Wisconsin escaped with a 27-13 win over South Dakota on Saturday, improving to 2-0 on the season.
The Badgers started hot. They jumped out to a 17-3 first-half lead thanks to a dominant start by veteran QB Tyler Van Dyke. Phil Longo’s offense connected on plays of 22, 32 and 50 yards during the frame. That is the explosive dimension that the team lacked during its Week 1 win over Western Michigan.
Related: Takeaways from Wisconsin’s uninspiring Week 2 win over South Dakota
That’s the good. The bad: Wisconsin was flat after halftime. South Dakota surged back into the game with 10 unanswered points. The Coyotes were less than 10 yards from tying the game before Wisconsin came up with a timely red zone stop.
Luke Fickell’s team held onto a narrow lead for close to an entire quarter before eventually lengthening the margin and pulling away with a 14-point win.
Overall, it was a less-than-stellar performance. It did not serve as the confidence-building victory that many, including myself, expected it to be.
As we continue our postgame recap work after the contest, here are our studs and duds from the up-and-down effort:
Whatever happened at halftime, it didn’t work. Wisconsin coasted to a two-touchdown lead in the first half. That evaporated in just three drives in the second half as the Badgers came out dead-flat from the halftime break.
The bigger deal is Wisconsin is yet to put together a complete, four-quarter performance under Luke Fickell. There are far too many good quarters, followed by terrible stretches of play. That was the case again against South Dakota.
The first highlight is redshirt sophomore running back Cade Yacamelli, who was fantastic while filling in for an absent Tawee Walker. He took 10 touches (eight carries, two receptions) for 86 total yards. That included a 9.1 yards-per-carry clip, more than double every other running back in the room.
Yacamelli was an under-the-radar player entering the season who is quickly capturing a significant role on the offense. Even when Walker returns, Yacamelli needs touches.
South Dakota rushed for 123 yards on 4.4 yards per carry. That was highlighted by a four-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to start the second half. The Coyotes found running lanes all afternoon against the Badgers, taking some carries for big-time explosive plays. That can’t happen to a Wisconsin defense, let alone against an FCS opponent.
Wisconsin’s rush defense was the big question entering the season. It has not impressed through two weeks.
The Albany transfer is Wisconsin’s biggest bright spot on its defensive line this season. His Week 2 included two tackles, one sack and two tackles for loss. Of the entire front seven, he has generated more havoc plays than anybody else through two weeks — even the outside linebackers.
I think the defense has been a massive disappointment through two weeks. The performance vs. South Dakota saw far too many players out of position against a mostly one-dimensional Coyotes offense. This is more of a big-picture look at a defensive unit that is not trending in the right direction despite an offseason full of transfer additions.
Van Dyke was not spectacular against South Dakota, but he showed improvement after an up-and-down Week 1. His final stat line was 17/27 passing for 214 yards and one touchdown. That total looks low after his first half included 147 yards and a touchdown.
But big-picture, Van Dyke did a few things extremely well: he connected on big plays and took care of the football. Yes, the offense went dead after halftime. But Van Dyke at least showed a glimpse at what his ceiling could be in Phil Longo’s offense.
The film won’t look great for transfer ILB Jaheim Thomas. He was consistently out of position on South Dakota running plays. Several of the Coyotes’ explosive runs came from him and other linebackers losing their gaps.
Fill-ins Tackett Curtis and Christian Alliegro looked better in a small sample. We’ll see how the snaps trend moving forward.
Well, points matter when you’re playing one-possession games against FCS teams. Nathanial Vakos’ 50-yard field goal in the second half was critical to the final result. It isn’t hyperbole to call Vakos one of the better players on the team, controlling for each respective position. He is Wisconsin’s best kicker in some time.
Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66dda1eb21ff49e3a17f2ecac0861fce&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbadgerswire.usatoday.com%2Flists%2Fbadgers-south-dakota-win-studs-duds-stars-of-game-recap%2F&c=4882338312901932176&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-08 02:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.