Badger of Honor
Fansided

Wisconsin Football: Offense a no-show in must-win against Penn State

By Tanner Nestle

EVANSTON, IL - OCTOBER 27: Jack Coan #17 of the Wisconsin Badgers passes against the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field on October 27, 2018 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
EVANSTON, IL - OCTOBER 27: Jack Coan #17 of the Wisconsin Badgers passes against the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field on October 27, 2018 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Wisconsin Football has serious problems on offense.

Wisconsin hasn’t had a great year for a multitude of reasons. The most unexpected of which has to be due to the offense and that showed today against Penn State. Aside from Jonathan Taylor’s 71-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to open up scoring for both teams, the Badgers managed just three more points.

Jack Coan made his second start of the year and his second start on the road. He had help from Taylor early on but nobody else on offense showed up. The offensive line, who has underperformed all year, was perhaps the biggest offender. In the passing game, Coan had almost no time all day to figure out where to go with the football.

The defense deserves a shoutout though. Despite surrendering 159 yards on the ground to Miles Sanders, the unit only gave up 22 points to the Nittany Lions. If you would’ve told me back in August Wisconsin would only need 23 to win in Happy Valley I would have been ecstatic. That should be easy to obtain for this offense.

The best the offense looked outside of Taylor was probably on the last drive when the Badgers were in desperation mode. Coan strung together a few first downs through the air. Left with no other options, the Badgers went for it on fourth down and Coan missed Danny Davis badly on a go route.

Penn State didn’t feel like putting the Badgers out of their misery and fumbled a few plays later giving Coan another shot. The offensive line gave up a sack and the drive ended in an interception. How poetic is that?

Wisconsin has two games left, at Purdue and at home against Minnesota. Suddenly, both games look very losable. The way Purdue has played lately will surely make them a favorite in Vegas and there’s no way you can feel confident against Minnesota with the way the Badgers are playing.

Next. Ten best Wisconsin football games since 2010. dark

It’s been rough to watch Wisconsin football this year, but the worst is yet to come. Wisconsin is already bowl eligible too. This team needs Alex Hornibrook back. Bad. It needs at least more than 100 yards through the air.