Assigning Blame for Wisconsin Badger Interceptions

Badger of Honor offers its best estimate to apportion blame for the two Wisconsin interceptions against Purdue.

Wisconsin’s redshirt quarterback Alex Hornibrook tossed two interceptions on Saturday against Purdue.  Both picks came when the Badgers were inside the Boilermaker 40 looking to pad the lead.

But as you almost certainly know, the interception hurts the QB’s stats.  Yet, it’s not always his fault.

The first interception was on a 2nd and long play from the Purdue 31.  Wisconsin lined up with trips left, a TE out of the slot to the right, and a WR at the bottom to the right.   Purdue is lined up in zone with safeties deep and rush just three.

At the snap,  the two outside receivers ran in-breaking routes.  The TE ran down the seam.  Hornibrook declined to throw underneath to the WR to his left.  He instead targets Danny Davis on a vertical route.

Clearly Hornibrook thinks Davis is going to cut his route inside and lofts a soft pass to that spot.  Davis stops his route (in zone) and the safety in centerfield happily takes the gift.

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I give Hornibrook some blame for ignoring the open receiver underneath and his gentle throw into coverage.  It’s not like Davis had much separation.

However, I have to give Davis some blame here as well.  He may have broken off his route and that’s just plain unfair to your quarterback.  So definitely not all on Hornibrook

The second interception was on a 3rd and 12 play from the Purdue 31.  The Badgers have two WR and a TE Troy Fumagalli lined up to the right.  Rachid Ibrahim in the backfield with Hornibrook and a WR to the left.

The receivers are basically just trying to clear out space here to draw defenders downfield.  The OL scrambles to create a lane for Ibrahim while Hornibrook slings the ball while shuffling backwards.  So hardly clean footwork there.  But the throw was an accurate one that Ibrahim should have caught.

There is plenty of blame to go around on this one.  The offensive line was great all game but not on this play.  They didn’t really clear the traffic for Ibrahim.  Give most of the blame to Ibrahim for not handling an accurate pass cleanly.

Finally, I do give Hornibrook some blame because he’s experienced enough to know to cut your loss.  This play had no chance.  No reason to risk a throw in a congested space to your 3rd/4th string RB who had all of two catches on the season.  Throw it at his feet (to avoid intentional grounding), and give your kicker a chance to make it a two-touchdown game.

Next: Wisconsin Football Grading the Badgers vs Boilermakers

Purdue took over at the Wisconsin 28 after Hornibrook hustled back to save the touchdown.  The Boilers gained just five yards and had to kick a field goal the final points of the day for either side.