The Wisconsin Badgers didn’t play up to their standard offensively in a 17-7 loss to the No. 12 UCLA Bruins on Saturday, as they had a big missed opportunity to get ranked and couldn’t take advantage of a winnable game against a very good opponent.
Instead, they’re 4-2 heading into two major games against the USC Trojans and Iowa Hawkeyes, and how their season ultimately plays out feels dependent on the results of these two.
As I do every week, I went through the offensive film to identify what the main issues were for the Badgers in a game where there was just so much meat left on the bone.
Here are my final takeaways from a disappointing loss for Wisconsin against UCLA.
Jeff Grimes and the playcalling
1. Going away from jet sweeps, perimeter runs
In general this season, the Badgers have seen success when running outside the tackles, be it on jet sweeps, outside zones, or quarterback designed runs.
When running to the left end, the Badgers have averaged 5.6 yards per carry, which includes four 10+ yard runs on 30 carries and 2.3 yards after contact. When running to the right end, the Badgers have averaged 5.9 yards per carry and 2.62 yards after contact, with another four 10+ yard runs on 37 carrries. They are far less efficient running between the tackles, and especially up the middle, averaging just 3.6 yards per carry on those attempts.
Going to Saturday’s game, Wisconsin saw some good success with the different wrinkles they had in the run game. With UCLA’s edges crashing a ton against the run, the Badgers exploited that to hit on some jet sweeps, and end-around, and pitches/rushes to the edges, specifically on the left side.
That also opened up some zone-read opportunities, as Colton Joseph also got a couple of nice gains when the edges bit on the fakes, with Wisconsin faking the jet sweep action a couple of times as well.
The problem? The Badgers, once again, went away from those actions after seeing success there in the run game. It just didn’t make sense to go away from something that had been successful against a high-quality defense.
2. Hot routes vs. blitzes
Another recurring issue for the Badgers has been the lack of hot routes against blitzes, be it a failure to throw to them or a design issue, with the latter popping up much more against UCLA.
The Bruins are one of the more creative defenses when it comes to their fronts and how they create pressure with the blitz. Joseph was blitzed on 14 of his 21 dropbacks on Saturday. He was pressured on seven of those dropbacks and sacked on four of them.
On a few plays, there was a clear quarterback issue. On Wisconsin’s second drive, facing a 2nd & 10, after PJ Wilkins gave up an early pressure, Joseph was late getting to his checkdown, which was open with plenty of space. He ended up getting hit while being thrown for an incompletion, but that was a situation where getting the ball out quicker results in a potential first down.
But a lot of the time, there seems to be a clear schematic issue for the Badgers with a lack of a hot route. Quite frankly, knowing how much UCLA blitzes, that was a huge oversight on Grimes’s part in the gameplan.
On that same second drive, UCLA blitzed a few plays earlier on 2nd & 4. Joseph’s main read was a quick out to Jacob Harris, which was taken away, and he had to scramble away (did run for 36 yards after escaping the pocket) without a hot route. If the offensive line doesn’t pickup the blitz as well as it did, that could’ve been a disaster play.
On Wisconsin’s 4th drive, with the Badgers in scoring range on a 3rd & 9 inside the red zone, the Bruins blitzed 6. Once again, there was nobody to throw hot. Joseph mainly locked in on Harris, who was double-covered, but the pressure came quick with PJ Wilkins giving up an early pressure and Joseph was sacked. That took the Badgers backwards and Gavin Lahm missed a 45-yard field goal.
The lack of a hot route was best seen on Wisconsin’s final offensive play of the game. Down 10 with under six minutes left on 3rd & 9, UCLA sent six to go after Joseph. There was nowhere to go with the ball with no clear hot route, as all the routes took longer to develop. As a result, Joseph was sacked and Luke Fickell punted deep in Wisconsin territory.
The Badgers have not done a great job of emphasizing the easier stuff for their struggling quarterback. A clear issue was hot routes, and it’s a big issue that those weren’t emphasized against a defense like UCLA’s. There’s either a very prominent execution problem or a design issue.
3. Easy routes vs. man coverage
One other design issue that really stood out in the loss was the lack of easier routes against man coverage. I’ll dive more into this when discussing the receivers later, but a ton of Wisconsin’s dropbacks in this game had wideouts trying to win 1-on-1 against UCLA’s secondary.
Colton Joseph has not been great on throws inside 10 yards, completing just 63.3 percent of those passes, averaging 5.6 yards per attempt. But I wanted to see more crossers and routes where the design sprung receivers open, rather than depending on them as much as Wisconsin did to win 1-on-1 routes.
After the game and on Monday, head coach Luke Fickell said that receivers have to make plays, which is true. There were a couple of plays left on the table (more on that later). But this group of wideouts isn’t elite separators. They haven’t proven to be able to consistently beat man coverage. And the play designs have not been putting the receivers in positions to get “easy” targets or Joseph to make “easy” throws.
Fickell talked on Monday about how the Badgers didn’t get the easy stuff enough for Joseph.
“Well, some of the things that I think that we didn’t have an opportunity to do, and maybe some of the easier get in rhythm passes we probably didn’t do,” Fickell said. “And that, I think that hurt [Joseph] in the long run. I don’t know that we envisioned carrying it as many times as he did. A lot of those are reads, and correct read or wrong read, call your own number or not, I think all those things kind of add up. And so that’s been a focus for us of making sure that, like, look, we’re not pigeonholing you into only doing certain things and not giving you the opportunity to get into a rhythm and be able to complete more passes.”
That was very visible on film. I’ve been a supporter of Grimes in several games this season because he’s created vertical shots and has done some creative things in the passing game. That was there again in this game. The Badgers had several vertical shots that they just didn’t convert.
But Grimes’s go-to for creating easy opportunities have been the screens and swing passes. There need to be different ways to get receivers open for “easy” throws, including more crossers (not just in play-action).
Wisconsin wants to hang its hat running the ball, as it should. But there will be a ton of loaded boxes going forward with teams daring the Badgers to throw the ball. There need to be easier plays to make in those favorable situations (happened a few times with throws on early downs vs. UCLA).
4. Missed explosive plays
Now, while mentioning some of the issues, we also have to point out the execution woes on plays that were designed well by Grimes. Wisconsin had a ton of missed opportunities in the air in this one.
On Wisconsin’s second drive, on 2nd & 5, Grimes set up a play-action well. There was a post to set up a deep corner for Tyrell Henry, which sprung wide open. But Colton Joseph was late anticipating the deep ball and Henry didn’t flatten his route (was a poorly thrown ball as well). Now, Henry did get interfered on the play and it wasn’t called (there was a penalty on Wisconsin instead). But that’s an example of a play Wisconsin has to have in the air.
The Badgers did have a nice explosive two plays later to Jaylon Domingeaux for 23, with the wideout adjusting very well to make a nice catch in coverage.
On Wisconsin’s fourth drive, the Badgers had a prime opportunity with a 2nd & 1 for a shot play. Against a loaded front, Wisconsin went play-action and Joseph had Harris open on the intermediate crosses for a layered throw. Joseph dropped back but didn’t step up in a clean pocket enough to make the throw, and he was hit for a fumble (which Wisconsin recovered). That’s a play where the Badgers could’ve easily gotten 15 yards.
Later on that drive, on a 2nd & 9, the Badgers had a big shot for a touchdown. Malachi Coleman beat his defender and had a step, but ran a poor route, as he failed to flatten to the open space in the end zone. Joseph tried to lead him and threw a pretty good ball, but Coleman dropped it on a diving catch. Coleman needs to have a better route there. That took away seven points, and the Badgers got none on the drive after a missed field goal.
On Wisconsin’s sixth drive, the Badgers had a big opportunity down 10-7 with a 1st & 10 at the UCLA 39-yard line after a nice catch-and-run from Jacob Harris on a swing pass. Wisconsin dropped back on play-action on 1st down and Shamar Rigby was open on the dig as the key read. But Stylz Blackmon was instantly beaten in pass protection, forcing Joseph to throw the ball away.
Luke Fickell mentioned on Monday how there were a few times a protection breakdown led to a missed play. This was one.
On the next drive, with Wisconsin now down 10, the Badgers had a 2nd & 1 after a gain of nine on first down, which was, once again, a great chance at a shot play. Wisconsin dropped back with a play-action, and Joseph was looking at Malachi Coleman deep. Coleman didn’t have a great release on the play, which didn’t allow him to separate well, but I thought there should’ve been illegal contact called and certainly a pass interference as Coleman was held while the ball was in the air.
That’s a ton of shot plays, which was Grimes’s calling card in the passing game, that Wisconsin just didn’t execute. Again, just way too many missed opportunities.
Offensive Line talk
A quote from Kevin Heywood went viral after the game as the offensive lineman said that the issues for the unit were mainly four players doing their job and one not. Many perceived that to be a shot at a specific teammate, but it was generally seen throughout the unit on Saturday.
This offensive line group definitely has a lot of talent. Heywood, Colin Cubberly, and Austin Kawecki have all played very solid this year. But still, it’s disappointing to see how there are slight execution issues with the group far too consistently.
First off, PJ Wilkins continues to struggle far too often. The Badgers started him out at left tackle, which didn’t work. He then rotated in with Emerson Mandell at right tackle and didn’t play well there either. Wisconsin now moved him to right guard during the bye week, with Stylz Blackmon taking over at center with Austin Kawecki out.
Heading into the week, I didn’t understand it. Ryan Cory played well against Michigan State and Wilkins has been the clear problem on the offensive line this season. He was the one who popped up the most as the issue against UCLA.
Now, I don’t think the Badgers offensive line struggled in pass protection on Saturday. They actually had quite a few solid blitz pickups and overall reps, but their mistakes were definitely magnified in bad situations.
Let’s get into some notable plays. On Wisconsin’s first drive, on 1st & 10, Cubberly whiffed as a puller, which hurt because the rest of the run was blocked very well and the Badgers would’ve had a nice hole. Instead, it became 2nd & 10, and the Badgers punted two plays later.
On 2nd & 10 on the following drive, Wilkins was quickly beaten by a rusher, leading to a hit on Colton Joseph as he threw the ball. I talked earlier how this one was more on the quarterback for failing to get to his checkdown quick enough, but it was another quick pressure, and the Badgers wouldn’t get another first down on the drive.
On the team’s fourth drive, on that 3rd & 9 where Joseph took a sack without a hot route to throw to against the blitz, it was Wilkins once again who was beaten quickly. Now, the Bruins had the 6-on-5 advantage, but Wisconsin handled the blitz well enough to let Joseph get a pass off if Wilkins hadn’t missed his block. Instead, it was a sack and a missed field goal ensued.
On the team’s sixth drive, on the dig to Rigby I had mentioned above, the Badgers potentially get in the red zone if Stylz Blackmon isn’t beaten quickly, forcing a throwaway.
On the team’s seventh drive, down 10 needing points, the Badgers had a few key whiffs. After getting a first down, Wisconsin got just one yard on a fake jet sweep and handoff to the back, as Wilkins and Emerson Mandell struggled to maintain their blocks. Then, on 4th & 3, Emmett Bork whiffed on his block, allowing a defender to get to Darrion Dupree for the stop. Now, Dupree’s face mask was also pulled, and it was a missed call, but the Badgers had a chance to take it out of the official’s hands and missed.
Overall, I thought Wisconsin honestly blocked really well in the run game. Heywood and Cubberly had a number of key plays, and I also thought Stylz Blackmon played well (although there were a few rough snaps). But there were a few plays where the Badgers just had one missed block which took away some of the yardage they could’ve gotten. It’s also really hard to have small execution errors when the opposing defense won’t shy away from stacking the box.
I also thought the Badgers generally handled the blitz well from a protection standpoint, and that’s an impressive feat. Still, there were just a few too many minor execution mishaps in this one.
The main change here is Wisconsin needs Austin Kawecki back. It was a really rough game for PJ Wilkins. The Badgers did invest a lot into him in the offseason and they clearly value him as a puller, but he just cannot set well enough in pass protection and also was inconsistent as a run blocker.
Colton Joseph
I’ve talked a lot about play designs and missed explosives earlier, but there were a few additional thoughts that I had from Colton Joseph in this one.
The zone read options have become increasingly prevalent in the Badgers offense with the pass game struggles and Joseph’s dyanmic ability in the air. And they’ve been pretty successful for Wisconsin. But there are still a few times a game that Joseph makes the wrong decision whether to pull or hand off. Now, sometimes it doesn’t matter because he’s able to make a play anyways, but that has been a recurring theme.
Joseph’s struggles in the pass game are more worrisome now that they’ve continued for six games. The senior quarterback continues to struggle to read defenses quick enough, often locking on to his first read and holding onto the ball too long. It also feels like he’s pressing right now.
The Badgers know they need more success in the air, specifically with explosives, and it feels like Joseph is forcing some of those vertical shots because they’re called in the offense. He had an early one in double coverage to Jacob Harris off play-action along the sideline on Wisconsin’s first drive that was a dangerous throw. He threw into triple coverage trying to hit Eugene Hilton (PI ended up getting called) after locking onto him. And there are a few times where he doesn’t get off the read in time, which hurt when pressure came on Saturday.
The process overall feels too inconsistent. There was also a decision where Joseph came off a read too fast, missing an open receiver. Then, there’s the accuracy issues. It feels like Jeff Grimes is trusting his receivers to win more 1-on-1 because Joseph has clearly preferred to throw to the sidelines or vertically rather than over the middle of the field. And defenses have taken advantage of that.
There needs to be more consistency with the easy throws. Wisconsin has thrown a lot of screens and swing passes to make Joseph more comfortable, but the reality is: he hasn’t been consistently accurate on those throws all season long. He often throws high and there have been some flat-out misses.
Overall, there’s just not one problem to hone in on with the passing game, and it feels like the trust isn’t there on all levels right now. And a lot of this was on film coming into Wisconsin. I was very wary of Joseph’s struggles inside the pocket at Old Dominion, where his feet weren’t great and he often failed to be consistent in structure.
Hitting on some of the explosives masks some of the problems. And Wisconsin is willing to ride those highs and lows. But accuracy has been an issue all year long, and the lows have come out a lot, even in the team’s wins.
Now, Joseph still has a floor because he’s a very talented runner. But in the Big Ten, teams will continue loading up the box and daring Wisconsin to throw, while teeing off with pressure.
