StaTuesday: Final 2016 passing targets and penalties for Badgers

By Dave Heller
Published

We've provided a couple of updates on the targets for Wisconsin Badgers receivers this year and with the 2016 season coming to a close it's time for one last look.

It was an interesting year at quarterback for Wisconsin. Bart Houston began the season as the starter, lost his job to Alex Hornibrook, then was the No. 1 QB once again in the final three games.

Was there a difference between the two quarterbacks? Both targets Jazz Peavy the most and Troy Fumaglli the second most, but there was a notable gap difference.

BART HOUSTON TARGETS












































































































































































































































































 

ALEX HORNIBROOK TARGETS














































































































































































































































































































 

Some additional notes:

-- INC/PEN means an incomplete pass which was nullified due to a penalty. While that pass won’t count on the QBs record for attempts, it was still a play, so to speak, and helps give insight.

-- LOST/PEN is similar to the above, except it was a completed pass lost to an offensive penalty.

-- Thrown away means just that. The game book might give the target as the nearest receiver, but in reality the pass was not trying to be completed, just thrown out of bounds to (likely) save a sack.

-- Peavy led the team with 88 targets, a far cry from the last two years when Alex Erickson had 140 and 111 targets.

-- Rob Wheelwright's targets slowed to a trickle. He had two against Purdue (one from each QB), four vs. Minnesota (two from each), one vs. Penn State and one, from Houston, in the Cotton Bowl against Western Michigan.

-- Despite leading the team in targets, Peavy was never targeted against Western Michigan.

-- Fumagalli had eight targets against Western Michigan, which includes one completion nullified by penalty.

Speaking of penalties, for those interested here's the complete list of accepted and declined infractions committed by the Badgers this past season. We should note that Wisconsin committed just 48 penalties or 3.4 per game, which is the lowest total and average for the Badgers since 2010 (41/3.2).