SPORTS
UW defense faces biggest test of the year
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Also by Joe Ziemer:
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- Perimeter shooting woes doom OSU comeback attempt (February 28, 2005)
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- Stanford ends UW's NCAA tournament run in regionals (December 13, 2004)
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by Joe Ziemer
Thursday, October 17, 2002
The Ohio State Buckeyes are coming to town, and they are bringing with them all-world freshman running back Maurice Clarett. That much is certain. What is yet to be decided is whether or not the Badger defense can keep Clarett and the No. 4-ranked Buckeyes under wraps.
“They’re a physical offense, very technically sound,” linebacker Jeff Mack said. “What we want to do is play physical with [Clarett]. We have to stop him before he gets to the hole, stop him before he gets momentum.”
The much-ballyhooed Clarett has run for 847 yards thus far, at a pace of 141 yards per game.
“We’ve got to do a good job tackling. We’ve got to get penetration — we can’t let him run downhill,” Badger defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. “He’s a tremendous back, he’s a strong runner, he has very good vision and cuts well. He’s strong — we’ve got to do a good job playing him. He’s not going to go down on arm tackles, and we’ve got to do a good job of wrapping him up and making sure we get more than one guy to the football.”
In the one game that Ohio State played without Maurice Clarett, who was out due to knee surgery, the Buckeyes squeaked out a 23-19 victory against Cincinnati, their biggest scare of the season.
“We know he’s going to carry the football, that’s obvious,” Cosgrove said. “We have to react well when he does.”
The Badgers are hoping to have Mack, the team leader in tackles with 56, back in the middle of their defense to deal with the Ohio State running game. Mack left the Penn State game due to injury and was unable to play last Saturday against Indiana.
If he cannot go this week, junior Kyle McCorison, who logged six tackles against Indiana, will once again get the start. Mack has been practicing this week, and it will be a game-time decision.
Mack and the rest of the linebackers will have to shoulder a large portion of the load in slowing down the Buckeyes and Clarett.
“We have to be there to stop any big plays, make sure the defense is communicating, make sure all our checks are communicated,” he said.
All the hype surrounding the rookie has given the defense extra incentive to prove itself.
“Any time you play against a great player, a player of his caliber, it does give you quite a bit of incentive, a little added motivation,” Mack said.
The Wisconsin defense has forced 10 fumbles this season and will be looking to help Clarett repeat his three-fumble performance against Northwestern.
“That’s what we do,” Mack said. “We try our hardest to get turnovers. Maybe we’ll get a couple.”
Clarett may be the star of the show, but there is more to the Buckeyes than their ground attack.
“Ohio State will throw the football,” Cosgrove warned. “They’ve had a lot of success running the football, but they’ll throw the ball as well. They have tremendous weapons at the receivers, and their quarterback’s a very good football player, so it’s another challenge for our defense.”
Efficient quarterback Craig Krenzel, who has completed 62 percent of his passes, will look to get the ball to his favorite target, Michael Jenkins. The 6-foot-5-inch junior leads the Buckeyes with 32 catches for 536 yards.
Cosgrove said Ohio State is diverse enough on offense that the Badgers will not simply stack the line against Clarett and make Krenzel beat them through the air.
“You have to play the play,” Cosgrove stated. “If it’s a running situation, you have to be able to react to the run. If it’s a pass, you have to be able to react to the pass.”
Under head coach Jim Tressel, the Buckeye offense has begun to evolve.
“Definitely they’re more of a running football team, but yet they’ve opened their offense up quite a bit,” Cosgrove said.
Playing in front of a packed house for Homecoming, the defense will be plenty fired up for the Buckeye challenge.
“[It is] all the motivation in the world. We love playing in front of our fans, and hopefully we can bring them a win,” said Mack, a Madison native. “We’ve just got to stay positive, we’ve got to get out of this slump.”
