Both Penn State and Wisconsin didn't come close to meeting its expectations offensively going into 2020 football season. On paper Wisconsin's offense had its worst offensive performance since its 2004 season. The Badgers averaged just 25.1 points per game, and just 345.6 yards of total offense per game. But probably the most disturbing statistical offensive category Wisconsin's offense had during the 2020 season was the fact the Badgers running game ranked 7th in the Big Ten totaling just 164.6 yards per game with just 13 rushing touchdowns. That's close to almost eight yards per game less than Penn State's rushing offense that averaged 173.4 yards per game on the ground with both Journey Brown [5-11, 220] and Noah Cain [5-10, 220] being absent for the entire 2020 season.
When it was all said and done Wisconsin's offense ranked 12th in the Big Ten averaging 345.6 yards per game, 4.89 yards per play and just 3.93 yards per carry. Despite a terrific start in it's opening game of the 2020 season against Illinois, where the Badgers' freshman QB, Graham Mertz [6-3, 227], had a remarkable opening game performance completing 20 of 21 passes for 248 yards with five touchdown passes, Wisconsin's pass offense wasn't able to retain that level of excellence finishing the 2020 season ranked 13th in the Big Ten averaging just 181.0 yards per game with 10 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.
Not only was Wisconsin the victim of a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak after its impressive 45-7 victory over Illinois, but injuries at both wide receiver positions to fifth-year seniors Kendric Pryor [5-11, 189] and Danny Davis III [6-0, 193] ended the Badgers' offensive expectations of producing its best balanced offensive attack between the run and the past in more than a decade. Whether Penn State football fans want to believe it or not, Wisconsin came into the 2020 season with the firm belief that its offense had a realistic chance of having the best balanced offense in the West Division of the Big Ten between the run and the pass and perhaps its most explosive pass offense in more than two decades.
And Penn State football fans shouldn't get the idea that Wisconsin's offense this coming Saturday [Sept. 4] will revert back to its offensive philosophy where it expects to run the football 80-percent of the time and total close to 300 yards per game on the ground. This is far from your typical Wisconsin offense. For almost Wisconsin's entire preseason practice session in August, the No. 1 topic of discussion was the Badgers' pass offense and the impact both 6th-year senior wide receivers, Pryor and Davis III , would have on the Wisconsin offense along with first-team All-Big Ten TE Jake Ferguson [6-5, 244].
Maybe Wisconsin's receivers coach Alvis Whitted said it best just before the start of Wisconsin's 2021 preseason practice session in August. "Those guys [Pryor and Davis III] give us an extra dimension on offense, they can take the top off the coverage. Really, when those guys are out there, they're different. They are different and add an extra dimension. They've played a lot of football here. They have earned a lot of respect from their teammates. They've got to continue to be consistent and available. When they are on the field, they're special."
In the three years Pryor and Davis III have been starters at wide receiver for the Badgers they have combined for 166 receptions for 2,013 yards [12.12 YPC] and 16 touchdowns. Then when you add the fact that TE Jake Ferguson was a first-team All-Big Ten performer during the 2020 season, who is credited with 99 career catches for 1,168 yards [11.8 YPC] with 10 TD receptions, you can understand why Wisconsin might believe it enters the 2021 season with the best pass offense at Wisconsin in more than two decades and one of the top two or three pass offenses in the West Division in the Big Ten conference.
Right now you might be asking yourself why Wisconsin seems to have changed its offensive philosophy? As surprising as it might seem Wisconsin enters its game with Penn State this Saturday [Sept. 4] with essentially just possibly one proven running back familiar with the Badgers' run oriented offensive philosophy. On Monday of this week Wisconsin head football coach, Paul Chryst, named RB Chez Mellusi [5-11, 204] as the Badgers starting running back. Mellusi in two seasons at Clemson rushed for 472 yards and averaged 6.0 YPC. Sharing the running back spot with Mellusi will be Rs.Fr. Jalen Berger [6-0, 203], who last year ran the football 60 times for 301 yards [5.0 YPC] with just two rushing touchdowns. The Badgers No. 3 running back is Fr. Braelon Allen [6-2, 215] from Fond du Lac, Wisc., who was basically recruited by the Badgers in its class of 2021 as a FS in the secondary.
That's the thinnest I've seen Wisconsin's depth at running back in quite some time. Rs.Jr. RB Nakia Watson [6-0, 212], who was the Badgers third leading rusher last season with 53 carries for 191 yards [3.6 YPC] with three rushing TDs entered the transfer portal and transferred to Washington State. But a word of caution here for Penn State fans, Wisconsin even with depth concerns at running back the Badgers will never abandon the running game.
That now brings us to Penn State's offense. What I want to emphasize here is that statistics can quite often be misleading. I think Penn State football fans for the most part would be shocked to realize that Penn State's offense was ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten for the 2020 season with an average of 430.3 yards per game of total offense. That Sean Clifford completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 1,883 yards with 16 touchdown passes. What those statistics don't show is the fact Penn State finished 13th in the Big Ten with 17 total turnovers with Clifford throwing nine interceptions and the Nittany Lions losing eight of 10 fumbles.
Then when you take note of the fact Penn State's finished 13th in the Big Ten with its worst red zone offense in its last five years, you start to really understand why Penn State's offense didn't come close to meeting its preseason 2020 expectations. In 2019 Penn State's red zone offense was ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten converting on 47 of 52 red zone scoring opportunities [90.4-percent]. It also had an outstanding red zone touchdown conversion rate of 71.2-percent totaling 37 touchdowns on its 52 red zone scoring conversion opportunities.
In 2020 Penn State's red zone offense didn't come close to matching what it was able to do in 2019. With its 37 red zone scoring opportunities, Penn State converted on 28 red zone scoring chances [75.6-percent] and scored 19 red zone touchdowns [51.4-percent].
It will be very interesting to me to see what type of changes Mike Yurcich puts in place with Penn State's red zone offense this fall.
When it was all said and done Wisconsin's offense ranked 12th in the Big Ten averaging 345.6 yards per game, 4.89 yards per play and just 3.93 yards per carry. Despite a terrific start in it's opening game of the 2020 season against Illinois, where the Badgers' freshman QB, Graham Mertz [6-3, 227], had a remarkable opening game performance completing 20 of 21 passes for 248 yards with five touchdown passes, Wisconsin's pass offense wasn't able to retain that level of excellence finishing the 2020 season ranked 13th in the Big Ten averaging just 181.0 yards per game with 10 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.
Not only was Wisconsin the victim of a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak after its impressive 45-7 victory over Illinois, but injuries at both wide receiver positions to fifth-year seniors Kendric Pryor [5-11, 189] and Danny Davis III [6-0, 193] ended the Badgers' offensive expectations of producing its best balanced offensive attack between the run and the past in more than a decade. Whether Penn State football fans want to believe it or not, Wisconsin came into the 2020 season with the firm belief that its offense had a realistic chance of having the best balanced offense in the West Division of the Big Ten between the run and the pass and perhaps its most explosive pass offense in more than two decades.
And Penn State football fans shouldn't get the idea that Wisconsin's offense this coming Saturday [Sept. 4] will revert back to its offensive philosophy where it expects to run the football 80-percent of the time and total close to 300 yards per game on the ground. This is far from your typical Wisconsin offense. For almost Wisconsin's entire preseason practice session in August, the No. 1 topic of discussion was the Badgers' pass offense and the impact both 6th-year senior wide receivers, Pryor and Davis III , would have on the Wisconsin offense along with first-team All-Big Ten TE Jake Ferguson [6-5, 244].
Maybe Wisconsin's receivers coach Alvis Whitted said it best just before the start of Wisconsin's 2021 preseason practice session in August. "Those guys [Pryor and Davis III] give us an extra dimension on offense, they can take the top off the coverage. Really, when those guys are out there, they're different. They are different and add an extra dimension. They've played a lot of football here. They have earned a lot of respect from their teammates. They've got to continue to be consistent and available. When they are on the field, they're special."
In the three years Pryor and Davis III have been starters at wide receiver for the Badgers they have combined for 166 receptions for 2,013 yards [12.12 YPC] and 16 touchdowns. Then when you add the fact that TE Jake Ferguson was a first-team All-Big Ten performer during the 2020 season, who is credited with 99 career catches for 1,168 yards [11.8 YPC] with 10 TD receptions, you can understand why Wisconsin might believe it enters the 2021 season with the best pass offense at Wisconsin in more than two decades and one of the top two or three pass offenses in the West Division in the Big Ten conference.
Right now you might be asking yourself why Wisconsin seems to have changed its offensive philosophy? As surprising as it might seem Wisconsin enters its game with Penn State this Saturday [Sept. 4] with essentially just possibly one proven running back familiar with the Badgers' run oriented offensive philosophy. On Monday of this week Wisconsin head football coach, Paul Chryst, named RB Chez Mellusi [5-11, 204] as the Badgers starting running back. Mellusi in two seasons at Clemson rushed for 472 yards and averaged 6.0 YPC. Sharing the running back spot with Mellusi will be Rs.Fr. Jalen Berger [6-0, 203], who last year ran the football 60 times for 301 yards [5.0 YPC] with just two rushing touchdowns. The Badgers No. 3 running back is Fr. Braelon Allen [6-2, 215] from Fond du Lac, Wisc., who was basically recruited by the Badgers in its class of 2021 as a FS in the secondary.
That's the thinnest I've seen Wisconsin's depth at running back in quite some time. Rs.Jr. RB Nakia Watson [6-0, 212], who was the Badgers third leading rusher last season with 53 carries for 191 yards [3.6 YPC] with three rushing TDs entered the transfer portal and transferred to Washington State. But a word of caution here for Penn State fans, Wisconsin even with depth concerns at running back the Badgers will never abandon the running game.
That now brings us to Penn State's offense. What I want to emphasize here is that statistics can quite often be misleading. I think Penn State football fans for the most part would be shocked to realize that Penn State's offense was ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten for the 2020 season with an average of 430.3 yards per game of total offense. That Sean Clifford completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 1,883 yards with 16 touchdown passes. What those statistics don't show is the fact Penn State finished 13th in the Big Ten with 17 total turnovers with Clifford throwing nine interceptions and the Nittany Lions losing eight of 10 fumbles.
Then when you take note of the fact Penn State's finished 13th in the Big Ten with its worst red zone offense in its last five years, you start to really understand why Penn State's offense didn't come close to meeting its preseason 2020 expectations. In 2019 Penn State's red zone offense was ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten converting on 47 of 52 red zone scoring opportunities [90.4-percent]. It also had an outstanding red zone touchdown conversion rate of 71.2-percent totaling 37 touchdowns on its 52 red zone scoring conversion opportunities.
In 2020 Penn State's red zone offense didn't come close to matching what it was able to do in 2019. With its 37 red zone scoring opportunities, Penn State converted on 28 red zone scoring chances [75.6-percent] and scored 19 red zone touchdowns [51.4-percent].
It will be very interesting to me to see what type of changes Mike Yurcich puts in place with Penn State's red zone offense this fall.
