Wisconsin Football: 3 takeaways from road win vs. BYU

1. The Wisconsin defense is still dominant under a new coordinator

In some ways, it wasn’t quite a fair fight. BYU was forced to start youngster Beau Hoge at quarterback due to Tanner Mangum’s injury. But the Cougars probably would not have looked much better against the Badgers with Mangum than they did with Hoge, as Wisconsin remains among the top defenses in the country.

In his first career start, Hoge went just 11-of-20 for 111 yards and two interceptions. The quarterback struggled to buy time against the formidable Wisconsin front seven, and the secondary cleaned up business all throughout the day. BYU managed to run for just 81 yards on 26 carries, as the team finished under 200 yards of total offense in the lopsided loss.

That is especially impressive after losing defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox to the California head coaching job in the offseason. Into Wilcox’s place, position coach and former Badgers great Jim Leonhard was promoted to defensive coordinator. The unit has responded favorably to the internal promotion, and after three games they have averaged just 10 points and fewer than 250 yards allowed per game to opponents.

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Wisconsin is on track for a run to an undefeated Big Ten West title and another trip to Indianapolis. A defense that continues to dominate will be critical to those hopes.