The Badgers have the fourth-best rush defense in the country through three games. They are holding their opponents to less than 50 yards rushing. That's incredible considering they already played Alabama, which was only able to get 72 on the ground against Wisconsin. However, this site posted that amazing feat, and the comments came flooding in, "What about the pass defense?" Or "Now do the pass defense!"
This is actually fair, and it should be noted that the pass defense has regressed compared to last year. It's a problem. That being said, the reason it's regressed is fairly obvious. First, though, let's look at the data.
2024 the pass defense was much better through three games than 2025
Related: Opponents can’t run on Wisconsin: The Badgers rank Top-4 nationally
In 2024 (last season), this is how the pass defense looked in passing yards allowed:
Western Michigan - 141
South Dakota - 114
Alabama - 226
Fast forward to this season in 2025, and besides the Miami (OH) gam,e each game has gotten worse:
Miami (OH) - 83
Middle Tennessee - 241
Alabama - 382
So what's going on? There are two significant reasons that this has happened. The first is seen in the data above, and the correlating data with the run defense. Last season, teams could run all over Wisconsin, and there wasn't a huge need to pass. What do teams do when they can't run? They pass and do it a lot. And as they have success, they are going to keep at it, which is what we saw with Bama on Saturday.
Last season, the Crimson Tide ran for 181 yards against Wisconsin; they didn't need to throw as much to get the convincing win. Same with Middle Tennessee, as they could only get 33 yards on the ground, they had to turn to the air.
That's only part of the reason for the regression in the data and performance. The primary one is that the Badgers don't have as much talent or at least experienced talent in the positions. They lost a safety to the NFL draft, a cornerback was stolen by Miami, and Nyzier Fourqurean is in a battle against the NCAA. Which means the Badgers are starting Ricardo Hallman (who's awesome) and then a transfer in Geimere Latimer at the nickel, followed by inexperience across the field of Hallman.
The safeties are good, but one was the starting nickel defensive back last year. This unit just isn't quite ready to be lockdown. Hopefully, that comes in the Big Ten play, but so far, the Badgers are getting gashed through the air, and fans won't stop talking about it.