3 Things Wisconsin MUST DO vs Western Michigan

wiconsin and Western Michigan Western Michigan at Wisconsin Wisconsin favored by 24 here this is another Friday game uh this one's going to be on FS1 so so Fox Sports 1 at 9:00 eastern time should be a fun one to see what Wisconsin can do there's a lot of question marks surrounding uh Tyler van djk the wide receiver room they switch things up on defense a little bit so I'm curious to get you guys' thoughts Zach we'll go to you first here give me for Wisconsin give me something that they didn't do very well last year something you know maybe they had a bad Stat or maybe there was just something observing them you were like this is an area they really need to improve at uh that they need to start off doing well vers Western Michigan not necessarily to win the game I think they're they're pretty handily going to win this game but the fans are going to want to see it go well for optimism this season so Luke fickle wanted to bring in an air raid style of offense combined with a power run Tanner morai averaged 6.6 yards per attempt a year ago which is not very good if you're going to run an air raid uh and so I think the biggest thing for T is Tyler van djk has to stretch the field with his arm you know they have a really good receiver in will Pauling um they you know I'm sure they have a bajillion tight ends uh they could probably lend one to Illinois if they if if they really could with the rules um but they've they've got to stretch the field to make that attack more potent particularly to to to free up running lanes for chz maloi I I think that's the biggest thing stretch the ball down the field I don't think they need to get you know go crazy like nine and a half yards per attempt but if they can get that up to about eight yards per attempt that's going to make their offense a lot more effective yeah and a lot more Dynamic too I mean you're you're going to have to be covering a lot more uh in different ways and different receivers are going to be running down the field more so uh it's going to be a huge piece of it I have other thoughts but uh I'm going to let Kurt go first that way I don't take whatever Kurt's uh cooking up over there so Kurt what's something they struggled with last year they need to do better against Western Michigan yeah uh I was thinking passing game as well you know bringing in an air raid style offense and only 14 passing touchdowns last year like that's a little concerning um you know especially because they brought in SMU guy last uh former SMU guy Mory I believe was his last name you know and he threw the ball all over the yard at SMU so I really thought that would work better I knew it's a big transition so I wasn't expecting it to be amazing you know I've listened to some Wisconsin podcast um talk about how they thought maybe the offensive line going from such a power Run game to now having to be a little bit more pass protection heavy maybe that's what part of the struggle was and not all on the receiver room but I know that's a big question mark overall especially when you're trying to convert to an air r um maybe one thing that I know it sounds silly to question Wisconsin's running back room but brayan Allen moves on Chaz meoi is back which I thought to start year he was much more effective than than brillan Allen was last year but then he went down with injury and he's had some injury history in his past I'm just curious about the depth I know they got the fourstar uh uh backups there that the talents there it's just we haven't seen them on the field so you know it sounds silly to question Wisconsin running backs but given it's a new offense and just that Chaz muoi has shown some you know injury history if he goes down I'm curious what that looks like behind him so I think that puts even more pressure on the pass game to get going if that were to happen so um just kind of curious to see like a lot of us what the offense looks like in year two of Luke vickle and uh yeah really hoping they they come out of the gate and just drop the ball let's go Western Michigan figured I figured you'd have something like that to add in there so you were being compliment the entire time I was like oh man Kurt's uh Kurt's feeling good about the oh okay there we go yeah that's what I thought was gonna happen eventually um yeah no I think for me one of the biggest things the wide receiver room I mean you bringing the Kenny gon coming in from Arkansas he was actually a interim offensive coordinator at one point over there so he has some experience doing some some bigger thing coming out of the SEC I have confidence in will Pauling uh Bryson Green he he had a pretty good season last year but with the quarterback issues of Tanner morai and also him getting hurt and Braden lock having to come in and in that whole situation that was a little difficult so I'm interested to see what Tyler van djk his connection looks like with those two guys I'm interested to see if they move will Pauline out of the slot and maybe put him on the outside a little bit more because they do have that kid from Hawaii uh Trek cuckoo kukuana however you pronounce his name it's a Hawaiian name uh so good luck but he uh he's a very effective slot receiver receiver that's coming in I don't think they're going to move him to the outside but if they really want to try to get creative they could move well Pauling out there and maybe give Trek some more time in the uh in the slot we'll see uh that's a that's a huge piece for me and then the other piece guys is the defensive line they have got to be more productive this season there was only one defensive lineman that had more than one sack last year that being James Thompson Jr now you know CJ uh goats and Daryl Peterson you know they some places list them as uh Edge rushers really they're more outside linebackers in my mind so I didn't count them but I guess you could if you really wanted to but uh Kurt Neil is a is a big name and the transfer they brought in Brandon Lane as well those are going to be some pretty good guys but I'm hearing Kurt Neil might be starting at the uh at the nose tackle for Wisconsin this year sounds like he had a really good off season people are really high in him uh arguably the most improved player I I read one riter right so uh if that's the case and they can really Shore up this defensive line and like I said they weren't necessarily bad last year they just weren't productive enough they weren't getting enough sacks enough tackles things like that so um you know obviously Luke fickle is going to have very good linebackers that's that's going to happen that's his baby that's what he's going to have working well but uh if you can get that defensive line working well in addition to those linebackers and if rotto hullman can do some more uh interceptions this season like he did last year man he was nasty last year yeah he was good this uh this could be a really really good defense I'm banking on it Zach you and I picked Wisconsin to win what was it eight or nine games I think it was nine even though I I tried to I tried to stop you from it and you're like no we're going we're going I'm like okay I I I was glad to uh to to let us go to nine wins with them yeah oh don't get mad at us Minnesota fans we did pick you for seven so okay all right it wasn't quite nine but you know Seven's pretty good uh all right Zach anything else on Wisconsin before we move on no I I think just you know we're talking about how they can improve I think something that's just it's helpful to remember is we're in year two of Luke fickle and I Kurt I just thought you made a really good point that the transition of offensive system does take some time and I just just wonder how much like I'm curious the Improvement I I have this a similar thought with Purdue and their defense in year two is like how much of the of an improvement is there from year one to year two now that people are more familiar with the system and I think we saw some of that in the bowl game against LSU for Wisconsin um you know Tanner morai looked a lot more comfortable in that game again it's not Tanner Mory this year it's Tyler van djk but I I'm C ious about you know are we going to see a jump because of we're in year two yeah complet completely agree and uh you know I know I have an uncle who is a badger fan very high in that secondary and they're pretty good last year I believe as well so I'm I'm hoping that there is some holes on that defense as a goer fan but uh I I will say just as an outsider you know putting my phandom aside I think Luke fickle is a fantastic H and it's looking like doing what needs to be done in order for them to take that next step I it really does look like they're putting it together over there but uh you know I've been wrong before and I'm hoping I'm wrong again