PSU/Wisky
After taking a look at Wisky, I’m not going to predict a PSU landslide win……..but – if PSU is relatively healthy – I wouldn’t write off the possibility.
Last week, Minnesota absolutely outplayed Wisconsin – in Madison – until “Bad Mitch Leidner” showed up in the 2nd half (“awful” doesn’t even begin to describe his second half play)
Minnesota absolutely had Wisky on the ropes – and would most certainly have beaten them if not for “Bad Mitch”
That said, Minnesota is a very bad team to use to get a “scout” on Wisconsin…..since they are so very different from PSU on both sides of the ball……so I took a look at some earlier games – paying the most attention to Northwestern and OSU – who both have a lot of similarities in style to PSU.
After doing so, while its kind of hard to watch Wisconsin and think “10-2” team….they do present problems, and do a couple of things that are fairly unique, and will be a real challenge for PSU.
___________________________
Clearly, their strength is on the defensive side of the ball.
Defensively, when they play against teams with similar styles to PSU, their base is a 3-4 with two high safeties (against Minnesota, on the other hand - it was 8, sometimes 9 or 10 in the box - depending on formation - on a regular basis)……..but after that, there is all kinds of stuff going on.
Their down guys look like big Linebackers, and their Linebackers look like small down guys….and the seven of them end up all over the damn place. They show all sorts of fronts, changing snap-to-snap, and it is really hard just to figure out who in the hell to block - - - - that could make things tough for the green PSU offensive line.
Wisky will play with 3 guys down, or 4 guys, or 2 guys down….and five guys in two-point stances roaming around. Sometimes 4 man fronts, sometimes 5, sometimes 3 - - - - you just never know. Except against run-heavy teams (aka Minnesota) they don’t often bring an eighth man in the box – but finding the right guys to block out of the seven is tough - - - and it is really tough to get to the second level guys – they are big physical dudes who all move reasonably well.
Their best pass-rush guy is Watt (JJ’s little brother) - who is technically a LBer, lines up at ILB, OLB, or on the line (as mentioned earlier, you never know where the hell the are going to be)….and they don’t blitz with more than 4 a lot. But they are very effective in their pass rush because they may only bring 4 – but you never know which four (kind of a “Pittsburgh Steelers” type of system). All those moving parts make them VERY effective when they get you into 3rd down.
The secondary does look to be “exposable”. They do seem to like to play a lot of zone – but will switch things up on occasion. None of their DBs seem to be very good in man coverage (#8 is probably the best of the bunch), and you can also squeeze plays in to the outside seams away from their safeties…….their DBs (especially the safeties) seem to be really smart, well-coached guys - who make up for lack of elite athleticism with good skills and smarts - especially reacting to the ball out of their zone coverages, and they get their hands on a lot of passes (especially the safeties). I would guess they have more pickoffs than anyone we have played this year (but they have also faced some horrendous passers)
If PSU’s young OL can recognize, communicate, and execute their assignments against all of the Wisky looks and fronts (easier said than done), and if JoeMo can continue to do a wonderful job of getting the offense into the right sets with the “check with me” system, I do think the PSU skill guys could have a pretty nice day.
_________________
Offensively, their scheme is very similar to their defense – a TON of different formations and motions. This – I think – will be a very interesting tactical match-up for Brent Pry. Does he lay back a bit, and try to make sure they react properly to all of the various Wisky sets….or does he say “Screw it…let’s turn the tables on them” and show all the various looks that PSU likes to go to – and try to make Wisky react to them. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.
2016 Wisky – as opposed to their traditionally good teams – has NOT been overly or consistently effective with their straight-ahead power inside/outside zone stuff…..and their run game has morphed throughout the season. For a while they went with a VERY heavy “pull” package – and pulled one or (more often) two guys into the strong part of the formation and tried to simply overwhelm the defense with numbers. This worked for a while, but defenses then seemed to catch on – Wisky went a couple games where they were running behind the “pullers” over 90% of the time – and defenses started to react very strongly to the “pull” and create penetration to shut down that scheme. Wisky has gone back and forth since then with more traditional power zone heavy schemes and pulling schemes - - - - but in neither case have they been as effective as the Wisky of old. They still use Clement (#6) as their primary ball-carrier, and he has been solid. But he is not particularly quick to the hole, and they have at times mixed in #7 (who I think is a freshman) who is a bit quicker and scarier with respect to getting to the hole and breaking off some longer runs. They give to the FB a LOT in short yardage (and they have two good ones)
Supposedly Hornibrook will be available (the other QB is Houston). Neither is a particularly impressive passer – though I felt Houston was the better of the two. In pass protection, the right side of their OL has been inconsistent. They lost their starting RT – and replaced him with a Freshman (who is as big as a mountain on two feet) who has struggled at times – but gotten better as he has played more.
On the outside, they have one scary dude - #11 – who is a lot like a slightly smaller version of OSU’s Curtis Samuel – he has some serious quickness - - - - - but he’s the only outside guy who scares you. They will also mix him into a misdirection run game – and he gets to the corner just like Samuel does. One of their best athletes is the TE #81 (Formaglia?) who looks like a small offensive tackle, but is really athletic. They will use him a lot - - - - for everything from little drop off screens, to every type of downfield route – and he is surprisingly effective.
Oh…..and the Wisky placekicker is VERY shaky (their starter has been out injured)…..and every game I looked at, there was at least one long PR/KR against – or a return that was “this close” to breaking big…. FWIW
After taking a look at Wisky, I’m not going to predict a PSU landslide win……..but – if PSU is relatively healthy – I wouldn’t write off the possibility.
Last week, Minnesota absolutely outplayed Wisconsin – in Madison – until “Bad Mitch Leidner” showed up in the 2nd half (“awful” doesn’t even begin to describe his second half play)
Minnesota absolutely had Wisky on the ropes – and would most certainly have beaten them if not for “Bad Mitch”
That said, Minnesota is a very bad team to use to get a “scout” on Wisconsin…..since they are so very different from PSU on both sides of the ball……so I took a look at some earlier games – paying the most attention to Northwestern and OSU – who both have a lot of similarities in style to PSU.
After doing so, while its kind of hard to watch Wisconsin and think “10-2” team….they do present problems, and do a couple of things that are fairly unique, and will be a real challenge for PSU.
___________________________
Clearly, their strength is on the defensive side of the ball.
Defensively, when they play against teams with similar styles to PSU, their base is a 3-4 with two high safeties (against Minnesota, on the other hand - it was 8, sometimes 9 or 10 in the box - depending on formation - on a regular basis)……..but after that, there is all kinds of stuff going on.
Their down guys look like big Linebackers, and their Linebackers look like small down guys….and the seven of them end up all over the damn place. They show all sorts of fronts, changing snap-to-snap, and it is really hard just to figure out who in the hell to block - - - - that could make things tough for the green PSU offensive line.
Wisky will play with 3 guys down, or 4 guys, or 2 guys down….and five guys in two-point stances roaming around. Sometimes 4 man fronts, sometimes 5, sometimes 3 - - - - you just never know. Except against run-heavy teams (aka Minnesota) they don’t often bring an eighth man in the box – but finding the right guys to block out of the seven is tough - - - and it is really tough to get to the second level guys – they are big physical dudes who all move reasonably well.
Their best pass-rush guy is Watt (JJ’s little brother) - who is technically a LBer, lines up at ILB, OLB, or on the line (as mentioned earlier, you never know where the hell the are going to be)….and they don’t blitz with more than 4 a lot. But they are very effective in their pass rush because they may only bring 4 – but you never know which four (kind of a “Pittsburgh Steelers” type of system). All those moving parts make them VERY effective when they get you into 3rd down.
The secondary does look to be “exposable”. They do seem to like to play a lot of zone – but will switch things up on occasion. None of their DBs seem to be very good in man coverage (#8 is probably the best of the bunch), and you can also squeeze plays in to the outside seams away from their safeties…….their DBs (especially the safeties) seem to be really smart, well-coached guys - who make up for lack of elite athleticism with good skills and smarts - especially reacting to the ball out of their zone coverages, and they get their hands on a lot of passes (especially the safeties). I would guess they have more pickoffs than anyone we have played this year (but they have also faced some horrendous passers)
If PSU’s young OL can recognize, communicate, and execute their assignments against all of the Wisky looks and fronts (easier said than done), and if JoeMo can continue to do a wonderful job of getting the offense into the right sets with the “check with me” system, I do think the PSU skill guys could have a pretty nice day.
_________________
Offensively, their scheme is very similar to their defense – a TON of different formations and motions. This – I think – will be a very interesting tactical match-up for Brent Pry. Does he lay back a bit, and try to make sure they react properly to all of the various Wisky sets….or does he say “Screw it…let’s turn the tables on them” and show all the various looks that PSU likes to go to – and try to make Wisky react to them. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.
2016 Wisky – as opposed to their traditionally good teams – has NOT been overly or consistently effective with their straight-ahead power inside/outside zone stuff…..and their run game has morphed throughout the season. For a while they went with a VERY heavy “pull” package – and pulled one or (more often) two guys into the strong part of the formation and tried to simply overwhelm the defense with numbers. This worked for a while, but defenses then seemed to catch on – Wisky went a couple games where they were running behind the “pullers” over 90% of the time – and defenses started to react very strongly to the “pull” and create penetration to shut down that scheme. Wisky has gone back and forth since then with more traditional power zone heavy schemes and pulling schemes - - - - but in neither case have they been as effective as the Wisky of old. They still use Clement (#6) as their primary ball-carrier, and he has been solid. But he is not particularly quick to the hole, and they have at times mixed in #7 (who I think is a freshman) who is a bit quicker and scarier with respect to getting to the hole and breaking off some longer runs. They give to the FB a LOT in short yardage (and they have two good ones)
Supposedly Hornibrook will be available (the other QB is Houston). Neither is a particularly impressive passer – though I felt Houston was the better of the two. In pass protection, the right side of their OL has been inconsistent. They lost their starting RT – and replaced him with a Freshman (who is as big as a mountain on two feet) who has struggled at times – but gotten better as he has played more.
On the outside, they have one scary dude - #11 – who is a lot like a slightly smaller version of OSU’s Curtis Samuel – he has some serious quickness - - - - - but he’s the only outside guy who scares you. They will also mix him into a misdirection run game – and he gets to the corner just like Samuel does. One of their best athletes is the TE #81 (Formaglia?) who looks like a small offensive tackle, but is really athletic. They will use him a lot - - - - for everything from little drop off screens, to every type of downfield route – and he is surprisingly effective.
Oh…..and the Wisky placekicker is VERY shaky (their starter has been out injured)…..and every game I looked at, there was at least one long PR/KR against – or a return that was “this close” to breaking big…. FWIW
