the end of the first half was pretty all the way through. Perfect placement by Raiola and perfect body control by Banks to catch the ball and get his foot down.

 
Not to be a downer, but I never realized until their game started today that Wisconsin didn't have a winning record...

 
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