Being part of the Big Ten - along with facing Bobby Engram's offense every day in practice - Wisconsin’s defense will line up against an unfamiliar offense come Saturday afternoon.

In its 24-17 win over Idaho this past weekend, Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward threw a whopping 41 passes, which does not include three sacks and the times he opted to run. In all, out of 69 offensive snaps, the Cougars dropped back to pass 49 times.

On that top of that inclination to throw the ball, head coach Jake Dickert brings an up-tempo offense that gets up to the line quickly. In comparison, Illinois State's offense only totaled 53 snaps and dropped back to throw on 33 of those instances.

Washington State’s offense is led by Cameron Ward, who transferred from Incarnate Word. While there, he threw for 4,648 yards and 47 touchdowns in 2021. To open the season, Ward threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns. Ward has also shown an ability to tuck the ball and move the chains with his legs. Having struggled in the past against mobile quarterbacks, the Badgers will have their work cut out for them against the Cougars.

“It’s not something our offense does a ton, so it’s communication, it’s a little bit of that conditioning,” defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said regarding keys on defense. “It’s staying consistent with your technique even though things are moving fast. We have a veteran group in a lot of areas that I think can handle that, but we’re going to push it all week and make sure that come game day, there’s no surprises.”

That communication against a fast-paced offense is always a point of emphasis. It is that much more tricky for a unit still working to replace eight starters on defense and is now down starting safety Hunter Wohler. In terms of filling that void, Leonhard will turn primarily to a combo of Preston Zachman and Kamo’i Latu.

“Every game, every live situation a young defense and a defense with a lot of new faces can get on the field, that’s huge because we make a lot of adjustments,” Leonhard noted. “That’s what this defense is about. Week in and week out within the flow of the game, we tweak a lot of things. So every time we get our guys on the field in those competitive situations we’re going to learn a lot about each other and how they handle the flow of the game.”

Among the new group of starters, cornerback Ricardo Hallman admitted to some nerves the first couple drives against Illinois State. Nick Herbig also pointed to some early jitters before the defense eventually settled in.

“Obviously the highlight plays show out but we can be so much better,” senior leader John Torchio said. “Especially myself, missed open tackles, communication, just small stuff like that and as the game went on, we did. But early on tackling was a big thing, communicating, just little things like that."

Illinois State’s second drive ended in a pick-six, but not before it rattled off 17-play, 71-yard effort that ended at the Wisconsin 12-yard line. To go along with that early success, UW’s secondary also gave up a handful of chunk plays through the air for first downs.

Many of Washington State's completions against Idaho went within 10 yards underneath with the idea to get the ball in space. That kind of game plan should test Wisconsin’s tackling and fundamentals.

“Just kind of have to build trust,” Torchio added. “Fall camp is different from a game. I’m used to having a full season with Leo (Chenal) and (Jack) Sanborn. We have that trust, we have that connection out there and now you just build that with the new guys. We’ll get there 100 percent and we did get there during the game. There is a little feeling out period but we’ll get there.”

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