This myth of Wisconsin's 2014 defense

[NCHawker]

Wisconsin came into the iowa game with a defense that was ranked #1 in the nation. The problem with those statistics is that they were racked up against inferior competition. wisky played a schedule that was on par with iowa's. You can also consider that Melvin & co got them out in front in many of those games and the other teams were playing from behind and became mostly passing teams. They did not look like the #1 defense against Iowa or Minny and they certainly did not look like it against OSU.

I think W thought that they could just show up and beat OSU with Melvin's 250 yards and their "world class defense". I think they became complacent. Much like Iowa strolling into Minny.

What is funny is when I read their message boards before the Iowa game. They were convinced that they had an elite defense.

We all know that it does not take a great defense to hold Iowa's running attack down. And 1/2 the time you can put scarecrows out there in the defensive backfield and Jake will panic and dump it off.

 

[NEIChawk]

I was actually looking forward to this game.....I haven't seen much of O$U and they absolutely dismantled the Vadgers is a matter of minutes, early and often...Then Buckeyes were incredible in every way...there was no answer, there was no undoing what was happening to Wisconsin....And I'm not so sure MG3 will make a big impact on Sunday afternoon....as he coughed up another ball on the ground....Anyway, I think the look on Wisci's D-coach said it all....dumbfounded, confused, way in over his head (I think I just described KF at times this year...)....Wisconsin had no answer period and they will get throttled in their bowl game...And that folks is what pi$$es me off the most...we should've won, and yet, we didn't, sad state of affairs in our own little corner of the B1G...

 

[HawkMD2007]

And tOSU did it to Wisky with a third string QB....

 

[NCHawker]

And tOSU did it to Wisky with a third string QB....

did you catch Urban Meyer's interview after the game (not sure if Sat or Sun) he said about Cardel. paraphrase... "We knew he could throw the ball really well but that is just a fraction of what it takes to be a good quarterback."

I immediately thought of CJ's playing time.

 

[smbhawk1]

OSU probably simply watched the 2nd half tape of the Iowa game. Wisky plays man coverage and is not very good at it. JR looked All Big Ten against them in the 2nd half.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

OSU probably simply watched the 2nd half tape of the Iowa game. Wisky plays man coverage and is not very good at it. JR looked All Big Ten against them in the 2nd half.

Iowa didnt beat Wisconsin, but they certainly exposed that secondary

 

[smbhawk1]

Iowa didnt beat Wisconsin, but they certainly exposed that secondary

And championship coaching staffs look for weaknesses in their opponent and take advantage of them.

 

[Gibsonian]

And championship coaching staffs look for weaknesses in their opponent and take advantage of them.

Now that's a novel idea! Hmmmm...........

 

[doclee]

Urban also commented prior to the game, on BTN, that "Iowa did a good job of containing Melvin Gordon. You may not be able to stop him completely." I think it is correct that Urban took the Iowa tape seriously, both defensively and offensively. And, cripes, OSU has a ton of really good football players.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Urban also commented prior to the game, on BTN, that "Iowa did a good job of containing Melvin Gordon. You may not be able to stop him completely." I think it is correct that Urban took the Iowa tape seriously, both defensively and offensively. And, cripes, OSU has a ton of really good football players.

I agree with Urban about Iowa containing Gordon. He was held to one big run. We lost that game because our stubborn o-coordinator refused to set up a passing attack the whole game that focused on exposing Wisconsin's back 7, which I knew after the Northwestern game was awful. I said going into that game that Wisconsin's defense was a joke, based on the fact that their schedule stunk and they ran a fantastic ball control offense.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Urban also commented prior to the game, on BTN, that "Iowa did a good job of containing Melvin Gordon. You may not be able to stop him completely." I think it is correct that Urban took the Iowa tape seriously, both defensively and offensively. And, cripes, OSU has a ton of really good football players.

No question about it. Ohio State did the same thing defensively Iowa did, Ohio State just has more talent across the board.

 

[ChosenChildren]

Agree totally with all of this.....Iowa lost the Wisconsin game because we tried to hammer a converted fullback down their throat during the first half.

Really dumb game plan. I blame Ferentz and no one else

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

I'm starting to think Urban may be a better coach than KF as much as some people don't want to hear that.

 

[Gibsonian]

Yes, Wisconsin had a fairly easy season leading to an over hyped defense that really is middle of the pack good. For goodness sakes they beat Iowa by two and we lost to lowly Iowa State. 59-0 was bad but Ohio State and the Big Ten East Division was just stronger. The one trick offenses really get bottled up when presented with a good D (Wisconsin, Minnesota)

If you are talking wins/losses/championships then yes, there is no debate about KF and UM. It is night and day.

 

[thetrza]

The entire premise of B1G teams being "good at defense" is a little misleading in a day when every other conference has multiple teams running air raid no huddle ninety snaps a game offenses with fast playmakers.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

The thing that drove me nuts about the Iowa-Wisconsin game was that from the very beginning of the game; Spielman said the Hawks should throw the ball downfield because Wisconsin couldn't stop the deep throws. For the game Ruddock averaged 10.4 yards per attempt. I don't know what it was for the 2nd half, but it was far above 10.4.

 

[HomerChampless]

did you catch Urban Meyer's interview after the game (not sure if Sat or Sun) he said about Cardel. paraphrase... "We knew he could throw the ball really well but that is just a fraction of what it takes to be a good quarterback."

I immediately thought of CJ's playing time.

See, I wouldn't mind Jake being QB and CJ being backup if CJ didn't have the playbook down.. but CJ does have the playbook down. I'd say CJ has the playbook down as much as Jake does. At least, CJ won't always select the safe, shorter throws from the possibilities Davis' passing offense provides.

What KF doesn't like about CJ, IMO, is CJ's propensity to throw down the field and willingness to throw into smaller windows when compared to Jake.

 

[HomerChampless]

And championship coaching staffs look for weaknesses in their opponent and take advantage of them.

That's a dig against KF, isn't it? KF has a plan that he institutes before the first practice of the season that he doesn't deviate from, ever.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

I'm starting to think Urban may be a better coach than KF as much as some people don't want to hear that.

Wait, there are people who disagree with that?

 

[drew003]

OSU's passing vertical passing game wasn't terribly sophisticated either. They just saw Wisconsin playing a lot of man without safety help, ran Devin Smith on deep vertical routes, and had Cardale Jones throw deep balls to him. Predictably, Wisconsin's corner couldn't find the ball on these plays before Devin Smith high-pointed the ball for 50 yard touchdown passes. It was school-yard football (why Wisconsin thought it would be a good idea to man-up against clearly more talented WRs is a question worth asking their coaches).

Why we don't do the the same thing with Tevaun Smith is beyond me. T. Smith is a very good and athletic football player. If we see, pre-snap, T. Smith has man coverage without safety help, we should sight adjust the play to a vertical route and throw him the ball. I bet 80% of the time Smith either catches the ball or their is pass interference. The clear advantage CJB has over Ruddock is deep-ball accuracy and touch. His quick release lets him throw the deep ball with minimal effort and he's fairly accurate with it.