MADISON, Wis. — Mike Tressel stood on the McClain Center field in January 2023 during his introduction as Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator and acknowledged both the challenge and opportunity he faced. He knew about the triumphs his predecessor, Jim Leonhard, had experienced while with the Badgers. Yet Tressel understood he’d been pretty successful himself to earn the job.
That’s why it was important to Tressel to bring both worlds together as part of the transition. He didn’t want to abandon what worked well with the players Wisconsin had recruited but hoped to add his own twists. He called that quest “trying to figure out how to mesh the elite.”
Sixteen games into Tressel’s tenure, the quest is ongoing. Though Wisconsin’s defense has quality pieces, it’s clear the Badgers still have a long way to go to replicate Leonhard’s results or Tressel’s while he was at Cincinnati. Wisconsin (2-1) figures to be further tested when it opens Big Ten play at No. 13 USC (2-1) on Saturday.
“We haven’t performed to where our expectations are at all,” Tressel said Monday.
During Leonhard’s six-year tenure as defensive coordinator, Wisconsin performed at a consistently elite level. The Badgers ranked first nationally in total defense, second in run defense and fifth in scoring defense over that stretch. Three years ago, in 2021, Wisconsin broke a 70-year-old school record by allowing just 64.8 yards rushing per game.
Wisconsin’s effectiveness generally was based on not surrendering the big play while creating enough of its own havoc plays to make a difference. In Leonhard’s last four seasons at Wisconsin, from 2019 to 2022, the Badgers’ defense ranked third nationally in yards allowed per play (4.6) and in yards allowed per rush (2.8), according to TruMedia. Wisconsin also ranked sixth in sack rate, 19th in explosive play rate and sixth in havoc rate, which consists of plays with a tackle for loss, forced fumble, interception, pass breakup or sack.
Although Tressel has a smaller sample at Wisconsin, it is enough of a chunk to demonstrate a regression in those key areas. Under Tressel, Wisconsin ranks 43rd nationally in yards allowed per play (5.2), 49th in yards allowed per rush (4.0) and 32nd in total defense (336.1 yards). Wisconsin hasn’t been good enough at preventing big plays or generating them. The Badgers rank 52nd in sack rate, 60th in explosive play rate and 83rd in havoc rate. And this season, Wisconsin ranks 113th in explosive play rate and 124th in havoc rate.
“The mentality of creating havoc, I think that mentality needs to improve,” Tressel said. “There’s no doubt about that. We need to create a few more negative plays. But where the numbers get ugly is when you give up explosives.”
Those numbers only begin to highlight the variety of challenges Wisconsin has faced.
At the most basic level, Tressel said, success comes down to identifying the strengths of the players and building a scheme to maximize those strengths. That has proved to be difficult during Tressel’s transition in part because he hasn’t operated out of the same defense he used to great prosperity while at Cincinnati, when his 2021 team ranked second nationally in pass defense and reached the College Football Playoff. He said he recognized the strength of the roster and leaned more heavily on what Wisconsin had done in the past while slowly adding new players to fit his vision for the future.
During Tressel’s last season at Cincinnati in 2022, the Bearcats played 627 snaps using 3-3-5 personnel (66.3 percent), their most-used grouping, according to TruMedia. Wisconsin lined up in a 3-3-5 for 11 plays last season and zero so far this season. The Badgers have instead run the majority of plays out of a 2-4-5 set, which also was the most-used personnel grouping under Leonhard in his final season.
“As it evolves, I think you’re going to be able to see a little bit more what I would call front multiplicity where you can see some of those different fronts that maybe we ran at Cincinnati or go even years before that,” Tressel said. “But you have to identify your roster and try to figure out how to put them in a position to play fast and play to their strengths.”
Tressel has stressed the importance of defeating blocks in the run game and the pass rush, calling it “the difference between good and great, winning and losing.” He wants players to do a better job of using their hands to play with more length. He preaches “getting population to the football” at the end of a play to generate turnover opportunities. He has returned to the fundamentals, such as leverage to the ball, to help them avoid surrendering explosive plays.
Of course, Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said there is only so much a staff can do to scheme up opportunities for a big defensive play. Sometimes, it simply comes down to a player — or players — rising to the occasion with aggressiveness and confidence. Tressel’s Cincinnati defense three years ago featured six players who were selected in the next NFL Draft. Wisconsin’s defense that same season was led by three future NFL players — linebackers Nick Herbig, Leo Chenal and Jack Sanborn — who combined to record 49 tackles for loss and 22 sacks.
“We know that we have to win one-on-one battles,” Fickell said. “Whether that’s pass rush, whether that’s running the ball, whether that’s blocking. And that’s something we haven’t done a great job of.”
Tressel often says he wants football players and not “fitball” players, which he uses to describe defenders who take care of their gap but are too passive and don’t go the extra mile to create havoc. There have been signs of playmaking potential, particularly at inside linebacker with Tackett Curtis and Christian Alliegro. Both players could earn more opportunities and help Wisconsin’s defense be more impactful. But the Badgers are still searching for more.
Their ability to consistently stop the run was a question even before starting defensive lineman James Thompson Jr. suffered an upper-body injury in preseason practice that likely will sideline him all season. Fickell said the staff is searching for more depth up front. Wisconsin’s edge rushers, meanwhile, have largely been held in check. Outside linebackers Leon Lowery and Darryl Peterson have one sack apiece, and John Pius has none. An inability to make offenses uncomfortable also means Wisconsin has forced just two turnovers in three games.
Add it all up, and it means Tressel is still seeking answers on how to mesh the elite.
“I think that a focus this past week, and coach Fick might’ve mentioned it, is really allowing guys to turn it loose,” Tressel said. “No thinking out there on the football field. We talk about sometimes changing the math, defeating blocks. Those aren’t things you can talk about. You have to be completely confident and just want to go tear somebody’s head off to do those things.”
(Top photo of Mike Tressel: Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA Today)
