Wisconsin Football: 5 Questions with Dear Old Gold on Iowa

Question 1: Beyond ILB Josey Jewell, what makes the Iowa defense so tough to unlock?

Dear Old Gold:

Jewell is the heart and soul of the defense, no doubt.  But, others have made this a formidable group this season.

Fellow senior linebackers Bo Bower and Ben Biemann have been exceptional this season.  Up front, they have gotten a strong pass rush from Anthony Nelson, and at times from true freshman AJ Epenesa.

The backend has been led by Josh Jackson at corner who has been a revelation.  He has worked his way into perhaps a Jim Thorpe award and might come out early in the first few rounds of the draft.

Badger of Honor Reaction:

There is no question that Iowa’s defense is easily the toughest match up to date for Wisconsin.  In part that’s thanks to the soft schedule.  But Iowa’s defense is definitely legit and the Badger offense better play a clean game (no penalties and turnovers).  The Hawkeyes have the 4th best scoring defense in the Big Ten (18.1 points per game) while Wisconsin has the top overall unit (13.3 points per game).  Josey Jewell is of course the leader with 90 total tackles and an absurd 11.3 tackles-per-game average.  So expect to see #43 around the ball all the time on Saturday.