The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Nebraska Edition

A win is a win, and you can learn a lot about a team when it win's ugly. In a season that has strayed far from from expectations it can be hard to find a reason to keep fighting, but that's exactly what the Badgers did on Saturday. They got punched in the mouth, but unlike the last couple weeks instead of curling up in a ball on the floor they showed they liked the taste of blood in their mouths and fought back. We already know the win was ugly, but let's also look at the Good and the Bad which together gives us the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Wisconsin vs. Nebraska.

The Good

The youth movement has started. With injuries in the receiving corp guys like Vinny Anthony and Quincy Burroughs stepped up and contributed with catches. Tucker Ashcraft emerged again as the #1 receiving target amongst the tight ends, and Jackson Acker took some of the burden off of an injured Braelon Allen's shoulders with hard running and a clutch TD catch. I wish we could see a bit more rotation in the offensive line, but let's hope by earning a few extra weeks with bowl prep we can see the depth chart get deeper.

The Bad

Speaking of the offensive line while they didn't make any glaring mistakes in the run game they were largely stymied by a physical Cornhusker front 7. They played hard and physical, but to be a successful rushing attack in the B1G you need to dominate the line of scrimmage and we certainly didn't see that on Saturday.

The Ugly

We are lucky we are at the end of the season, but it really seems that this team is one major injury away from a total offensive collapse. Will Pauling has been the rock of the receiver corp and as he laid on the ground clutching his ankle the entire Badger fandom let out a loud gasp in unison. Young players stepped up and took some of his burden, but if a player like him were to miss significant time it would totally change the dynamic of the offense. Building reliable depth going into bowl prep and definitely in the off season needs to be a high priority.

PLAY OF THE DAY - Big Green 772 Duck

note: terminology is my own and not an accurate representation of how Phil Longo calls plays.

26 yard TD pass to Jackson Acker

Situation- 6:46 left in the 2nd Quarter. 2nd and 7 on Nebraska's 26 yard line

Personnel- 11 personnel (X Dike, Y Bell, H Nowakowski, Z Anthony, F Acker)

Concept- Play action smash rollout with a RB leak/Wheel

Progression - Play action then rollout reading high/low to playside. Man coverage check for blitz to hit the RB on the release backside

Defense- 2-4 Nickel, Single high split field coverage (Cov 1 to Field). Double ILB blitz with WOLB dropping.