University of Wisconsin running backs coach John Settle pulled out some game film for his prized pupil, senior Corey Clement, to watch following UW’s bye week.
Except, it was not film of Clement or even anyone else from the Wisconsin program for that matter. Rather, it was Pennsylvania State University’s sophomore tailback Saquon Barkley, who rushed for 202 yards and a touchdown against the University of Maryland to earn Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors.
The overriding theme of the film session, Clement said, was patience while carrying the football.
“I thought I was patient enough,” Clement said. “I have to slow down just a tad more and just let it come to me.”
Clement said he has been too quick to the holes and linebackers are beating him to the point of the attack, which would explain the congestion Clement faces as he approaches the line of scrimmage. He added that he needs to give the offensive line more time to develop the play for him.
Redshirt sophomore center/guard Michael Deiter will be the first to point out it’s not all Clement’s fault. The line has been equally at fault this season, Deiter said, even taking a step back in the last two games. The necessity is consistency, he said.
“The way to give him confidence in being patient and when not to be patient and hit stuff, we have to be consistent with all our fits,” Deiter said. “There’s times when we haven’t been consistent with our fits, so he gets jumpy here and there because of us.”
Thus far, the Wisconsin rushing attack has struggled. The Badgers have averaged 161.6 yards per game on the ground, ranking eighth in the Big Ten and 78th in the country. The line and backs will have to prepare for Ohio State University’s front-seven this Saturday as the Badgers host the No. 2 Buckeyes. These seven defenders have been imperative to the Buckeyes efforts of allowing just 97.8 rushing yards per game, which is good enough for second-best in the Big Ten and ninth in the nation.
The offense has also lacked significant big-play power through the first season-and-a-half of the Paul Chryst era. Through the last 18 games, Wisconsin has only had plays of 50 yards or more three times. In the 18 games before that, the Badgers had 17 of such plays — part of that has to do with previous Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon doing what he did best.
Clement said Chryst has thrown some wrinkles in the playbook by somewhat deviating from the traditional power formations Wisconsin is known for utilizing to shake things up and generate some big-play potential
“This will be a fun week to show what else we got under our playbook,” Clement said.
Clement knows what he must do to get the running game going. In his own words:
“Trust it. See it. Hit it. Go.”
