Through the first five games of the season the Wisconsin football team’s offensive line had allowed merely two sacks on 131 pass attempts, paved the way for 217.2 rushing yards per game and overcame injuries at both guard and center positions.
Sitting at 5-0, the Badgers’ offense was ranked atop the Big Ten and the consistent pocket quarterback Scott Tolzien found to throw in was a major reason why.
Then the O-line went up against Ohio State.
With the second best passing defensive efficiency in the Big Ten and the second most sacks at 18, OSU was able to overwhelm UW with wave after wave of defensive linemen.
Ohio State’s Cameron Heyward set the tone early, bringing Tolzien to the ground on UW’s first offensive play of the game. Overall, the Buckeyes took Tolzien down six times, hit him on several others and pressure was at least partially responsible for the first interception.
“I think it was just kind of technique,” UW junior left tackle Gabe Carimi said was responsible for the pressure. “Just like the big stage and people were over anxious. I have seen all of those players that we have get set with good technique and hold on. They were just setting too far up field and not setting with a guy. They were afraid they were going to get the edge on them, but they were just oversetting on them, taking themselves out of the play more than anything.”
With only Ross Homan registering multiple sacks, it wasn’t just one player causing UW trouble.
Ohio State utilized different blitzes, stunts and exotic pressures to get to the quarterback — a problem when the third-largest stadium in NCAA football is packed past capacity.
“Especially with 105,000 people cheering, I am trying to get the calls out to the O-line and even the guards are having trouble hearing me at some points,” UW freshman center Peter Konz said. “It was a little bit lack of communication.”
Trailing by 15 points entering the fourth quarter, Wisconsin was forced to abandon the run game leading to a season-high 45 pass attempts.
According to UW right tackle Josh Oglesby, a combination of fatigue (Wisconsin ran 89 plays to Ohio State’s 40) and constant drop backs made the final stats look worse than they really were.
“At a certain point you just have to throw the ball to get back in the game,” Oglesby said. “Pass rushers pin their ears back at that point and just come at you.”
Although Tolzien took three times as many sacks as UW had given up all season, the offensive line refused to blame the signal caller for even one.
In other words, there is no Aaron Rodgers effect — something football fans from the state of Wisconsin might worry about — of holding onto the ball too long.
“We don’t mind him holding the ball at all,” Konz said. “We want to make him feel safe. So if he holds the ball for five to seven seconds, we are hoping for that because he plays smart (and) he is going to take a little more time.”
So what did the Badgers learn from this humbling experience with Iowa up next on the schedule?
Unfortunately, Wisconsin will see a drastically different defensive line from the Buckeyes to the Hawkeyes. Where OSU likes to get pressure by stunting their ends and bringing linebackers, Iowa’s defensive tackles do most of the tricky stuff.
“They are not all the same. [Iowa] doesn’t move around, blitz or stunt or anything for pressure,” Carimi said. “The ends are bigger guys, a completely different type of defensive end. D-tackles do a lot more stunt gains and stuff.”
For a Badger team starting a freshman center, it will certainly present a new challenge.
“Iowa is definitely more basic running an under-front where Ohio State likes to mix it up,” Konz said. “Iowa is focused more on the inside two where OSU was the outside.”
Coming off a win or a loss, the UW practices remain basically the same for linemen: Technique.
“Every single day we focus on technique,” Konz said. “Because once we get our points, it sets up for the running backs and gives the wide receivers time and the whole offense can go from there. If we get lazy in technique everything can break down.”