We know missing Troy Fumagalli is a bad thing for the Wisconsin offense. But here’s a breakdown of how it hurts the overall scheme
Troy Fumagalli is arguably the best TE in college football. Even before the 2017 season he racked up significant preseason accolades and the resultant expectations.
So going into the 2017 season every Wisconsin opponent knew their defensive plan had to figure out some answers to Fumagalli.
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, he was a surprising late scratch against Northwestern. He missed the Big Ten opener with a leg injury and it obviously hindered the Badger offense.
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Last year, the 6-foot-6-inch Fumagalli led Wisconsin in receptions (47) and finished behind only Jazz Peavy for receiving yards (580).
This year, Fumagalli is the Badgers leading receiver with 15 catches for 236 yards and three touchdowns. Keep in mind, he had just two touchdowns all of the previous season. In addition, that’s with just three games played.
Hot take alert. Removing the best weapon on the Wisconsin offense hurts the offense. Most specifically, I think of it in terms of defensive oxygen.
Fumagalli drains a lot of it from opposing defenses. Given his size and athleticism he is a weapon down the seam stretching the defense centrally. But with his speed he can still burn you on crossing routes.
Good luck finding a big safety or small linebacker who has the right size and speed combo to keep pace with him. So play zone and he will find the hole and sit down. Play man and he’ll run right through you.
Some elite TE are really just big WR. Not Fumagalli. Because he can block, Wisconsin can keep him in-line and help power the run game.
All this means opposing defenses have to dedicate more resources to controlling him. This enables the rest of the receiving options to sort of swim in his wake.
A defense playing safeties deep to control Fumagalli down the seam means (1) fewer bodies in the box to stop the run (2) safeties shaded towards the middle leaving corners isolated on the boundary.
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Without touching the ball, Fumagalli makes life easier for Danny Davis, AJ Taylor, Quintez Cephus, and Jazz Peavy. They all are in favorable match-ups since priority one for the defensive secondary is stopping Fumagalli.
Remove him from the offense and now the defense can double a rising talent like Cephus or commit an extra defender in run support.
Wisconsin can win on Saturday without Fumagalli. But the offense opens up quite a bit more if he’s healthy.