We Meet Again: Badgers preparing for Aranda, LSU
MADISON, Wis. - When the Wisconsin Badgers take the field against LSU on Saturday at Lambeau Field, the offense should have a feeling of familiarity. Not because the No. 5-ranked Tigers are a common opponent (Saturday’s game will be just the fourth game between the two schools), but because the defense they’ll see lining up across the line of scrimmage will be guided by the man who helped UW finish No. 2, No. 4 and No. 7 in the country in total defense over the last three years.
Former UW defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, now in the same position with the Tigers, earned a reputation for being one of the top defensive minds in college football during his time at Wisconsin, starting in 2013 when he arrived with former head coach Gary Andersen from Utah State. And after three years of implementing an aggressive 3-4 scheme Aranda became one of the best-paid coordinators in the country when he left Wisconsin for a three-year deal with the Tigers, who will pay him a starting salary of $1.3 million in 2016 according to FOX Sports.
The Badgers couldn’t match that kind of offer, and in the aftermath of his departure it was clear Aranda’s former players knew he made the decision that was best for him and his family.
But Saturday’s game gives the Badgers a chance to go toe-to-toe with Aranda, and try to use their familiarity with his system to their advantage.
“He definitely knows our strengths and weaknesses,” Wisconsin senior outside linebacker Vince Biegel said Monday. “But I think Dave is definitely focused on what he’s doing over there now. He’s got a different group of young men there, and I think he’s done a great job of coaching them up so far.”
And while Biegel said he hasn’t spoken with Aranda since he called Biegel to tell him he was leaving for LSU, that doesn’t mean the fifth-year senior has forgotten what it was like to play for him.
“I was actually able to watch (LSU’s) spring game,” Biegel said. “I could have told you exactly what play they were running. I could have told you exactly where they were aligned. It was kind of funny.”
And if Biegel is able to break down LSU’s scheme for new quarterback Bart Houston, you can bet Aranda will recognize a lot of Wisconsin’s offense as well. That familiarity comes in to play on both sides, and you can be sure that both Aranda and UW head coach Paul Chryst will try to find the right balance between doing what they do well from their base schemes and mixing in a few different looks to throw the other team for a loop.
“Every time you go in to a game you have a plan, and you base it on the knowledge that you have,” Chryst said Monday at his weekly press conference. “You know in that game there’s going to be some things that you didn’t prepare for.”
“We talked about that with our kids a bunch. Whether we’re playing LSU this week or the last week of the season it would be the same thing. I think you’ve got to be careful in game planning and preparation that you’re not creating ghosts and things that could happen. But there’s 11 guys, and everyone’s got a base. We do offensively, I think every team does defensively that we’ll play. You prepare for that and you prepare for some of the things that you anticipate seeing and you have to adjust and react to things that maybe you didn’t prepare exactly for.”
Familiarity is a double-edged sword, and the game might come down to which team uses it more effectively.
“Don’t be surprised if Dave kind of puts a few wrinkles in it, and don’t be surprised if coach Chryst kind of puts a few wrinkles in his plays,” Biegel said. “It’s going to be a fun chess match to watch.”
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.