Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Owls prep Wisconsin’s heavy rushing attack
BOCA RATON — Another week, another unusual offense for Florida Atlantic’s football team. And that’s just fine with the Owls.
One week after opening the 2017 season with a 42-19 loss to Navy and its tripleoption offense, the Owls will travel to No. 9 Wisconsin to take on the Badgers and their power-running attack. Wisconsin’s offense is not unorthodox by traditional football standards. It uses a fullback. It rolls out two and three tight ends.
But compared to the spread offenses that populate both Conference USA and the rest of college football, Wisconsin qualifies as an outlier.
“Honestly, I’m just happy to be back to regular football,” FAU linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair said.
The Badgers scored 59 unanswered points in their season opening win over Utah State last week. In the win, Wisconsin mostly operated under center, with an army of running backs and tight ends puncturing the Aggies defense. Six of Wisconsin’s seven offensive touchdowns came with at least two tight ends on the field. The Badgers scored four times with three tight ends in the formation.
Wisconsin gained 234 rushing yards on 45 carries while it threw the ball just 23 times.
“I’m an old school type of ball player, I-formation, pro-style, double-tight, that’s something I look forward to instead of a tripleoption,” Owls linebacker Hosea Barnwell said.
FAU will also have to deal with the size of Wisconsin’s offensive line, which averages 322 pounds among its projected starters.
“Size may play a part, but I don’t feel like it would be too major of a deal,” defensive tackle Will Davis said.
Navy’s triple-option gashed the Owls for 416 rushing yards and 526 total yards. It also forced FAU into an adjusted 3-4 defense that looked nothing like its preferred 4-2-5 base defense. Wisconsin’s offense won’t allow FAU to play strictly nickel defense, but it’s a step back to the normalcy of modern college football.
“It’s going to be more of a normal game,” FAU coach Lane Kiffin said. “It’s like we made it halfway back. We went from Navy way over here and here’s where college football is. Now, we’re kind of halfway back. This is more old school, I-formation. I call it old SEC football.”
FAU defensive tackle Jeremiah Taleni is used to Wisconsin’s offense. He used to face it in practice every day. Taleni began his college career playing for Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst when he was Pittsburgh’s head coach. Taleni transferred to FAU this fall.
“My game has developed in that way, in that manner,” Taleni said. “I’d rather go against a pro-style offense than a spread offense because I’m more familiar with the pro-style formations and what to expect out of it..”