Badger Bits: Wisconsin defense stifles No. 19 Northwestern
October 12, 2013 | Football
Oct. 12, 2013
BY RYAN EVANS
UW Athletic Communications
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin defense made life difficult all afternoon for No. 19 Northwestern, stymieing the Wildcats’ potent offensive attack and leading the way for the Badgers’ 35-6 win at Camp Randall Stadium on Homecoming.
Badgers defenders swarmed Northwestern throughout the game, racking up a season-high seven sacks -- from seven different players, no less -- and forcing the Wildcats into eight three-and-outs while not allowing NU to score a touchdown for the first time since a 17-3 loss at Michigan in 2006.
The Wildcats had scored at least 10 points in 78 straight games prior to Saturday’s Badgers win.
Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda opened up the new 3-4 defense’s bag of tricks against the Wildcats, which bewildered the NU offense, according to LB Conor O’Neill.
“It’s a lot of confusion with our defense. Coach Aranda came up with a great scheme,” O’Neill said. “Northwestern, they’re a bunch of smart guys, and for us to be able to confuse them and to send multiple guys from multiple positions, I think it was a good thing we were able to do. ”
The rush defense was particularly effective for the Badgers, allowing the Wildcats -- who came into Saturday averaging 218.4 rushing yards per game -- just 47 yards on the ground, their lowest total since rushing for 0 yards in a loss at Ohio State in 2007.
Senior LB Chris Borland said that it was the defense’s aggressive mindset against Northwestern that was key to its dominating performance.
“Hopefully today’s the precedent and that is kind of where we set the bar and perform like this the rest of the year,” Borland said. “You can kind of feel the offense on their heels and getting really aggressive is always a good time. It is just a lot of fun. That is how you should play defense.”
Stave overcomes adversity
Losing your top receiver for the game, in addition to throwing two interceptions, could spell doom for a quarterback, especially against a team like Northwestern. But Badgers QB Joel Stave was able to clear those barriers on the way to throwing for 241 yards on 17 completions and equaling a career-high with three touchdown passes.
After hitting WR Jared Abbrederis for a 63-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter, Stave had to adjust to life without his top pass-catching target after Abbrederis left the game with a head injury.
Stave responded by effectively spreading the wealth, completing passes to eight different receivers the rest of the way, including touchdown grabs by TE Jacob Pedersen and FB Derek Watt.
“I thought Joel continued to progress,” UW head coach Gary Andersen said.
“I like the way, when something doesn't go their way, it hurts, but they keep moving,” he added. “That's a sign of a good offense and the quarterback.”
Running game powers offense
It’s almost cliché at this point, but yet again Wisconsin’s running game put forth a dominating effort in Saturday’s win.
For the fourth time this season, the Badgers produced two 100-yard backs as RB Melvin Gordon gashed the Wildcat defense for 171 yards on the ground, while RB James White added 101 yards of his own -- the 13th 100-yard game of his career.
“Those young men are very talented. We're all very lucky to have them in this program,” Andersen said of his running back duo. “It's great to have unbelievably gifted kids running the ball that can go the distance at any moment. “
The big play on the day for the running game was Gordon’s 71-yard score off a faked jet sweep play in the second quarter.
“That definitely gave us the momentum,” Gordon said of the TD run. “We needed to score, we needed to go down there and score fast and we did, so that definitely was a big play that helped us out a lot.
The run was Gordon’s third of the season of at least 70 yards and seventh of at least 30 yards. It was also the Kenosha, Wis., native’s 13th career score. Those TDs have averaged an astounding 35.8 yards per play.
Gordon also went over 140 yards rushing for the fifth time in six games this season on a career-high 22 carries.
