Column: No, this isn’t Wisconsin’s defense of old, and that’s just fine

Madison — Two weeks came and two weeks went, and the Badgers defense didn’t have a takeaway to their name. The team’s turnover differential was an ugly -5.

Then, with Georgia Southern in town Saturday morning, Wisconsin racked up six takeaways. They picked off quarterback Davis Brin five times, and pounced on a muffed snap early in the fourth quarter.

“It was coming,” cornerback Jason Maitre said, who himself logged the Badgers’ third interception of the day. “They come in bunches.”

Wisconsin put the Eagles away to improve to 2-1. It was far from a complete performance on defense — the Badgers gave up 455 yards, and oftentimes struggled to hold up in man coverage. But counting a turnover on downs, Wisconsin plucked the ball from Georgia Southern’s offense on seven of its 13 drives. By riding a takeaway-happy defense that took blows but responded by lurking five passes, the Badgers limited a rather explosive Georgia Southern offense to 14 points.

Friday evening before the game, Wisconsin’s defense held a meeting. Largely organized by team captain and middle linebacker Maema Njongmeta, the Badgers met before going to the team’s hotel to discuss their play. Specifically, getting it back to the level expected from a Wisconsin defense.

“We said what we want our standard to be, and we feel like we haven’t been playing to our standard,” Maitre said of the meeting.

“One of the talking points was, we have to own everything. Primarily, we wanted to make this week about earning respect,” said cornerback Rico Hallman, who also picked off a pass Saturday.

Safety Hunter Wohler, another defensive leader, noted it was important for this defense to hold each other accountable.

“Things have been let slide,” he said. “And as a defense, in terms of our position groups, we have to be hard around each other, and it’s out of love…We have to start fast, we have to be better for our offense, and we have to hold each other accountable. Just cause we come in here all offseason and grind and put in the work, it doesn’t mean anything’s gonna just be given.”

Wohler also offered a more succinct reason for the meeting: “We’re sick of losing.”

The meeting clearly worked to an extent. Yes, Wisconsin gave up a lot of yards. But they also took the ball away from the Eagles on more than half of their drives, and only allowed 14 points when all was said and done.

Three games into a new defensive staff and scheme, it’s clear that this is not your Wisconsin defense of yesteryear. And that’s quite all right.

Change, change and more change was the theme of the offseason for the Badgers. New coaches, new systems, new players, A philosophy change from the top down. A revitalized recruiting department. A completely remodeled offense. It’s easy to forget that the defense isn’t what it once was either.

Luke Fickell is a defensive-minded head coach. Mike Tressel orchestrated a highly successful defense at Cincinnati. And yet, this is no longer a Jim Leonhard-coached unit. It’s unreasonable to expect Leonhard-like results.

Fickell isn’t satisfied with how his defense played. He’s well aware that there’s room for improvement.

“I didn’t feel great about this afternoon,” he said after the game. “They did some things, created some space, that’s why they had as many yards. That’s why we didn’t have as many possessions in the first half.”

Georgia Southern was able to take advantage of lots of the man coverage the Badgers played, using congestion near the line of scrimmage to free up receivers.

“They’re (referees) a little bit, in some ways, lenient in what they would consider a rub and a pick,” Fickell said. “So far in the first few games people have tried to spread us out more. Tried to make us play in some space, have challenged us linebacker-wise to have to play in space…all in all what we’re seeing is, in a lot of ways, whether it's man coverage or zone coverage, there’s going to be some one-on-ones.”

Still, Fickell believes in his system and says he’s seeing growth.

“That’s why we like to play a little more on-body coverage. Yes, you give up some plays, but the idea is you’re gonna make them challenge everything and hopefully get your offense some more opportunities,” he said. “Yes, we got turnovers but what we did was we tackled better. We leveraged things. And when you get some turnovers, I think by nature you see yourself being a little more aggressive.”

Wisconsin’s defense is not a finished product. It’s still growing, adapting and learning about itself. The exact same thing can be said about the offense.

The Badgers found a way to get it done Saturday on defense. It was an ugly win, undoubtedly. But that comes with the sizable change within the program that was the talk of the offseason. This team is still figuring out who they are.

Call it a transition year, call it whatever you like. The fact of the matter is that this program is changing, both offensively and defensively. If you welcomed that change in the offseason, don’t panic and lose faith in the new regime because there are growing pains. Change is what this program signed up for.

This defense may no longer resemble the lockdown units coached by Leonhard. And quite frankly, that’s the point. Wisconsin cleaned house and overhauled its entire staff.

For all intents and purposes, this defense is three games old. There’s no sense in comparing them to the units deployed by recent Badger teams. No, this isn’t Wisconsin’s defense of old. But it’s also not Wisconsin’s offense of old. Or special teams. Or coaching staff, or recruiting department.

The Badgers struggled in a few ways on defense against Georgia Southern, but they also rode an onslaught of takeaways and pressure to a winning performance.

“I’m so glad we were able to fly around and make some big plays,” Hallman said after the game.

“Just because we weren’t able to get any in the first two games, this is much needed. I think this is a big confidence and morale boost, especially going into Big Ten and conference play.”

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