Should Wisconsin be concerned about its lack of pass-rush?
Outside of Nick Herbig and Keeanu Benton, Wisconsin's defense has struggled to generate a consistent pass-rush in 2022. Is it time to be concerned?
Madison, Wis. – Entering the 2022 college football season, Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator, Jim Leonhard, returned to the field with just three starters from last year’s top-ranked defensive unit.
Perhaps to a fault, the assumption was that Wisconsin would remain one of the top defenses in the country despite the significant roster turnover.
So far, Wisconsin’s defense has been good, not great, which is understandable, considering the Badgers replaced eight starters from last season and are still learning how to mesh.
It also doesn’t help that UW has gone without the No. 1 cornerback Alexander Smith for the entire season thus far, in addition to losing starting safety Hunter Wohler in week 1, forcing an already young defense to search for answers down the depth chart.
As it stands, here are Wisconsin's current defensive rankings:
No. 33 in total defense (319.2 YPG)
No. 34 in scoring defense (19 PPG)
No. 41 in passing defense (197.8 YPG)
No. 48 in yards per play allowed (5.41)
No. 49 in rushing defense (121.5 YPG)
A potential area of concern...
The imperfections of UW’s defense reared their ugly head on Saturday against the Buckeyes. Ohio State just accumulated 539 yards, which were the most allowed by the Badgers since OSU totaled 558 against UW in the 2014 Big Ten title game.
Wisconsin registered four pressures, zero tackles for loss, and zero sacks in that game.
One possible area of concern for Wisconsin, outside of the missed tackles, is the pass rush, which I didn’t think would be an issue for the Badgers whatsoever, given their stockpile of talent on paper.
Outside of Nick Herbig and Keeanu Benton, who are both top-15 in the Big Ten in pass-rush win rate, UW hasn’t gotten a lot of production from its stable of EDGE rushers.
Besides Herbig, who has four, no other player on Wisconsin’s defense has registered more than one sack. Only three other players: Jordan Turner, John Torchio, ad Kamo’i Latu have even recorded a sack on the season.
Opposite of Herbig, starting outside linebacker C.J. Goetz has primarily been a disappointment, generating just one pressure all season, according to PFF. His pass-rush win percentage of 13.6% is, well, not good.
The unofficial third starting edge rusher, Darryl Peterson, is fifth on the team with four pressures; however, they all came against New Mexico State in week 3. Peterson’s pass-rush win percentage of 16.7% isn’t much better.
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