Few teams have been able to make this Wisconsin Badgers’ defense (3-0) look vulnerable in the last few seasons, but the Georgia State Panthers found a way to do it last week, at least for a few quarters. Their quick passing attack, combined with double moves and deep shots on the outside, stretched the defense horizontally and vertically.
“It was miscommunication errors,” junior safety D’Cota Dixon said. “We’ve been practicing and talking a lot all week to polish that up going into Michigan State.”
The Spartans may be looking to replicate and improve on the success the Panthers had against the Badgers through this passing scheme. Michigan State (2-0) has its own group of talented receivers plus an accurate quarterback whose mobility adds another dimension for this Wisconsin defense to account for and communicate about.
That was the issue last week, and any error that UW makes in East Lansing has the potential to be much worse than it was against their winless opponent in Week Three.
“Those mistakes and busts can happen in a lot of different ways. The biggest thing is finding ways to not only eliminate those, but just kind of stop the bleeding,” defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard said. “You can’t compound one issue with another one. That’s what we’ve stressed to the guys a little bit. There’s going to be mistakes. There’s going to be things that come up during a game that either you don’t play perfect or they haven’t shown.”
That will certainly be the plan for the Spartans, as it is for every team. Georgia State threw some new things at the Badgers last week, and it took the defense a while to adjust. Michigan State has the potential to do a lot more with a more talented roster and more versatile weapons that can stress Wisconsin in different ways.
MSU is a team that is exceeding expectations in large part because of what its offense has been able to do. Notre Dame didn’t have much of an answer for the Spartans last week, despite being favored in the game, and now the Badgers’ defense is tasked with slowing down redshirt senior quarterback Tyler O’Connor and company.
“We don’t really change the preparation,” defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said. “I have a ton of respect for them, but we’re going in there to do a job, and I know our guys are excited to play.”
This defense isn’t scared of any opponent because they trust their talent both on the field and on the coaching staff. Despite their flaws, Wilcox’s unit has finished every game strong, sealing the win over LSU with an interception and shutting down Georgia State on their final two drives last week.
The tight win over the Panthers provided adversity that they can take advantage of, giving the Badgers more to learn from after playing very soundly on defense through their first two games. This team doesn’t really care about how close the numbers are on the scoreboard. All that matters is that the team in red has more points than their opponent.
“All we have to do is continue to win,” Leonhard said. “Everybody talks about the ‘ugly win,’ Georgia State, kind of a letdown game. We won. With the tests we have coming up, that’s going to be a good lesson for us. It’s just, find a way to win games. Doesn’t have to be pretty.”
