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PROVO — When BYU’s football team lines up for the first snaps against No. 6 Wisconsin, the Cougars will be taking a really long look in the mirror.
At least, that’s what head coach Kalani Sitake hopes to get out of the trip to iconic Camp Randall Stadium for the 1:30 p.m. MDT Saturday kickoff (ABC, KSL Newsradio).
“Since Barry (Alvarez, Wisconsin athletic director) has been around, they have always been strong up front. They represent the state of Wisconsin well,” Sitake said Monday during his media briefing. “But I want to be a team that owns the line of scrimmage. That’s why we have an O-line coach as our OC and a D-line coach as our DC. … I think (Wisconsin) sets the bar at physical, hard-nosed running game — and they have a Heisman candidate there.”
Yes, BYU wants to be like Wisconsin.
That doesn’t mean the team doesn’t respect them or that they will be in so much awe as to render them immobile against the Badgers (2-0) this weekend. But there’s a standard that the Cougars hope to attain — and Wisconsin holds the blueprint.
“Being known as a physical team by name alone is great,” said offensive lineman Tristen Hoge. “People know when you say the name ‘Wisconsin football’ that those are some hard-nosed buggers. We want that, but we also want to create our own mantra, as well.
“We don’t want people to just think BYU is like Wisconsin; we want people to say ‘BYU’ and know they are their own thing.”
Wisconsin offense
The names change, but one thing remains constant for the Badgers: everything starts up front.
Behind one of the most dominant offensive lines in college football, sixth-ranked ‘Scony has averaged 325.5 rushing yards per game in blowout wins over Western Kentucky and New Mexico.
The Badgers are one of the best teams in the trenches — but don’t count out sophomore tailback Jonathan Taylor.
The Heisman Trophy candidate leads the nation with 199 yards per game, and some consider him to be a frontrunner for the Doak Walker Award (given to the nation’s top running back) just two games into his second season of collegiate football.
Last year, Taylor ran for 1,128 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries as a freshman in the Badgers’ 40-6 win at BYU. He’s back after breaking Adrian Peterson’s FBS freshman rushing record of 1,977 yards and finishing sixth on the final Heisman ballot.
“He’s a good back, and their scheme is really good,” BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki said. “But they’ve got nine linemen back from before, either starters or guys who had significant playing time. No doubt, the back is really good. But the O-line is really good, as well. The tight ends are good, as well. The quarterback is hecka good.
“They’ve got a good scheme, good players; it’s a program that has prestige, everyone knows about them, and they do a really good job.”
For BYU to stop Wisconsin’s offense, shutting down the run will be the first step. But it won’t be the last. Third-year starting quarterback Alex Hornibrook has proven himself to be an exceptionally capable signal caller for the Badgers, pinning a 22-3 record as a starter, a 62.3 percent completion rate and throwing for 2,644 yards and 25 touchdowns with 15 interceptions in 2017.
A year ago in Provo, Hornibrook threw for 256 yards and four touchdowns, setting a program record for completion percentage by completing 18-of-19 passes.
“We’ve got to be disciplined with our eyes; they can lure you to sleep, with such amazing backs,” BYU safety Austin Lee said. “But we’ve always got to respect the throw. You can’t fall asleep because they are so dynamic and physical.”
Wisconsin defense
The Badger defense won’t wow anyone with intricate blitz packages or precise coverages that stuff any quarterback.
But what they do simply, they simply do well.
The Badgers are among the five best teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, allowing just 8.5 points per game through the first two games of the season. Among active squads, that trails only Iowa (5.0), Stanford (6.5), Mississippi State (8.0) and Utah (8.0) in points allowed per game.
The unit is also second in the country over the past five years in scoring defense (15.9 ppg), total defense (285.4 ypg) and rushing defense (104.3 ypg).
“They’re not big, slow guys,” offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes said of Wisconsin. “They are big guys that can run. They don’t do a whole lot on defense, but they are really good at what they do."
If Wisconsin’s offense is known for being physical, the same mantra has spread to its defense.
“There’s always an excitement when everybody believes they will be more physical than you,” BYU fullback Brayden El-Bakri said. “It makes you come in with a chip on your shoulder.”
X-factor: The Randall Effect
Camp Randall Stadium is one of the oldest — and most iconic — venues in college football as the host of the Badgers since 1895.
It’s so iconic that it has its own soundtrack, and the lead of that soundtrack is “Jump Around.”
“They’ve got a really big fan base with a big stadium,” linebacker Zayne Anderson said. “It’s a pretty historic place, and it will be fun to play there. I’m excited.”
The Badgers feed off the crowd, and no more so than in between the third and fourth quarters when the entire stadium shakes as they introduce the hip-hop classic by House of Pain.
“That’s a big part of this game, that tradition of ‘Jump Around’ at the end of the third quarter,” Hoge said. “We’re all really excited to see that, and even though they’ve beat it to death, I’m still excited to see it.”
