As long as Luke Fickell is at the helm of the Wisconsin Badgers, the offense will want to be run by an elite quarterback.
In Fickell’s most successful seasons with the Cincinnati Bearcats, the offense was led by quarterback Desmond Ridder, who compiled 115 touchdowns in his heroic career.
This year, the Badgers have been led by quarterback Colton Joseph, and thus far, Joseph’s play has been wildly inconsistent, which means the Badgers need to get star running back Abu Sama III more time on the ball.
Sama was injured in Wisconsin’s 24-20 come-from-behind win against Penn State, and he returned last weekend against UCLA but only had six carries for 34 yards.
So far this season, Sama has totaled 224 yards on the ground with an average of 6.6 per carry and 56 per game, along with one touchdown this season.
Sama has only had one game this year with double-digit carries. It's also worth noting that in his most impressive game of the year against Western Illinois, when he finished with 107 yards, 102 of those came on his first two carries.
So far this season, the Badgers rank No. 97 in rush attempts per game at 32.8 and will be going up against the No. 29 rush defense in the country, the Trojans, who allow just 111 yards per game.
While Sama may struggle to churn out meaningful runs against a stout defense, the Badgers need to take pressure off Joseph if they want to keep the ball away from a dangerous USC offense.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin needs more out of transfer running back Abu Sama vs. USC