You gotta love the recent trend. We all know how Bosa 1 and co made Gordon look like he'd never even seen a football field before in '14. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think he had negative yards through much of that game, and of course the generous donation he made to the Bosa scoop and score that day (still one of favorite plays of the last decade)...
And again yesterday, Bucky fields statistically, one the top 5 RB's in the country. Of course there is the strength of competition argument, and the nature of Wisconsin's run-heavy, feature back offense that can and do regularly pad those stats, but this guy, freshman Jonathan Taylor is no slouch. He will be the next great Bucky RB, of course outside of their matchups with the Buckeyes. In case you were not familiar with him:
As per Landof10:
Taylor reached 1,000 yards rushing in his seventh game, matching the FBS freshman record for fewest games needed to attain the mark. He joined superstars Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk and Adrian Peterson, as well as former Badgers great P.J. Hill.
That's an interesting list of company. Notice Gordon is NOT on that list and neither are any of the great OSU tailbacks that have long dominated the game. And according to the same source, as written two weeks ago:
Taylor needs 401 yards this season to break Peterson’s NCAA freshman rushing record of 1,925 yards and is on pace to shatter the mark.
Taylor needed just 120 yards coming into the B1GCG to break that record. He came into the championship game both an impressive #3 in the country in rushing yards per game (152) and #1 in the B1G, as well as #3 and #1 in total rushing yards on the season, behind Rashaad Penny and Bryce Love.
THE SILVER BULLETS DID NOT OBLIGE
Taylor finished the game yesterday with just 41 rushing yards on 15 attempts (a shockingly low number itself). That's just a tad over 2.7 ypc. He needed 30 less yards than his season average to put himself atop a list of the best RB's to ever play the game. I'm quite certain he did not expect it to be an easy task. But it also should not have been that easy of a task for our D-line to make a guy who can legitimately be mentioned in the same breath as Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk and Adrian Peterson, look like he never even got off the bus.
NOW ALLOW ME THE LIBERTY OF SOME HOT TAKES
- Holy shit, that D-line is beast, and without a doubt worth of being given a chance to prove it in the CFP.
- Bosa, to me is clearly the best player in all of CFB. I wondered if the defense literally falling apart after his ejection this year was pure coincidence - I mean the level of dropoff was almost too much to be reasonably attributable to a single player. I am now convinced that it is indeed the case that he is such a force, that his presence alone takes our entire defense from just "pretty good" to "fucking elite". Objections to this?
- The only reason I would have any level of optimism, should we get into the CFP, is the level at which this defense is playing. I think they can play with anyone and at least keep it respectable. I do not believe the offense can, which I why I would not expect a win against Clemson. It's a shame though because this D is the real deal.
- Worley being forced to slide back outside and Tuf permanently taking over in the middle has been, to me a boon to the defense. It seems to have solidified the weakest unit and is transferring strength upward to the secondary instead of leaching on it. Thus, DB's like Arnette are finding a groove and look more focused. Sheffield is clearly the weak link and I think what might be the only truly exploitable position left on the defensive side.
- Ward... that man is a fucking man. I actually saw him come off the edge on a field goal block attempt yesterday and dove past the block point BEFORE the bucky kicker could even kick the ball. He missed a block because he was TOO fast. And well everyone with a pulse knows about his exploits at his current position. The dude's body, his build, the way he carries himself looks like some kind of prototype you'd draw of a lockdown corner. I'm not afraid to admit that I have a man-crush on that dude.
Last take and you're out of here...
Should JT consider switching to defense?
Thanks for reading, haha...
- Earth