Special teams errors provide foundation for Wisconsin's loss to Iowa
IOWA CITY – Wisconsin had a chance to put itself in the driver’s seat for a Big Ten West title Saturday.
Its special teams, however, weren’t anywhere near championship level in a 24-10 loss to Iowa in front of a crowd of 69,250 at Kinnick Stadium Saturday.
“I would say we were below par and that was something that decided the game,” senior punter Andy Vujnovich said. “That is what we knew going into this week, that it was going to be a field position game. That is how Iowa won a lot of their games and we just needed to be up to that level.
Mistakes in punt protection and punt coverage led to short fields for the Hawkeyes on two of their three touchdown. UW’s punt return didn’t help the cause with a punt that was allowed to roll to the Badgers' 1 late in third quarter.
The play of those units plus Wisconsin’s struggles against one of the Big Ten’s best defenses spoiled a masterful effort by the Badgers' defense. UW held Iowa to 148 yards of total offense, recorded six sacks and 12 tackles for a loss and has a loss to show for it.
How big of an impact can special teams have on a game? Let us count the ways.
Solid start spoiled by blocked punt
UW was off to a good start, allowing just 40 yards in Iowa’s first four possessions and owning a 3-0 lead when Deontae Craig blocked Vujnovich’s punt early in the second quarter.
Craig, a 6-foot-3, 268-pound defensive lineman, overwhelmed UW’s John Torchio, a 6-1, 211-pound safety, on the play. Twenty-eight seconds later Kaleb Johnson scored on a 4-yard run that after the extra point gave Iowa a 7-3 lead.
“Obviously, I feel terrible able that,” Torchio said. “But as a defense we could have stopped them there. They scored in what two plays.”
While that’s true, the defense was nonetheless put in a tough spot. Jay Higgins recovered the ball for Iowa at the Wisconsin 17. The Hawkeyes’ offense has struggled this season, but they’ll be presented with few scoring opportunities easier than this.
Momentum loss after punt rolls to UW 1-yard line
It was still a 14-10 game late in the third quarter. Sophomore linebacker Jordan Turner swung momentum Wisconsin’s way with a sack of Spencer Petras on third-and-1.
Iowa, however, quickly regained the momentum when junior return man Dean Engram couldn’t field Tory Taylor’s punt. The ball bounced near the 20 and was downed at the UW 1-yard line.
Handling punts can be tricky if they're not caught on the fly. Engram obviously didn't think it wise to go after the ball.
“I’m just thinking do I have time and space to make a play,” he said.
In this case grabbing it on the bounce would have been risky because of the proximity of Iowa’s coverage team. Still, the yardage Wisconsin lost in that situation was critical.
UW started its drive in the shadow of its end zone and had to be conservative with its play calling. The Badgers punted after gaining a first down and moving to the 13.
“I’m not going to throw a player under the bus. I’ve got to see what happened,” said UW interim coach Jim Leonhard, a punt returner during his college said. “Generally on special teams when the ball is on the ground bad things happen.”
Cooper DeJean's punt return sets up Iowa for final TD
After the drive that started at the 1 stalled, Vujnovich ripped a 46-yard punt into a tricky wind and sophomore Cooper DeJean returned it 41 yards to the UW 18. Five plays later Petras was in the end zone and Iowa, after the extra point, led, 21-10.
Vujnovich later explained how the wind played tricks with his punts.
“I know I hit a few spirals that literally just died,” he said. “I tried going across field multiple times, but the wind would just correct it and go right to the middle every time. It wasn’t ideal for our coverage team.”
Nothing about Wisconsin’s special teams was ideal Saturday. Two of Iowa’s touchdown drives were less than 20 yards. Another came on an interception return for a touchdown.
It was a tough pill for the Badgers to swallow.
“You need to be able to create momentum with your special teams and you need to be able to stop the bleeding at times when things get rough,” Leonhard said. “Obviously throughout my career that was a huge role that I had and I understand how big it is. As things get close and we play great teams, that needs to be a factor in the game. Unfortunately, it was a factor in the wrong direction.”
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Special teams errors prove costly for Wisconsin in loss to Iowa
