5. Stretch the field with explosive plays
As great as Wisconsin’s offense was last year, it was rather one-dimensional at times. In the latter part of the season, we started to see the offense open up a bit. In the Orange Bowl, where the star of the show was Alex Hornibrook instead of Jonathan Taylor, the offense looked completely different.
The Badgers lined up in spread shotgun sets and passed the ball in situations that typically call for power run plays. Both Danny Davis and A.J. Taylor had great games and looked as electric as any duo in the country. Perhaps Paul Chryst had finally developed full confidence in his quarterback, or maybe there was something Miami’s defense was doing that enticed the passing barrage. In either case, the result was the same. The Badgers could air it out.
If Hornibrook and his deep group of receivers pick up where they left off in the Orange Bowl, while getting Quintez Cephus back from his leg injury, the Badger offense has the potential to be one of the most dangerously balanced groups in the country. It could easily be the best offense since the 2011 team. And that should be the goal.
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Wisconsin will ideally force teams to play both the run and pass honestly. The ground game with Taylor will force teams to stack the box which will create individual matchups on the edge for the receivers to exploit. That’s when it becomes a guessing game for opposing defenses.
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The Badgers could approach 40 points per game next year, a threshold that hasn’t been beaten since 2011. It will be difficult to build on a historic 2017 season, but this offense is more than capable of carrying the load.