Can season's setbacks become Badgers' strengths in Holiday Bowl?
December 27, 2015 | Football, Andy Baggot
Wisconsin's offense has found ways to overcome injuries and issues in running game
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
SAN DIEGO — Tyler Marz smiled as the strange, but true, premise was outlined.
Go back four months, he's instructed. Someone tells you that the Wisconsin football team will finish the regular season with more total passing yards than rushing yards — without a 1,000-yard rusher for the first time in more than a decade due to injuries in the backfield and on the offensive line — and yet will still be in position to finish with 10 wins.
"You're crazy," Marz said with a laugh, "especially with what we've done in the past four years that I've been here."
Marz, the senior left tackle, has played 50 career games and started 39 straight for the Badgers. During that time he's helped open holes for a 2,000-yard rusher and three other 1,000-yard backs. He's also cleared the way for 28 rushing performances of 150 yards or more, including 12 in excess of 200.
But barring a career outing by junior tailback Dare Ogunbowale when Wisconsin faces Southern California in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday at Qualcomm Stadium, there won't be another 1,000-yard back in 2015.
Ogunbowale, a converted defensive back who began the season as a backup, needs 231 yards vs. the Trojans to reach that plateau. That seems unlikely given the circumstances.
Ogunbowale, who has two career 100-yard outings and 769 rushing yards this season, is expected to start, but the depth chart is flush with healthy bodies for the first time since September.
Junior Corey Clement is available after missing nine regular-season games with a sports hernia, while redshirt freshman Taiwan Deal is an option after piling up 495 yards and six touchdowns in spot duty and true freshman Alec Ingold — who has six rushing TDs of his own — can be used as well.
Not having a 1,000-yard back is an anomaly for the Badgers, who have had at least one in 20 of the last 22 seasons.
Some perspective: Wisconsin has 1,777 yards rushing as a team this season. Three individuals had more than that during Marz's tenure: Melvin Gordon in 2014 (a school-record 2,587 yards) and Montee Ball in 2012 (1,830) and '11 (1,923).
Which begs the question: With all those issues — with eight different starting combinations on the offensive line — how is it that the Badgers (9-3) find themselves on the doorstep of the 10th 10-win season in program history?
"I think that it's crazy how we got here," Marz said. "I think it's impressive. I think people should kind of respect how we've done it."
Wisconsin has leaned heavily on the No. 1 scoring defense in the nation, but four Big Ten Conference road wins were defined mainly by an opportunistic offense managed by senior quarterback Joel Stave.
With 30 career victories, Stave needs one more to own the school record on his own. He's already broken the program standard for most pass attempts in a season (343) and needs 18 completions to tie Russell Wilson for the single-season school mark at 225.
"Granted, our defense has been playing lights-out for us, but we still have to put up points and we've done that," Marz said. "We've done enough to win and been very close in some (setbacks)."
The three Wisconsin losses have come against opponents with a combined record of 34-4 — Alabama, Iowa and Northwestern — with the two Big Ten setbacks coming by a combined 10 points.
The Badgers have not been prolific or picturesque on offense, but they've found a way to get things done when they've had the ball.
"I think it's impressive to say the least," Marz said.
The offensive line and backfield were the two areas most affected by adversity during the regular season.
The line had to replace three starters at the outset and lost junior center Dan Voltz eight games in. That helps explain why Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst once used five different starting combinations in as many games midway through the season.
In all, Chryst deployed four different right tackles, three different right guards, two centers and two left guards. The end result is that Marz and four redshirt freshmen — left guard Micah Kapoi, center Michael Deiter, right guard Beau Benzschawel and right tackle Jacob Maxwell — will start against the Trojans (8-5).
Of course, that unit debuted Nov. 28 during the regular-season finale at Minnesota and the Badgers racked up a season high 257 yards on the ground on the way to a 31-21 win. Add a month of bowl practices and there's reason to think the group is feeling good about itself.
"We've had a decent amount of time to jell and come together as a unit," Marz said.
Injuries to Clement and Deal, who missed three second-half games, changed the depth chart at tailback, forcing Chryst to lean more on Stave, senior wide receiver Alex Erickson and Ogunbowale.
Not surprisingly, Ogunbowale chafes a bit at the idea that there likely won't be a 1,000-yard rusher for the Badgers this season.
"We feel it's not reflective of the job that we've done in the running back room," he said quietly. "We've done a lot of things well."
Ogunbowale admits that it's surprising to see how well Wisconsin has performed without one of its marquee elements, but "it's not that big a deal for us."
OK, then how should fans measure the work of the tailbacks this season? Ogunbowale said to think subtle.
"We've had a lot of games where the running backs in (pass) protections, we've done a great job," he said. "We've done a good job receiving the ball out of the backfield and stuff like that.
"We want to have three 1,000-yard runners right now, but we don't have that. We're just going to make sure that we keep running the ball hard and keep winning our matchups."
Is there a benefit to the all the struggles in the backfield and line?
"There's no doubt that throughout the year what seemed to be misfortunes became opportunities for others," Chryst said.
"It tests how resilient of a group we are," Ogunbowale said. "We've been in some situations that obviously we don't want to be in, or didn't want to be in, with injuries.
"We have guys that can step up and make plays when we need them to. No team wants to be in that position where they're not at their full strengths, but we've been in that situation and we've had guys step up and earned the trust of the older guys."
Marz said the lessons from a difficult season will resonate for years to come.
"This is going to stick with them," he said of his younger peers. "They've made it through some pretty tough times this year. It's been a challenging year but it's been fun. Somehow, some way, we keep grinding and finding ways to get it done. That's our mentality here.
"It's not perfect," Marz said of the evolving line, "but they're doing what they can. They're grinding. They're pushing through. That's the glue."
