Wisconsin Badgers football changes the mind of Big Ten Network analyst

Wisconsin wide receiver Quincy Burroughs (5) runs the ball during football training camp Aug. 3 at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Along with being a two-time national champion as a player and assistant, Gerry DiNardo developed an intuition for sizing up a college football team’s personnel while serving 12 years as a Power 5 head coach.

Long since removed from the sidelines, it’s still why DiNardo loves attending practices and strolling from position group to position group in his role as an analyst for the Big Ten Network.

“The advantages to (watching) practice is that you can go to each group,’’ he said, “and you can kind of count the depth and you can kind of count the quality.

“You learn something listening to the (assistant) coaches at the different positions. … Really good coaches jump out at you. All coaches are not created equal.’’

Since Wisconsin was the 14th and last stop on the Big Ten Network’s training camp tour, DiNardo was able to compare and contrast the Badgers with what he had seen elsewhere.

“The first thing I try to do is evaluate who has the most talent,’’ said DiNardo, a BTN studio analyst since 2007. “After seven West stops, I thought Wisconsin did.

“I thought they were the most physically impressive team in the West.

“And this isn’t about toughness; this is about body types.’’

In the 2023 cleveland.com preseason media poll, Wisconsin was, in fact, picked as the favorite in the West Division over Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, Purdue and Northwestern.

This was the fourth straight season in which the Badgers have topped the voting in the West. But it was by the narrowest of margins over the Hawkeyes, 20 first-place votes to 16 and a total point difference of one.

Along with his Big Ten Network on-air teammates, Dave Revsine and Howard Griffith, the 70-year-old DiNardo observed Wisconsin during an Aug. 19 scrimmage at Camp Randall Stadium.

There wasn’t a “knock your socks off’’ moment like there was in 2017 when freshman tailback Jonathan Taylor had a breakout preseason scrimmage. Until then, Taylor was buried on the depth chart.

The Big Ten Network crew just happened to be in Madison for that practice and bore witness to Taylor’s performance and unlimited potential. Or as DiNardo says, “That knocked our socks off …’’

Although there’s no shortage of energy on campus for Saturday’s opener against Buffalo, there’s also an unknown element related to dramatic changes within a heretofore stable, unchanging program.

That was best captured in an exchange among Revsine, DiNardo and Griffith during a one-hour special on Wisconsin that aired on the Big Ten Network.

Revsine underlined the level of consistency the Badgers have achieved by stringing together 21 straight winning seasons, the longest among Power 5 schools and the longest in the Big Ten by 10.

“It takes some gumption,’’ Revsine said, “and it takes some belief in the foundation that you have to say, ‘You know what? We’re going to kind of scrap what we’ve been doing …’

“I don’t want to say, ‘It’s risky …’

“But there aren’t many programs, guys, that would try to do this and it speaks to what they believe Wisconsin can become in this new 12-team playoff era (starting in 2024).’’

Said DiNardo, “No doubt. I think the expectations are going to drastically change here. … This is a good program that wants to be a great program.’’

Griffith added, “which needs to change what they’re doing offensively to keep up with what’s going on in America when you talk about college football.’’

During a phone interview last week, DiNardo reiterated that Wisconsin was not a program that needed to be rebuilt. Instead, he felt “retooled’’ was a better word to describe what’s happening here.

DiNardo is a big fan of new UW head football coach Luke Fickell. He traced the path that Fickell has traveled from Ohio State to Cincinnati and the mentors that have guided him from (former Ohio State coaches) John Cooper to Jim Tressel to Urban Meyer.

“When you ask him what he’s learned and taken from those three, it’s something different from each,’’ DiNardo said. “You have three great mentors with three great takeaways. It’s not all the same.’’

Gerry DiNardo, left, football analyst for the Big Ten Network, talks with then-Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer during an NCAA football practice in August 2013 in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

DiNardo interviewed Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo for the UW preview on BTN. DiNardo was the OC at Colorado during the 1990 season when the option-heavy Buffalos won a share of the national title.

“We had better players than most teams we played,’’ DiNardo recalled. “But we couldn’t throw the ball very well and we had to find a way against the best teams. … We threw it good enough I guess.’’

DiNardo, the play-caller, kept the ball in the hands of tailback Eric Bieniemy, who rushed for 1,628 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was a team strength, an asset. Not unlike Wisconsin’s Braelon Allen.

“Nothing is more important than the players,’’ said DiNardo, an All-American guard at Notre Dame. “There’s an old saying, ‘If your best players don’t fit the scheme, change the scheme.’

“I’m not saying Braelon Allen can’t run for 1,200 yards. I’m not saying that at all.’’

Longo, a product of the late Mike Leach’s coaching tree, has shown flexibility with his version of the Air Raid offense. At previous coaching stops, he has consistently turned out 1,000-yard rushers.

“The challenge is always about your off-hand,’’ said DiNardo, the former head coach at Vanderbilt, LSU and Indiana. “How do I deal with situations that I’m not built for?

“(Former UW coach) Paul Chryst’s offense was built for short yardage, built for red zones, built for a balanced 1st-and-10. This offense (Air Raid) isn’t built for a balanced 1st-and-10.

“This is built along the lines of, ‘I’m going to do what the numbers tell me to do.’ … We all know the concept. If there’s too many people in the box to run the ball, then you throw it.’’

In this scenario, the defense can stack the box and dictate to the offense. In past years with the Badgers, the question was always the same: Can they throw the ball when they need to throw the ball?

Now with the Air Raid system, will they be able to run the ball when they need to run the ball? DiNardo’s bottom line: “In situational football, I have to be good at things I’m not good at.’’

Defenses want to make offenses play with their left hand, their off-hand, by taking away the run or the pass. In turn, how are you going to respond when the numbers don’t work? Hence, the intrigue.

Wisconsin defensive players participate on the first day of training camp Aug. 2 in Platteville.

Asked what he took away from the UW scrimmage, DiNardo said, “Like most scrimmages, the defense has the advantage because they’ve been defending the same offense since the spring.’’

But he saw enough positives out of the Badgers, on both sides of the ball, to later tell Revsine and Griffith that winning the West was a reasonable expectation for Wisconsin.

“It wasn’t how I came into the tour,’’ he admitted of his projection. “My mind was changed today. Wisconsin seems to be the deepest team we’ve seen (in the West).

“I love what they’re doing offensively and defensively. I love their schedule … When you talk about who can go to Indianapolis, the first thing you do is go to crossovers.’’

Since 2011, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis has been the annual site of the Big Ten Championship game matching the winners of the East and West divisions.

Each school plays six games within their division and three “crossovers’’ versus the opposite division. Wisconsin’s crossovers are against Rutgers and Ohio State at home and Indiana on the road.

By comparison, Minnesota and Purdue each face Michigan and Ohio State, the East heavyweights, among their crossovers.

DiNardo believes the gap has grown between divisions “because Penn State has closed the gap and maybe caught Ohio State and Michigan. … Now you’re comparing everybody else to Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State.’’

How will this all look in 2024 when USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington join the Big Ten?

“We’re going to have the marquee matches up — the best of the new teams and historic best of the Big Ten — because that’s where the TV audience is and the money is,’’ DiNardo said.

“The middle teams (in an 18-team conference), especially the brand name middle teams like Wisconsin, their schedule is going to be tough because it’s good TV.

“But the addition of these other good teams in a way is going to help a place like Wisconsin. They’re going to be in the mix and have a better chance of making a 12-team playoff.’’

Despite controversy surrounding the transfer portal and the perception of play-for-pay from student-athletes monetizing name, image and likeness, DiNardo feels the future is bright. For everyone.

“I was a sophomore in college when Title IX was passed (in 1972) and we had unlimited scholarships,’’ DiNardo said. “And then we went to 105 (allowed scholarships for each Division 1 team in 1973) and that was the end of college football.

“Then we went to 95 (scholarships in 1978) and that was end of college football. And then we went to 85 (in 1992) and, oh, my God, this is definitely the end of college football.

“And yet we’ve all survived, and the sport is stronger than ever.

“Embrace the NIL. Embrace the portal. And adjust. Or go and do something else.’’

Mike Lucas is a freelance sports columnist for the Cap Times, where he previously spent 39 years as a sports journalist. He also had been a radio color commentator for UW football and men’s basketball since 1994 and wrote for UWBadgers.com and Varsity magazine.

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