The Wisconsin Badgers marched down the field on the first drive of the game and scored a touchdown. It was balanced, it was efficient, and it sent a surge of hope throughout Badger nation. Then, they went cold for the rest of the quarter with five straight punts. The problem was that the Wolverines figured out the Wisconsin attack and began aggressively defending against it.
Michigan learned that Wisconsin was going to baby their new starting quarterback, Hunter Simmons. Giving him all sorts of quick options and easy checkdowns, but mostly running the football. The Wolverines began to attack that exclusively, crashing down in the backfield and jumping into holes along the line.
Hunter Simmons needs to use the second half to air the ball out and get receivers deep
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The secret that Wisconsin will need to utilize in the second half of the game if they want to surprise the nation and beat No. 20-ranked Michigan is to open up the playbook to Simmons. Let him start taking some shots downfield. Start running some play-action and some zone reads.
While Simmons isn't known to be a scrambling quarterback, if he starts pulling the ball out of a few handoffs and airing the ball out, the linebackers and cornerbacks can't cheat the Wisconsin attack.
Vinny Anthony II has five receptions for 43 yards. Let him cook and find a way to open the playbook up to him, so he can get behind a defensive back. Or really any of the receivers, but his ability to break down the coverage could really help.
If the Badgers are going to win this, they can't keep being safe with the playbook. They have nothing to lose, turn the offense loose, let Simmons cook, and see what happens. No one is expecting this game to go in the Badgers' favor, so why not? They are 17.5 underdogs with a third-string quarterback. Get crazy.