Wisconsin Football: 5 Questions Following the Bye Week
By Jim Oxley
Wisconsin linebacker Joe Schobert looks down the line of scrimmage against Miami (OH). Jim Oxley photo
How strong will Joe Schobert finish?
Joe Schobert has been one of, if not the, most important people on the 2015 Wisconsin football team.
He’s nearly single-handedly willed the Badgers back to victory in their lone Big Ten loss to Iowa, and kept Wisconsin alive on the road at Maryland when the team just couldn’t get going.
"Joe Schobert. The @BadgerFootball star LB can do it all, and do it all quite well. https://t.co/ChJ8f9rBBQ — Wisconsin on BTN (@WisconsinOnBTN) November 8, 2015"
Schobert’s stats speak for themselves: He’s second on the team with 58 total tackles, he leads the team and is 7th in the country with 9.5 sacks, he leads the team and is tied for second in the country with 4 forced fumbles, and he has a team-high 15.5 tackles for loss and 12 quarterback hits.
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He’s been all over the field, making plays on special teams as well as on defense, and he’s on pace to finish among the best in Wisconsin history in multiple defensive categories.
Schobert is one of five Badgers in school history to force multiple fumbles in the same game, joining guys like Chris Borland and J.J. Watt who have also accomplished the feat. If Schobert forces one more fumble this year he will tie Borland’s single-season record of five in a season. Two more forced fumbles would put him second all time to Borland in career fumbles forced (he’s currently tied for third with six in his career).
Schobert’s 9.5 sacks this season are the ninth-best single season total in school history, and his 89 career tackles for loss are the ninth-best figure in the Wisconsin record book.
He’s a semifinalist for the Rotary Lombardi award and the Chuck Bednarik award, and should be in consideration for the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
The only question left is, how does he finish out the season?
Next: Injured Receivers