Getting To Know Wisconsin: Special Teams

Josh White FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

 

It’s Rose bowl Week At Last!

The Oregon Ducks landed in Pasadena yesterday, and the final build up to the Rose bowl has officially begun. It has been 25 days since the Ducks clinched the inaugural Pac-12 Championship, and it is about time for some football!

This week, we take a look at the key Wisconsin special teams-specialists, and how they have fared this season.

The Badgers boast a steady return man in sophomore WR Jared Abbrederis. He ranks 3rd Nationally with a 16.06 yard average on punt returns with 1 Td, and a solid 24.4 average on kick returns. The sure handed receiver has good speed and moves in the open field, and the Ducks will need a great overall effort to limit his big play capability.

One of the perceived weak points of the Wisconsin Special teams is the punt coverage, where nationally only Florida International, Ole Miss, and Fresno State have allowed more than the Badgers average of 15.3 per return.

The Badgers have also had their issues in kickoff coverage, and have struggled to protect their kickers this season. Most of the times the Badgers have struggled, it has come at the hands of sound blocking teams with fast and shifty return men. The protection issues have mostly come from quick defenders getting around the outside edge of the blockers.

Both of these areas are strengths of the Ducks team, and it should provide for some interesting match ups in this game. I included the Oregon stats in the same categories for comparison.

Wisconsin Kickoff:

Kickoff Specialist Alec Lerner has 7 touchbacks this season

Kickoffs

No.

Yards

Average

TB

Alec Lerner

61

3806

62.4

7

Philip Welch

34

2055

60.4

8

Kyle French

4

227

56.8

0

OPPONENTS

48

2998

62.5

4

Oregon Kickoff:

Kickoffs

No.

Yards

Average

TB

Alejandro Maldonado

56

3607

64.4

1

Rob Beard

47

2913

62

1

OPPONENTS

61

3690

60.5

5

Wisonsin Punting:

 

Punter Brad Nortman has run a successful fake, boomed a 74 yard Punt, had one blocked, and been accused of “flopping”

Punting

No.

Yards

Average

Long

Inside 20

TB

Blocked

Brad Nortman

44

1854

42.1

74

17

3

1

TEAM

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

OPPONENTS

71

2693

37.9

56

26

1

0

Oregon Punting:

Punting

No.

Yards

Average

Long

Inside 20

TB

Blocked

Jackson Rice

46

2066

44.9

61

16

2

1

OPPONENTS

78

3293

42.2

62

23

8

1

Wisconsin Field Goals:

Kicker Philip Welch has made a season long 52 yard FG

Field Goals

Made-Att

Pct (%)

Long

Blocked

Philip Welch

4-5

80

52

1

Kyle French

3-5

60

29

0

Oregon Field Goals:

Field Goals

Made-Att

Pct (%)

Long

Blocked

Alejandro Maldonado

6-11

54.5

40

0

Rob Beard

2-2

100

30

0

Wisconsin Punt Returns:

 

Punt Returns

No.

Yards

Average

Td

Long

Jared Abbrederis

18

289

16.1

1

60

Kenzel Doe

1

13

13

0

13

Bradie Ewing

1

4

4

0

4

OPPONENTS

17

134

7.9

1

33

Oregon Punt Returns:

Punt Returns

No.

Yards

Average

Td

Long

LaMichael James

12

135

11.2

1

58

Cliff Harris

9

68

7.6

0

27

De’Anthony Thomas

3

52

17.3

0

48

Kenjon Barner

3

-6

-2

0

8

Ifo Ekpre-Olomu

2

15

7.5

0

11

ChadDelaney

2

11

5.5

0

6

Avery Patterson

1

11

11

0

11

OPPONENTS

15

107

7.1

0

20

Wisconsin Kick Returns:

Wisconsin did not have a kick return touchdown this season, so here is one from De’Anthony Thomas:

 

Kick Returns

No.

Yards

Average

Td

Long

Jared Abbrederis

20

488

24.4

0

44

James White

15

315

21

0

40

Kenzel Doe

3

41

13.7

0

24

Melvin Gordon

1

23

23

0

23

Brian Wozniak

1

4

4

0

4

OPPONENTS

75

1,700

22.7

1

96

Oregon Kick Returns:
And not to leave one out, here is the 2nd Kick return for DAT:

Kick Returns

No.

Yards

Average

Td

Long

De’Anthony Thomas

31

858

27.7

2

96

Josh Huff

8

174

21.8

0

40

Kenjon Barner

7

115

16.4

0

26

Troy Hill

2

53

26.5

0

36

Brian Jackson

2

50

25

0

30

Terrance Mitchell

1

24

24

0

24

LaMichael James

1

21

21

0

21

OPPONENTS

100

1950

19.5

0

48

 

Oregon has another “edge”: a history of disrupting the Wisconsin Kicking Game:

 

You can also read the previous posts here:

Getting To Know Wisconsin: Offense

Getting To Know Wisconsin: Defense

 

 

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