Wisconsin football: Grading position groups from week three vs. BYU

The defensive line was the biggest weakness on defense. It struggled to stop the run and could hardly get any pressure on BYU.

Olive Sagapolu established himself as a key part of the entire defense by being the best performer in this unit. He recorded a sack, a tackle for loss and tallied four tackles on the game. It’s difficult to imagine where this unit would be without Sagapolu’s leadership and consistency.

I was beginning to think this unit was getting better, but it’s still clear it’s the weakest group on the defense. Isaiahh Loudermilk was back for this, his second, game of the year. He will need to continue to improve if the unit will get any better. Hopefully, this will be the case as he gets back into game shape.

This group could have made up for lapses by the groups behind it but just isn’t talented enough to. At some point, it’s a truth we’ll have to accept. Iowa is going to try to be physical next week just like BYU was. If the Badgers defensive line doesn’t perform better it could get scary again.

Of course, credit goes to BYU’s offensive line for making it tough on this unit. It’s hard to expect an outstanding performance, but it has to make an impact at least sometimes during the game.