Statistical leaders: Defense

Here are the teams that led these statistical categories on the defensive side of the ball:

Yards per game: 2006 (253.1), 2004 (291.3), 1998 (292.6). The '06 defense was 38 yards per game better than the second-best — wow! In an era when more and more teams were running the Spread. And without a lot of exceptional individual players, maybe Ike and that's it. That's a credit to Joe Stellmacher, Mark Zalewski, and the other leaders of that defense who made sure everyone was in the right spot at the right time.

Rushing yards per game: 1998 (92.2), 1999 (109.9), 2006 (114.8). Holding opponents under 100 yards rushing per game over 12 games is nearly impossible to do, but Donnel Thompson, Chris Ghidorzi, Jason Doering and friends did it.

Completion percentage: 2006 (47.8%), 2004 (48.8%), 2000 (50%). That '04 mark is a tribute to the pass rush provided by Erasmus James and the defensive line — Brett Bell started at corner opposite the underrated Scott Starks.

Passing yards per game: 2006 (138.3), 2004 (167.3), 1999 (188.2).

Third-down conversion percentage: 2006 (28.2%), 2004 (31.2%), 1999 (33%), 1997 (33.3%), 1998 (34.7%). Are we coming to realize that the 2006 defense was the greatest in modern UW history?

Turnovers per game: 1993 (2.8) and 2998 (2.8), 2002 (2.5), 1994 (2.3). And yet the '02 team lost six games.

Penalty yards per game: 2006 (38.3), 1996 (39.1), 1999 (39.3).

Points per game: 1998 (11.9), 2006 (12.1), 1999 (12.8), 2004 (15.4), 1993 (16.3).

So here's the question I'll throw out at the end of today's exercise: which defense was better, 1998 or 2006?

On a dreary Saturday ...

... I'm a little bit worried about tonight's matchup with Valparaiso. Lots of good things have been written about Valpo - they only lost to ranked Vanderbilt; they beat Wright State, which beat Butler, and Miami, which beat Illinois - and if we don't come strong it could be one of those shocking losses which really isn't so shocking.

On paper we seem to match up well, as their leading scorers are taller guys. But they seem to be a team that relies on shooting 3-pointers, which we haven't always defended well this season.

Apparently this game was supposed to be played last year, but Valpo was young and inexperienced and we had a great veteran team coming back, so Homer Drew asked to postpone it for a year. Why did we agree?

Anytime I think of Valpo, I think of two things: Andy Falkowski's law degree, and the Bryce Drew miracle shot off the pass from Bill Jenkins, one of the twins from Nicolet we played baseball against. The thing I always remember about the Jenkins brothers was senior year, our game against Nicolet at Regner, when Sam Blahnik hit Bill or Bob in the seventh inning (with us up 1-0) and their athletic director running onto the field as if he believed the HBP was intentional. Yeah, put the tying run on base on purpose, good call.

But I digress. Planning on recording tonight's game and watching it tomorrow morning ...

-The Journal Sentinel reported this morning that six key Tennessee players are ineligible for the Outback Bowl. A starting defensive tackle and linebacker are among the ineligible, as is Lucas Taylor, the Vols' leading receiver. This makes me feel somewhat better about our injured-riddled secondary's chances of holding up against Erik Ainge's passing attack.

There's also a little nugget at the end of the story about little-known transfer Chris Maragos's switch to safety. Earlier this year the coaching staff was raving about the kid from Racine, and I made a snarky comment, but it looks like they weren't kidding.

We can look at this two ways: either this guy is a good candidate to be the next Joe Stellmacher/Jim Leonhard/Jason Doering, or this does not reflect well on Aubrey Pleasant/Jai Valai/Kim Royston. Or both.

Defense

The Wisconsin defense was not as good as we thought it would be this year. Last year's unit ranked near the top of the national rankings in many key categories, and seven starters returned. The key positions to examine: defensive end, middle linebacker, and the two safety spots, not coincidentally the spots vacated by graduating seniors.

Two items in the news today illustrate why:

-Roderick Rogers was signed by the Broncos off their practice squad. Even though, as this story says, he was a two-time all-conference pick, I never thought he was an irreplaceable member of the defense; certainly never thought he was NFL-caliber, but apparently he is, and I'm glad. The struggles in the defensive backfield show just how good he and Joe Stellmacher were. In retrospect, Stellmacher really overshadowed Rogers, who was a darn good player in his own right.

-In The Cap Times Mike Lucas writes about Elijah Hodge's injury troubles this season (he also writes about Abdul Hodge, veers off onto Erik Ainge for a few paragraphs, and I think may have made his picks for the Iowa caucuses). Here's a guy who I thought would step in seamlessly for Mark Zalewski, and he may have, had he not been hurt. There is no such award, but look for Hodge to be our comeback player in 2008. The experience Culmer St. Jean and Jae McFadden got because of injuries to Hodge and DeAndre Levy will pay off as well.

On another note, I was talking to a friend about Joe Thomas last week and he asked me if Joe was having a good rookie season. Since I'm not an offensive line expert or Ron Jaworski, I couldn't tell, but responded that since the Browns offense was doing so well this year, he must have been at least holding his own. Yesterday he was named a Pro Bowl alternate, so he must have done OK.

UW D: A donut?

Coming into this season, the Badgers' defense figured to be really good -- the only lost four starters from a unit that had a great '06. But who would have thought Zalewski, Stellmacher, and Rodgers would be so hard to replace? This year's crew is soft in the middle -- if a middle is even present.

Granted, they were all good players and good leaders, but their replacements are making them look like Nitschke, Lott, and Reed.

Time after time today Hodge, Carter, and Pleasant have either overrun plays, got sucked into blockers, or flat-out missed tackles. This seems to be a continuance of trends seen in the first four games.

Hopefully the offense can outscore Sparty ... Pound the rock baby.

-Anyone else worried about the way this year is going for Ike? BB's comments to BB before halftime were very concerning.

-Good to see Mehlhaff kicking touchbacks again.

-Really entertaining interview with BB's mom ... not.