Wisconsin Football: 5 reasons why Badgers will win 2017 national title

2. The defense could be elite

Perhaps the most important and critical factor for the Badgers’ success this year is their defense. No one expected them to be amongst the best nationally last year, especially after bringing on a new defensive coordinator in Justin Wilcox after seeing  Dave Aranda leave for LSU.

The Badgers are in a similar boat again this year, as Wilcox has booked to take the head coaching position at California, leaving Wisconsin with its third leader of the defense in many years. But as the old saying “third time’s a charm” goes, the Badgers and their fans believe the new guy in charge is going to bring this defense to new heights.

Earlier in the year, back in February to be exact, the Badgers promoted defensive backs coach and former Wisconsin player Jim Leonhard to take over as defensive coordinator. Leonhard enjoyed great success at Wisconsin, coming on as a walk-on, and experienced a long, illustrious NFL career before joining his alma mater not too long ago.

The Badgers’ defensive makes it easy for him to take over, as he will be inheriting one of the best in the country from a year ago with a lot of returning talent.

Unfortunately for the Badgers last year, they were never able to experience their defense at 100 percent healthy. Linebacker Chris Orr sustained a season-ending injury during the first play of the first game of the year last year, while Jack Cichy and Vince Biegel alternated injuries throughout the year. The good news still from all of that is the unit still managed fourth in the country in points per game and second behind only Alabama in rushing yards per game.

Wisconsin did end up losing Biegel, along with T.J. Watt and Sojourn Shelton to the NFL, but are still poised to have one of the best defensive units in the conference and NCAA.

Cichy, a senior this year and famously known for recording three sacks in three straight plays in the 2015 Holiday Bowl vs. USC, was named to preseason honors by the Big Ten this year. He also was ranked No. 60 on Sports Illustrated’s top 100 players entering the 2017 season. The Badgers’ secondary will also be led by returning captain D’Cota Dixon and will fueled by Derrick Tindal and newly acquired Hawaii transfer Nick Nelson.

Add in other returning players in Garrett Dooley, T.J.Edwards, the entire defensive line, oh and of course Ryan Connelly, there is no reason the Badgers won’t be a top ten defense again this year.

As the old adage goes: defense wins championships.