The 5 Most Telling Stats for the Wisconsin Badgers This Season

The Wisconsin Badgers find themselves at 6-2 and tied in the loss-column for first place in the Big Ten West. While, coming into the season, the Badgers may have had aspirations for the College Football Playoff, it became abundantly clear after Week 1 that a trip to the playoff was out of the cards.

A loss to Northwestern to open their Big Ten slate set them back. But with every Big Ten West team featuring at least one loss (and Northwestern featuring three), the Badgers control their own destiny as they move into the final four games of the regular season.

In each of their two losses, their biggest flaws were on display. When it came to the offense, it wasn't the rushing attack that let them down. Rather, it was a lack of a viable passing game with no separation on the outside.

When it came to the defense, it was the loss of Warren Herring that featured in both defeats. It caused the wheels to come off entirely and against LSU. Losing Konrad Zagzebski also exposed the Badgers' lack of depth when it came to their big bodies up front at the beginning of the season.

However, after losing to Northwestern and picking up a less-than-convincing win against Illinois the following week, the Badgers regrouped after their second bye week and turned in their two best performances of the season against Big Ten newcomers Maryland and Rutgers.

Let's take a look at five of the most telling stats when it comes to why the Badgers are 6-2. Some are positive, some are negative and some are just statistics that have a meaning left up to interpretation. Without further ado, let's start with the most hotly debated position on campus: the quarterback.

143.6 Passing Yards Per Game

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Tanner McEvoy and Joel Stave's inability to get much going in the passing game has been the achilles heel for the Badgers this season.

The other four statistics give a much brighter outlook on this year's team, but there has to be a reason behind the two losses in this 6-2 this season. While defensive breakdowns marred both of those games, it was the utter lack of a viable passing attack that ultimately lost them.

In the team's two losses (vs. LSU in Houston and at Northwestern), the team's quarterbacks combined to go 20-of-53 for 188 yards, with one touchdown and six interceptions. Both Joel Stave and Tanner McEvoy were responsible for three interceptions each. Stave contributed the touchdown.

If you took out those two games, the Wisconsin passing attack wouldn't be much better. It would be averaging 160.2 yards per game, which would move Wisconsin from 121st in the country to 117th. To say the passing game is an Achilles' heel is almost selling short how bad it is.

Last week, in a sloppy game for both teams when it came to passing, the Badgers were still able to win 37-0, despite going 8-of-20 through the air for 87 yards between both quarterbacks.

It's not that the Badgers need 300 or more yards through the air in order to be successful. But they do need Stave to be able to complete a long pass or two to help loosen up the box. They also need McEvoy to be able to complete any pass at all.

If the Badgers can play mistake-free football when it comes to passing the ball and complete one or two deep passes per game, then they should be in great shape to make the trip back to Indianapolis (where they are 2-0 in Big Ten Championship games).

333.4 Rushing Yards Per Game

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Melvin Gordon and Corey Clement have been as good as advertised this season, catapulting Gordon into the Heisman conversation.

For as bad as their passing attack has been, their rushing attack has been just as great—if not better. Melvin Gordon has 1,296 rushing yards, Corey Clement has 697 rushing yards and even McEvoy has chipped in 400 yards on the ground.

All of that has come together to give the Badgers the third-most rushing yards per game in the country with 333.4.

The big thing for the Badgers is their ability to generate big plays on the ground. They lead the country (or are tied for the lead) in runs of 20 or more yards with 34, runs of 30 or more yards with 19, 40-plus yard runs with 15 and 50-plus yard runs with 10.

If the Badgers can continue find room to run without any real passing attack, then they'll be in great shape. If they can find a passing attack in the coming weeks, then there's no reason why the Badgers can't make it back to Indianapolis—and from there, anything can happen in a one-game playoff.

254 Total Yards Allowed Per Game

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Derek Landisch and the rest of the defense have stepped up of late to give them one of the best defenses in the country.

In the last two weeks, the Wisconsin defense has been downright scary. In the two weeks before that, they were rather porous. So, what's the difference (other than, arguably, the caliber of teams they've played)? The answer is the return of Warren Herring.

When Herring went down at the end of the third quarter of the Badgers' game against LSU (after Konrad Zagzebski, who had gone down earlier), the wheels came off for the young and already undermanned defense.

Since his return, the Wisconsin defense has been lights-out, particularly with their run defense. In Herring's first game back, Maryland ran for 46 yards—with 29 of those yards coming on the final drive with the score at 52-0.

Against Rutgers, the Badgers only allowed 76 yards on the ground—with 42 of those coming on the final drive with the score at 37-0 and Herring sitting comfortably on the bench.

Their pass defense has also been tremendous, holding the Maryland quarterback to just 13-of-29 passing for 129 yards. Rutgers' two quarterbacks went a combined 7-of-27 passing for 63 yards and an interception.

But the most impressive display was the way the Badgers (namely Darius Hillary) shut down both teams' top receivers. Maryland's Stefon Diggs was held to just one catch for 21 yards, which came on the final drive of the game after Hillary took a seat. Rutgers Leonte Carroo caught two balls for 33 yards and was shut down for lengthy stretches of the game.

Their defense probably won't put up these kinds of crazy numbers against Nebraska, but success breeds confidence. As the defense gets healthier and more confident, they could continue to be a Top-10 defense, nationally.

64 Receiving Yards

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MADISON, WI - SEPTEMBER 27: Kenzel Doe #3 of the Wisconsin Badgers runs the ball against the South Florida Bulls defense on September 27, 2014 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Tom Lynn/Getty Images)

Having a dearth of receiving options on the outside is not new for the Wisconsin Badgers, but it still feels as if—with improved quarterback play and better wide receivers—they could make the jump to becoming one of the elite programs in the country.

Last season, after Jared Abbrederis' 78 receptions for 1,081 yards, the next wide receiver on their list was Jeff Duckworth, who had 12 receptions for 176 yards. This season, it's more of the same, even without Abbrederis and Duckworth.

Leading the team in receptions and receiving yards is Alex Erickson, who has 32 receptions for 440 yards. After two tight ends (Sam Arneson and Troy Fumagalli) and a running back (Corey Clement), the next receiver makes his way to the list in the form of Kenzel Doe at seven receptions for 64 yards.

The Badgers are never going to be an air-raid team, but having a second option on the outside who can contribute at least two or three receptions per game would be a huge boon to the offense. Teams wouldn't be able to put eight or more men in the box if the Badgers had two legitimate receiving threats on the outside.

173 Carries

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Melvin Gordon has been unbelievable this season, but he has done so with a ton of carries.

Through the first eight games of the season, Melvin Gordon has 173 carries. While Gordon has been the best player on the field virtually every time, his 173 carries puts him on pace for about 260 in the regular season alone—not including a potential trip to Indianapolis or a bowl game.

Gordon, a Heisman candidate and a legitimate first-round talent in this year's NFL Draft, showed signs of burnout by the end of the regular season last year. After rushing for 100 or more yards in six of the team's first seven games, he broke the century mark just once in the team's last five regular season games.

Gordon ended last season with 206 carries in 13 games. This year, Gordon should hit 206 carries before halftime of their game against Nebraska, as long as he continues his rate of almost 22 carries per game.

The Badgers have done a better job moderating his carries in the past two weeks (though the score dictated that Gordon did not need to log the 27-plus carries he'd been given against South Florida, Northwestern and Illinois).

Against Purdue, the Badgers should give Gordon a lighter workload, particularly because he is coming off a scare at the end of the team's matchup against Rutgers when he banged his knee against Sam Arneson's helmet. Corey Clement is perfectly capable of being a feature back against a team like Purdue.

Gordon will likely get a ton of work against Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, as the competition gets tougher and the weather gets colder. Giving him as fresh legs when possible will be key for the Badgers to have success in those three pivotal games that will determine whether or not they make it back to Indianapolis.