What Wisconsin football's offense showed versus Miami (Ohio)
A new weekly series looking at who Wisconsin used against their opponents and some highlights of its offensive play.
The changes to the University of Wisconsin football team’s offense were evident right off the bat to start the 2025 season.
As they should have been.
Jeff Grimes, who’s in his first year as Wisconsin offensive coordinator, brought his “NFL-style” system to Madison during the offseason. Phil Longo’s variation of the Air Raid passing scheme didn’t pan out during Luke Fickell’s first two years leading the program, and Grimes is a welcomed return for many to a run-emphasized offense that also loves to keep defenses honest with deep throws.
The Badgers may not have blown out Miami (Ohio) during its 17-0 win Thursday, but the seeds have been planted for its potential. Wisconsin’s running backs, wide receivers and a tight end (yes, that’s technically Jackson Acker’s position) all carried the rock. There were an abundance of shifts and motions (and sometimes multiple motions within the same play), and the quarterbacks were under center far more than the last two seasons.
Badger Observer will analyze each week which personnel groupings Wisconsin uses against its opponent and provide some key takeaways from each game.
Breaking down Wisconsin football’s personnel groupings
I’ve covered Wisconsin football since the 2013 season, and this is one exercise I’ve tried to do every season (outside of the last two). Badger Observer will break down the personnel groupings Wisconsin uses for each game during the 2025 season.
Each digit on the corresponding numbers below represents something: the first is how many running backs are on the field, the second counts the number of tight ends.
So for example, 11 personnel is one running back, one tight end on the field for the offense (and subsequently by rules of deduction, three wide receivers, one quarterback and five offensive linemen — unless otherwise noted).
Here are Badger Observer’s recorded notes from Thursday night.
