4. More consistency scoring the football
This is for the entire offense, but I have to touch on Jonathan Taylor one more time. After he scored 11 times in the first seven games, he only scored twice in the final seven games. The yardage numbers were there, but he wasn’t finding the end zone. He has to become more consistent in that area.
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Consistent scoring is something the rest of the offense can improve on too. Too often the Badgers started out slow or just didn’t show up entirely on offense last year. Against Purdue, the Badgers only put up 17 points. Luckily, the defense was able to hold Purdue to only nine. Two weeks later against Illinois, one of the worst teams in the conference, the Badgers only scored 24 points. And one of the touchdowns against Illinois came on a trick play in the final five minutes of the game. The defense wasn’t going to let Illinois even threaten to win the game, but 24 points is a little disappointing in that instance.
Against Iowa, the Badgers went into the second quarter trailing 7-3. The final score ended up being a blowout that saw Wisconsin win 38-14, but it’s another example of a slow start. Wisconsin plays Iowa on the road in 2018. That kind of slow start may be just enough for the Hawkeyes to get some momentum going and pull an upset.
In the two biggest games of the year, against Ohio State and Miami, the offense struggled to get anything going until the defense made a big play. In both games, it happened to be an Andrew Van Ginkel interception.
Those slow starts and inconsistent performances could doom the Badgers next year. They need to come out of the gates ready to go each and every week.