Earlier this week we gave you the lowdown on where the Wisconsin Badgers offense stood as the bye week rolled on.
Now, as the bye week draws to a close and the players begin to refocus on football and the upcoming night contest with the Ohio State Buckeyes, we take a look at the defensive side of the football.
Defensive Line:
A 3-4 defense doesn’t always allow for the defensive linemen to shine or hear their named called for the big plays. However, with new defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox in the fold, things have changed for the personnel group up front.
Chikwe Obasih and Alec James are virtually interchangeable and dangerous, while Olive Sagapolu has been more than just a space eater up front. He has racked up Connor Sheehy has been dependable and overall this group is doing its job well.
It’s hard to argue with a group that isn’t supposed to put up pretty stats and be heard from every down, yet still part of a defense that is giving up just 12.2 points per game and just one of two Big Ten teams to allow under 250 yards of total offense to opponents so far this season.
Grade: A
Linebackers:
Let’s just say the blueprint at linebacker apparently works, and it works well.
Wisconsin’s deepest position heading in to the season was linebacker, but that depth has been tested mightily already this season. With one starting inside linebacker down before the game started (T.J. Edwards), UW lost the other (Chris Orr) to a knee injury.
It has also survived losing star senior outside linebacker Vince Biegel for a few weeks after surgery to repair a cracked foot bone. All that happened was Garrett Dooley starting his first game and putting up 5 tackles, a tackle for loss and recording a sack as well.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, new starting outside linebacker TJ Watt as been a revelation, ranking second on the team with 29 tackles and having a team-high 7.5 tackles for loss to his name. Meanwhile, T.J. Edwards and Jack Cichy have formed a really good duo on the inside as well.
Teams are struggling to run the ball, and it is in large part because this group has virtually lived to destroy running backs this season. Wisconsin has allowed just an average of 90.4 yards per game on the ground, while also holding every team to 130 yards or less despite three matchups against alleged top 10 teams at the time of the game.
This group was expected to be good, but it has exceeded even those lofty expectations despite injuries to key players.
Grade: A +
Secondary:
With just one returning starter, if there was going to be a weakness for the Badgers defense it was going to come from its secondary. Instead, new starting cornerback Derrick Tindal has been a ball-hawking machine and even inconsistent senior Sojourn Shelton has become a playmaker too.
Overall, the Badgers have six interceptions in just five games of the season. That’s a massive improvement in an important category for the secondary, as the Badgers had just 12 interceptions as a team all of last season.
Most importantly, it has been stingy on the scoreboard against the pass. Wisconsin has allowed just three passing touchdowns against it all season.
Credit to the starters, but also to Natrell Jamerson, who was playing well before injury and to oft-inconsistent safety Leo Musso too. The latter has been a great performer against the pass and run this season and few are ever going to forget his fumble recover for a TD against Michigan State.
However, big plays have been a killer against them and that has to be taken in to consideration as well. This is a group that is ranked just 8th in the Big Ten against the pass (201 yards per game).
Still, given all that was uncertain about this secondary coming in to the season, Wisconsin’s secondary has certainly exceeded expectations and appears to have a bright future ahead of it as well.
Grade: A –
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