Wisconsin Football: Tale of the tape vs. Central Michigan
Defense
Wisconsin
Like the offense, the Wisconsin football defense is coming off a great game. They shut out the Bulls and allowed just 26 rushing yards and a total of 157. They also had two interceptions and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Even when some of the starters got pulled, the reserves like Mike Maskalunas, Leo Chenal, and Jaylan Franklin were flying around making plays.
This week, there will be a few players missing on the defensive side as well. Starting nose tackle Bryson Williams, Izayah Green-May, and Scott Nelson will miss this game with injuries and linebackers Chris Orr is currently questionable after rolling his ankle in the opener.
Even with those starters out, I still expect the defense of Wisconsin football to hold the Chippewas in check. The youth of Central Michigan’s offense will work in the Badger’s favor.
Central Michigan
Central Michigan is fairly young and inexperienced on the defensive side of the ball. Despite their 1-11 record last season, the Chippewas were one of the top defensive units in the MAC Conference last year. Unfortunately for them, they will also be losing a lot of their star defensive players from that solid defense. They lost their top two cornerbacks to the NFL Draft in Sean Bunting and Xavier Crawford. They will now have a few freshman and sophomores in their secondary, which could be vulnerable spot on the team.
The defensive line boasts a solid defensive lineman who showed flashes at the end of last season. Redshirt freshman LaQuan Johnson had a pair of tackles last week, but always seemed to be around the ball. He may be a player on this CMU defense that could give the Badgers a little trouble. But at the end of the day, I don’t see Wisconsin’s offense having a whole lot of trouble with this defensive unit.