EVANSTON, Ill.—To say the Badger secondary had been an issue all year would be an understatement.
Whether it was big plays by Fresno State, Iowa and Indiana or games against Minnesota and Michigan State that got just a hair too close after blown coverages, the defensive backfield has not had a banner year by any standard. And now that unit can add Northwestern as another troubling chapter.
""They did a good job of throwing and catching, that's for sure,"" Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said, noting how effective the Wildcats' hurry-up offense was.
""Anytime you can get so many yards without any time coming off the clock, and they're able to line back up and do it again, you could definitely see that our defensive guys were on their heels,"" he said.
The Wildcats' senior quarterback Mike Kafka had his way with the Badger defense, spreading them vertically, horizontally and every which way to the tune of 326 yards, carrying Northwestern on a day when the running game was simply stifled.
The Northwestern receivers spent most of the first half slicing past Wisconsin corners, safeties and linebackers, consistently finding the holes and seams in zone defenses. By halftime, NU receivers already had six gains of 20 or more yards.
""They're going to dink and dunk you, and then they're going to speed you up, and then they're going to throw a shot on you deep when you're not expecting it. So yeah, they're really effective,"" senior safety Chris Maragos said. ""They made plays and we didn't, that's really what it boils down to.""
Several players even went as far as to guess that Mike Hankwitz, who coached at Wisconsin two years ago and now serves as defensive coordinator for Northwestern, may have played a role in preparing the Wildcat offense. They said the receivers seemed to have some inside knowledge before plays even started.
""It was crazy, they [were] calling out, names of our coverages ... They knew the signals and everything,"" senior linebacker Jaevery McFadden said.
Hankwitz's unit also had a strong day, especially in terms of shutting down the Badgers' vaunted rushing attack that entered the weekend at the top of the Big Ten. Sophomore running back John Clay got his 100 yards but needed 23 carries to get it, and fumbled on a late Wisconsin drive.
A key factor was the way Northwestern looked to cut the legs from under the pulling offensive linemen, creating piles that UW runners were forced to navigate around.
""I had to adjust better and maybe try to get under it, but they were coming down, hard cut, and it creates a pile,"" junior guard John Moffitt said, adding the tactic was probably a specific adjustment made just against the Badgers. ""I think we kind of strayed away from our gap concept plays and stuck more with our zones and things like that.""
Junior tackle Jake Bscherer noted that pulling linemen to lead block is one of the keys to Wisconsin's usually prolific rushing scheme. The Badgers entered the game averaging 208 rushing yards but were held to under half that Saturday.
The problems on the ground were especially apparent in the first half, during which Wisconsin only managed 23 yards while falling behind by 13 points.
""We were running up on the back of guys, and obviously we have to get a clean read and clean progression from the hand off to the read, and we weren't doing that,"" Bielema said. ""We made some adjustments. I'd thought we would come back and be able to run the ball in the second half, but we weren't able to.""
