How Wisconsin’s defense can find success against Michigan tomorrow

The No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers are set to take the field in Ann Arbor tomorrow night against the Michigan Wolverines and continue their interrupted season.

One of the keys to Paul Chryst and his team coming away victorious and starting the season 2-0 will be repeating their impressive defensive effort from Week 1.

The defense pitched a shutout if you will, a performance that is unlikely to be repeated against a much better Michigan offense.

For the defense to find any success, though, they will need to excel in a few key categories.

The first is in the trenches against Michigan’s talented running backs (and quarterback).

Wolverine running backs Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins enter the contest with a combined 30 carries for 234 yards and 4 touchdowns. Add quarterback Joe Milton’s 25 carries for 102 yards and 1 touchdown and you have a running attack that can hurt you in several ways.

Jim Leonhard and his defense will need Keeanu Benton, Garrett Rand and Isaiahh Loudermilk to have a game upfront, as well as linebackers Noah Burks, Jack Sanborn, Leo Chenal and Izayah Green-May to help them control the gaps.

To me, shutting down Milton should be the top priority after Illinois quarterback Brandon Peters ran for more than 70 yards on 7 carries against the Badger defense in Week 1.

But the Michigan offense has struggled when they’re forced into third-and-long scenarios. Getting them to those situations and getting off the field will be the focus for Leonhard and his unit tomorrow night.

The second area the Badger defense will need to excel in is taking wide receiver Ronnie Bell out of the game.

In Week 1 cornerback Rachad Wildgoose shut down Illini receiver Josh Imatorbhebhe to just 3 catches for 26 yards. Coming against a player who averaged more than 18 yards-per-reception last season, Wildgoose’s performance was an exceptional one and will need to be repeated this week.

Bell thus far through three weeks has 14 catches, 269 yards, 1 touchdown and has averaged 19.2 yards-per-reception. He’s as good of a deep threat that the conference has, and taking him out of the game will be key to limiting Michigan’s offense output.

Leonhard’s defense will need a complete effort to shut down the Wolverines, and winning the turnover battle would be a big plus. But the two areas in which the team must find success is stopping Milton on the ground, getting Michigan to third-and-long and taking Ronnie Bell out of the game.

If they can do all three of those things, we could see another dominant performance from the Wisconsin Badger defense.

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