MADISON — The power run offense has been Wisconsin’s tried and true for a long time now. Ever since Barry Alvarez was with the program back to the 1990’s, Wisconsin has had the same offense. Up until recently, it has been enough.
Having stud running backs like Ron Dayne, John Clay, Montee Ball, James White and Melvin Gordon carry the ball helped make that an extremely effective game plan for the Badgers week in and week out for over a generation.
The fact it has been so effective for so long, even in an age where more and more teams are relying on air raid offenses, is astounding in of itself. Wisconsin has resisted this change for an extremely long time, fighting it valiantly.
But if Wisconsin is too avoid running into walls and having a predictable offense, they are going to have to make a few tweaks. Last week’s game against Nebraska may have shown just what kind of tweaks could be made.
One of those tweaks may be an old system that has proved good for Wisconsin’s fortunes in the past: a three-headed monster of a running back rotation. Corey Clement and Dare Ogunbowale currently take up most of the game reps, but redshirt freshman Bradrick Shaw has quickly made an impact in his first meaningful season.
“He’s [Shaw] definitely making an impact early, especially making an impact when we need him. Coming in on various downs and just contributing to what we want. He’s not making any negative plays,” starting running back Corey Clement said. “Coach Settle’s always preaching it, if you can make a positive play he always wants you out there.”
In Saturday’s game against Nebraska, Shaw ripped off a 21-yard touchdown run to give Wisconsin the early lead.
He was able to give Clement a breather, who had just had a long punt return that set up the touchdown run. Being able to give Clement and Ogunbowale a breather could pay dividends down the line.
“I think as many guys as we can get in the rotation is going to keep us all fresh and just keep our heads clear as far as what needs to be done coming off communicating with the coaches,” Clement said. “I just think more voices, Coach Settle says is going to allow for different opportunities and plays for all of us.”
“It’s pretty cool to see three backs out there and keeping them fresh and i think you can see that too, they’re running hard and it’s always fun,” starting left tackle Ryan Ramczyk said, echoing what Clement had said.
For context, the last time Wisconsin had a three-man rotation at running back was 2012. That year Montee Ball, James White and Melvin Gordon all had meaningful snaps.
Their biggest game came in the Big Ten Championship against Nebraska when Gordon and Ball both eclipsed 200 yards, while White had over 100 yards. The three totaled eight touchdowns on the night.
While that kind of production is a once in a lifetime achievement, it shows just how beneficial having three different backs with different kinds of skill sets can be to a football team. Having running backs with different skill sets allows the run game to be run out of something other than the power offense.
Until the Nebraska game Clement was the lone feature back, and defenses stacked the box, knowing when the run was coming and it has showed. After a quick start, Clement has seen his average per carry fall to 4.3 yards.
Featuring Ogunbowale in the Nebraska game allowed Wisconsin to better establish the run.
“That helps and it kind of throws off the defense a little bit more because everything is spread out and then Dare can do his thing,” Shaw said.
Because Ogunbowale is the third down back and often comes in with three wideout sets, the defense is forced to spread out. Thus allowing the run game to be run out of a formation that is not the power.
On third down runs by Ogunbowale, he is currently averaging 7.6 yards a carry and overall is averaging 5.3 yards per carry.
Taiwan Deal, who was Wisconsin’s classic bruiser running back last year, has missed the last few games because of injury, but this week he is back adding yet another dimension to Wisconsin’s backfield.
“It’s going to benefit us. We finally got Taiwan on board so we’ll see a bit of Taiwan this week and I think it’s going to benefit us because we finally coming into a set, finally starting to pick up our running game,” Shaw said.
Wisconsin’s offense, going into week 10, is still trying to find its identity. And the running backs populating the backfield are looking to help forge it.
“We going to still hit our stride,” Shaw said. “Corey and Dare have been having really good games but I think we are going to pick it up more and finish the season out right.”