As the four teams who qualified for the College Football Playoff begin to settle in for the actual playoff, BadgersWire thought it would be interesting to examine what the Wisconsin Badgers could learn from each of the teams in the playoff. This column will look at what they could learn from the LSU Tigers. This isn’t to say that Wisconsin isn’t capable of doing things on its own, but it’s always worth looking at the most successful teams in the nation and wondering what you can do as a team to emulate that success.
LSU fired one of its most successful coaches, Les Miles, and took a huge chance on Ed Orgeron, who has led the Tigers to two prominent bowl games the past two seasons and a No. 1 overall ranking heading into the 2019 College Football Playoff.
The funny part about this column is that part of LSU’s success can be directly attributed to a former Wisconsin name: Tiger defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, who held the same position at Wisconsin before being hired away. In fact, it was Aranda’s work at Wisconsin that finally got him noticed. His aggressive brand of defense was a perfect fit for the Tigers and the SEC. It didn’t take long for his defensive philosophy to take hold at LSU, turning the Tigers into one of college football’s better teams. Wisconsin replaced Aranda with Jim Leonhard, who has been outstanding.
Leonhard also manages the defensive backs. Badgers Wire explored in a previous column just how good the Badgers’ pass defense has been in 2019. Leonhard is an outstanding coach in his own right and knows how to field a good defense. It’s a matter of being more aggressive against teams that can exploit you on the back end with their talent.
The team that stands out the most when talking about Wisconsin is the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Badgers currently sit No. 5 in the nation in total sacks; this is the kind of aggressive play, when coupled with their 14th-ranked passing efficiency defense, that can trouble and harass teams. Unfortunately for the Badgers, their ability to generate pressure and interceptions falls by the wayside against teams such as Ohio State. This is going to have to improve if the Badgers want to make the playoff.