StaTuesday: Receiving targets for Badgers after nine games
We first took a look at the passing targets for Wisconsin's quarterbacks after three games. At that point, Bart Houston was the starter with Alex Hornibrook having gotten a small piece of playing time.
Yeah, things have changed just a bit.
Hornibrook is now the starter, but suddenly Houston is getting on-field action as well as head coach Paul Chryst has decided to use both QBs during games.
Let's take a look at the total targets for both QBs:
| HORNIBROOK | TARGETED | CATCHES | DROPS | INT | LOST/PEN | INC/PEN |
| Cephus | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Clement | 7 | 5 | 1 | |||
| Fumagalli | 30 | 19 | 3 | 1 | ||
| Ingold | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Ogunbowale | 16 | 10 | ||||
| Peavy | 43 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Penniston | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Ramesh | 3 | 2 | ||||
| Rushing | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Steffes | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Taylor | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Thrown away | 1 | |||||
| Wheelwright | 27 | 17 | 2 | 3 | ||
| TOTALS | 154 | 84 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| HOUSTON | TARGETED | CATCHES | DROPS | INT | LOST/PEN | INC/PEN |
| Clement | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Fumagalli | 16 | 12 | ||||
| Ingold | 4 | 3 | ||||
| Ogunbowale | 4 | 3 | ||||
| Peavy | 26 | 14 | 1 | |||
| Penniston | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Ramesh | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Rushing | 6 | 5 | 1 | |||
| Steffes | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Taylor | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Wheelwright | 20 | 11 | 1 | 2 | ||
| TOTALS | 89 | 54 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
Some 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.
-- When we first did this -- albeit after only 18 pass attempts -- Hornibrook had thrown only targets running backs or fullbacks 10.3 percent of the time. That number is up to 18.3 percent. Houston was at 12.5 percent; that has dipped slightly to 11.2 percent.
-- Only two players have had double-digit targets in a game: Jazz Peavy against Akron and Troy Fumagalli vs. Ohio State both had 10.
-- Since being used as the second quarterback three games ago, Houston has targeted Peavy on five of his 16 pass attempts, four of which were caught.
-- Robert Wheelwright hasn't had more than five targets in a game since he had six at Michigan.
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
