It's hardly the trenches alone. Watch both teams run onto the field or off the field as a group. Not exactly difficult to project the outcome. When the camera showed both teams entering the tunnel at halftime tonight it was difficult not to laugh at the contrast.
One team is solid and strong and wide shouldered at every position. With each player you can look at his physique and not only identify what position he plays, but also that he has maximized his conditioning.
Only their kicker was an exception. They have the one fat *** quota.
With the Canes it is a hilarious mixture of bean poles and slobs. Seriously, what is Wisconsin doing on the sideline when they see guys like Patchan and Dean out there on our defense? The tackling dummies last August were more of an obstacle.
I'd love to have a coach like Paul Chryst and a power identity like Wisconsin owns. The I formation is such gorgeous football. It establishes a physical trump card identity that translates to both sides of the ball, and allows such amazing permutations. The goof announcer Dan Orlovsky finally got around to describing what was actually happening out on the field tonight, after he spent the early portions with his prepackaged tape guy crap, lavishing undeserved praise on the Canes. Wisconsin with all that motion and creativity was effectively disguising the same type of power play time and again. They were bullying us and also confusing us. Miami would not have been nearly as competitive as the final score if the Badger starting quarterback had been out there. Many more play action deep shots would have gashed us.
We've got some noodle brains on this site who love to mock the I formation. They certify their noodle brain status every time they attempt it. No kidding an occasional I formation look from the Canes will be mauled. We're like Play-Doh out there. Our offensive linemen look like Play-Doh. Our Play-Doh linemen rock back in their stance in dainty fashion. We spend all night in flatfooted fake handoffs out of a stagnant finesse RPO. We never even attempt to punish the defense, as opposed to tricking them.
Then once in a while our tinkerbell offense lines up in an I formation for an isolated play. The defense has no reason to respect it. They know we don't own serious drive blocking intentions or capability in the first place. We've got wall to wall Play-Doh out there. The play fails.
And the noodle brains scream that the I formation doesn't work.
Imagine Wisconsin with an elite quarterback running the same power based scheme. Actually we don't have to imagine. They had it for one season, the Russell Wilson season of 2011. And it was easily the best offense the Badgers have owned in this era, averaging over 7 yards per play and never scoring fewer than 28 points while averaging above 44 points per game.
I realize the Canes will not go back to basic power football, with the terrific available offshoots. The simpleton offensive coaches envision nothing but prancing touchdowns out of the spread. But bottom line when I started watching local high school football in Dade County many decades ago all of the programs looked like Wisconsin tonight. Sure there were various levels of ability but each team was strong and tough and smart and resourceful. It felt like watching a mini college team.
Nowadays when I watch Dade County high school football every team resembles the Canes from tonight. It is nothing but narrow wimpy spread finesse with no concept of actually needing to hit people and win games in the trenches. Just create a gap on offense, and fly through the gaps on defense. Sixty minutes of that and we can go home barely stained.
Consequently I'm never surprised when that type of fragile local mentality is exposed one step higher. We've got moderators here who love to point out numbers regarding Dade County players who excel in the pros. How is that more than modestly relevant? It is a fraction of a fraction. We've got to wait years until they are out of school to backtrack and rationalize.
Meanwhile the counter evidence is front and center every weekend. We may look good all alone on that practice field. We look comical alongside other rosters. I've mentioned many times how startling it was in the Clemson game several years ago to see that team run onto the field. Surreal gap between Canes physiques and Clemson physiques. And that type of reality is going to play out similarly these days every time we face a roster like LSU or Wisconsin.
It wouldn't be so bad if those physically imposing teams just dropped back and winged it all game. Yes, please forfeit your advantage. But when they are cruel enough to actually hit our players I'm not sure it is fair to keep score.
