The Badgers wide receiver gave his honest assessment of Wisconsin’s first game.
The Wisconsin Badgers are heading into their second game of the season this weekend, facing off against the South Dakota Coyotes at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
In their first game, Wisconsin saw their defense play well and their offense move the ball, but they didn’t capitalize on enough opportunities, leading to a 28-14 score at the end.
Wide receiver Will Pauling continued where he left off, however, finishing Week 1 with a game-high six catches for 60 yards. Pauling had an early drop, but rebounded to have a productive day with high volume from quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.
Something notable, though, from the Badgers offense was their lack of explosive plays, as the passing game didn’t create a 20+ yard play, while the run game didn’t have any 15+ yard plays.
Van Dyke threw for 192 yards, but had just 5.33 yards per attempt as the Badgers were limited to short and a few intermediate passes.
Do the Badgers need more explosives going forward?
“You can never have too many explosive plays,” Pauling said after last Friday’s game. “Obviously, they make drives a little bit shorter, allow you to get the ball in the end zone quicker. So obviously, we’d love to have more explosive players. They played a lot of drop [coverage], cover three, a lot of dropping a lot of guys in coverage.”
“So, it’s kind of a little bit more difficult to take those shots. But obviously, it’s something we’ll be working on over the next few days because we’re gonna need those explosive plays this year for sure.”
Explosive plays has been the talk of the town this week, with quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and head coach Luke Fickell both calling for more of them after it was a struggle to create them in Week 1.
It is a bit different with this Badgers team though, as two of their most prolific weapons are slot receivers who operate in the short and intermediate ranges of the field with Pauling and Trech Kekahuna.
But, the two are putting it on themselves to help create those explosives with yards after the catch, given the need for chunk plays.
“Trech isn’t the biggest guy. I’m not the biggest guy. So, we’re not always those jump ball receivers down the field, but we got to make plays once we get the ball in our hands,” Pauling said. “And I feel like we definitely are gifted in that aspect of the game.”
“I feel like it’s something that’s a part of our game that kind of helps us that we’re not out of those bigger, longer guys. I don’t think that we can’t win deep down field, though. [Would] love some opportunities. I feel like, you know, we’re receivers, we always want the ball. So, I mean, as many opportunities as they give us, we’re gonna take them.”