Depth Dossier: Wisconsin Badgers (Week 10)

Show Notes

Hopkins Shows Up and Wisconsin's Season Changes Overnight The Depth Dossier breaks down what Wisconsin's Week 10 game against Rutgers changed on the depth chart: injuries, snap shares and who is moving up or down.

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This is the Depth Dossier: the Wisconsin Badgers, Week 10.

Wisconsin's season turned overnight when a true freshman took over at quarterback, and the Badgers rolled to a 31 to 10 win over Rutgers to lock up bowl eligibility.

A week after getting shut out by Iowa, head coach Luke Fickell made the call to start true freshman Ryan Hopkins over Colton Joseph. It worked immediately. Hopkins threw for 241 yards, completed eighteen of twenty-four passes, and threw three touchdowns, pushing the ball downfield in a way Wisconsin just hadn't managed all season. It was tight at the half, 13 to 10, before the defense locked things down, holding Rutgers scoreless after the break while the offense pulled away. Wide receiver Eugene Hilton Junior had a hand in almost everything good that happened, and linebacker Cooper Catalano kept up his usual standout play. That's seven straight home wins now.

Here's the thing about how Wisconsin actually won this one. Rutgers ran seven more plays and held the ball nearly five minutes longer, and Wisconsin still won by three touchdowns, because the Badgers were getting almost seven yards every time they snapped it compared to just over four for Rutgers. Tight end Jacob Harris turned a short catch into a 66-yard touchdown that pretty much ended the game with just over ten minutes left. This wasn't a control-the-clock win. It was an explosive-play win.

The running game is still the one flashing yellow. Wisconsin only managed 122 yards on the ground against a Rutgers defense that came in as one of the worst in the country against the run. Hilton, a wide receiver, actually led the team in rushing with 39 yards on three carries, including a run where he stepped out right at the goal line short of a score. If the ground game can't take advantage of a defense that soft, that's a real concern going forward, even with Hopkins playing well.

Defensively, this was the best half Wisconsin has played all year. They held Rutgers to just 28 yards in the third quarter and finished with five sacks from five different players. Defensive lineman Sebastian Cheeks got in on one of those, his seventh sack of the season.

A couple of other things worth knowing. Kicker Gavin Lahm went three for three on field goals, including a 51-yarder, which mattered since the offense didn't turn every red zone trip into a touchdown. And Wisconsin has now outscored opponents 109 to 54 in second halves this season, which held up again here.

Now to the bigger picture, because there were no injuries to report this week. This section is all about jobs won and lost.

The biggest one is obvious. Fickell's decision to start Hopkins wasn't a one-series experiment, it was a full game commitment, and Hopkins answered with the kind of game that makes going back to Joseph hard to justify. Nothing is official beyond this week, but a true freshman throwing for three touchdowns on eighteen of twenty-four passing in his first start is about as clear an answer as a coaching staff can get.

Hilton's role is the other big story. He was already Hopkins' top target, and now he's rushed for 39 yards on just three carries plus a two-point conversion, which makes him a legitimate multi-way weapon. Expect Wisconsin to keep finding ways to get him the ball. Harris, with his 66-yard touchdown and 70 total yards, is also emerging as a downfield threat that Hopkins clearly trusts.

On defense, nothing's changed at the top. Catalano, who had 15 tackles, and Cheeks, with his seven sacks on the season, remain the engine of that unit. The bigger question going forward is whether the running game can find answers, because Hopkins can't be expected to out-throw every defense the way he did Rutgers'. Next week, the thing to watch is whether Hopkins holds onto the job as the full-time starter.

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