After a week of Football 101 in practice, the 3-4 Badgers will look to get out of their Big Ten rut in Saturday's homecoming game against Illinois.
We're going back to basics this week,"" said defensive coordinator Dave Doeren, who has been focusing on simple things like keeping knees bent. ""All those little things add up to bad things if you do them wrong.""
Illinois (2-2 Big Ten, 4-3 overall) trounced Indiana 55-13 last weekend with an especially explosive performance from freshman tailback Jason Ford, who scored three touchdowns and netted 172 yards on 19 carriers. Known for his physical nature and ability to break tackles, Ford will be a challenge for a defense that had trouble stopping Iowa's running game last weekend.
""A big problem last week was tackling,"" senior defensive lineman Jason Chapman said. ""We missed a lot of tackles last week and we need to make up for it this week because Illinois has great running backs.""
Chapman, who is playing with a cast on his right hand after dislocating the base of his thumb early in the season, said that putting pressure on the quarterback will be key to UW's success.
Fighting Illini quarterback Isaiah ""Juice"" Williams is one of the best in the Big Ten, leading the conference in total offense and passing efficiency. Against Indiana last weekend, Williams completed 16-of-22 passes for 271 yards and ran the ball himself for 30 yards. The quick and powerful quarterback has rushed for 475 yards this season.
Forcing passes is another goal of the UW defense, Doeren said. The Badgers let Hawkeye running back Shonn Greene run for 217 yards last weekend, giving little incentive for the Iowa to toss the ball. The defense was largely successful on third downs, preventing conversion on nine-of-10.
""We didn't force their quarterback into throwing,"" Doeren said. ""When we did we stopped them.""
Junior quarterback Dustin Sherer will start for his second game, head coach Bret Bielema said Monday. Allan Evridge, the former starter, is listed as the second-string quarterback along with sophomore Scott Tolzien, who saw some playing time toward the end of the game against Iowa. Tolzien has been getting more playing time than before at practice, Bielema said.
An unimpressive running game has forced Wisconsin to throw the ball over the past four games, but no quarterback has stepped up to the task yet. As a result, UW's offense has flopped in clutch situations and has struggled to get in the end zone even when able to gain decent yardage.
Junior tailback P.J. Hill re-aggravated a foot injury that he struggled with a year ago in last week's game and missed a couple practices early last week. His status for Saturday is questionable.
Freshman John Clay was the top UW tailback against Iowa with 89 yards on the ground and will likely replace Hill as the top rusher if he doesn't play.
Chapman said the team isn't focusing on the recent string of losses and is hoping this week's focus on fundamentals will sharpen UW's performance.
""With a simpler game plan, it's not too much thinking, and we can execute better,"" Chapman said. ""Anybody that's going through this span that's not used to losing would be frustrated, but we just got to come in each week and work hard to try to get a win. We need this win.""
