Wisconsin kept its bowl hopes alive, and perhaps no group of players was more relieved than the Badger secondary.
“It's nice for the defense to finally hold a lead and win a game for us,” UW's senior cornerback Mike Echols said.
The last two weeks, Echols and Wisconsin's defense were burned for 401 and 326 yards in losses to Illinois and Michigan State. Importantly, the group gave up seven touchdowns as the Illini and Spartans rolled up 84 total points in the two games.
Iowa was not exactly shut down, either. The Hawkeyes managed 28 points and passed for over 200 yards while falling just short of the Badgers, 34-28. But quarterbacks Kyle McCann and Brad Banks were held to 16-34 passing, and Banks ended the game with eight consecutive incompletions, including an interception on the final play of the game.
“We gave up some yards and some easy things on defense but down the stretch they answered with three straight three-and-outs to win the football game,” Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez said of his defensive backfield.
The improvement was not made by upgrading personnel. Wisconsin's starters were Echols, senior Joey Boese, sophomore Michael Broussard and freshman Scott Starks — the same four who have started the last seven weeks. But the Badger coaches made some adjustments to keep the experienced players more active in pass coverage.
“Early in the game we had to keep [Boese] at the corner when they went to athletic personnel,” defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. “We moved Broussard back to free, and it wasn't the same thing as having Joey back there. It was a match-up deal all day for us — trying to get the right match-ups.”
Cosgrove and company also took measures to match Echols up with the Hawkeyes' top receiver, Kahlil Hill. Much of the season, the 5-foot-10 Starks faced the responsibility of covering opponents' best threats while Echols was left to play zone on the open side of the field.
For most of the afternoon, it was Echols playing tight man while the younger players provided a zone umbrella behind him.
“I think I'm the best cover guy,” Echols said. “And I need to be playing the best receivers. I think that helps us out instead of getting some of these young guys matched up on their best receivers. They might not have the experience to go up against some of these guys, so whatever the coaches can do to get me matched up on the best guys, I'm all for it.”
Echols said he had mentioned his thoughts to coaches earlier in the year, but was content to play the boundary and support the run if they thought it gave the Badgers a better chance to win. After the success against Iowa, Echols might line up in man Nov. 17 against Michigan's Marquise Walker.
