As an offensive coordinator, Paul Chryst would show a lot of different looks that ran the same plays, looking for ways to trick the defense and for learning the defenses' cheats. One criticism of him was that he went to the trickery too soon (see TCU Rose Bowl), rather than just waiting for a defense to stop him first. Bielema infamously told him not to throw the ball again against (I think) Michigan in a game where the Badgers were gashing Michigan on the ground.
So while I generally agree with your thesis that the Badgers are good at relying on their base ground game, I think Chryst is more creative than people give him credit for, sometimes to a fault.