Like John Wick, the Wisconsin football team is back. There. I said it. They are back. With Minnesota losing to Illinois today and Wisconsin beating Rutgers, the Badgers are now in first in the Big Ten West and are once again bowl eligible for the 20th-consecutive season.
Here are three observations about the Wisconsin football team following their big win over Rutgers.
1. Braelon Allen is going to have to be the guy in the backfield
The two-headed monster consisting of Chez Mellusi and Braelon Allen may have just become a one-headed monster. In the third quarter, Mellusi went down after a non-contact injury and spent quite a bit of time in the medial tent. He also had multiple players and coaches go in to check in on him.
Allen, who was dinged up in practice the week leading up to the game, didn’t look 100% during the game either. So an already short-handed running back room is potentially getting even more short-handed. The only guys behind Allen are Brady Schipper, Julius Davis, who got his first carry of the year in this game, true freshman Jackson Acker (who is also now the backup fullback), and Grover Bortolotti.
Assuming Mellusi misses some time, the success of the offense is going to land squarely on the shoulders of the 17-year old true freshman.
2. The turnovers are finally coming for the Wisconsin football team
The only knock you could have on the Wisconsin football defense early this season is that they didn’t force any turnovers. The offense struggled and the defense couldn’t help them out by giving them a short field. They were the worse in the country in turnover differential for most of the season, but the defense has been on fire the past three games now.
Wisconsin has forced 12 turnovers in the last three games. The #Badgers turnover margin has gone from -11 to -2 in that stretch.
— Zach Heilprin (@ZachHeilprin) November 6, 2021
It helps that the offense has started to limit their turnovers too, but the defense has it figured out. They forced and recovered a fumble today and had three interceptions, giving the Badgers a turnover differential of +3 today.
If they can continue to play this way, the path to Indianapolis is looking a lot better.
3. Is Mertz back? Maybe?
Mertz tied his season-high in passing yards against Rutgers with 240 yards. He finished the game 11-16 for 240 yards, 3 TD, and one interception. He had a few very nice passes where he put the ball right where it needed to be, making some tough completions.
Then, he had a few head-scratchers. On the first drive of the game, Mertz threw a pick intended for Jake Ferguson who had two guys smothering him while Chimere Dike ran free across the middle of the field. He had another bad pass to Braelon Allen out of the backfield, throwing the ball way behind him and then another forced throw near the end of the first half that could have been intercepted but was dropped.
It’s easy to focus on those three poor passes, but there were plenty of other nice passes, including a touchdown to Kendric Pryor.
After his interception, Mertz looked a lot more comfortable in the pocket, which is in part to the pass protection he got all game. Mertz didn’t get sacked and really didn’t get pressured all game. When Mertz has time to throw the ball, he has shown he can complete a lot of passes.
The Kansas Kannon may be back. Maybe.