Throughout the 1990s, the Wisconsin football team was known for two things: a game-breaking running game and a sound, physical defense. This style carried the team to an unprecedented run of success for Badger football — a run that included three Rose Bowl championships.

While the running game has continued to thrive into the new decade, the defense has been uncharacteristically porous over the past two seasons. This was particularly true in 2001, when the Badgers simply gave up too many big plays and found themselves on the outside looking in at the Bowl picture. To make matters worse, UW lost a slew of seniors on defense after last year, including Wendell Bryant, Mike Echols and Nick Greisen, three rocks of the previously dominant Badger defense.

New blood, however, has seemed to energize the Wisconsin defense in 2002. While UW’s holding of its opponents to 28 total points and 614 total yards in the first two games reflects solid yet unspectacular play, it has been the defense’s ability to force nine turnovers which has helped lead to a 2-0 start. Moreover, the Badgers have seemingly returned to their physical, attacking style they always seemed to show in the 1990s.

“We wanted to be a more aggressive team this year,” junior linebacker Jeff Mack said. “We didn’t want to be too passive and let the offense dictate what we have to do. We want to dictate what the offense does.”

The new defensive players have done just that, picking up the intensity and making names for themselves in a big way. Perhaps most notable is sophomore safety Jim Leonhard, the former walk-on who already has three interceptions on the season.

“We lost what we’ve been known for the last couple of years, which is being a physical, fundamentally sound defense,” said UW defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove. “We wanted to get that back, and our kids have bought into it. But we’re more athletic now, so we have guys in better positions to make plays and get to the football.”

This Saturday in Madison, the Badgers will have a chance to further gain back their former defensive reputation as they take on the West Virginia Mountaineers, a run-oriented team that crushed Tennesseee-Chattanooga 56-7 last Saturday. The team is led by tailback Avon Cobourne, who scampered for 1,359 yards in 2001 and started the 2002 season with 106 yards and two touchdowns against Chattanooga.

Calling the signals will be Rasheed Marshall, a threat to throw downfield or run with the ball every time he touches it. Marshall is in the Antwaan Randle El mold, a player everyone remembers for terrorizing the Badger defense throughout his career at Indiana.

West Virginia will have perhaps the toughest ground attack the Badgers have seen this season, as Fresno State and UNLV ran much of their game plans through the air.

“You have to contain a guy like [Marshall],” said Mack. “We have to work on containment, so we have to start over again. They run a similar offense to Northwestern when [Northwestern] had [Zak] Kustok and Damien Anderson. We have to kind of limit to where they can run, just maintain our gap assignments and we should be okay.”

That Northwestern offense was known for spreading the field yet running the ball a significant amount, keeping holes open and keeping the defense off balance.

“[West Virginia] is a spread-you-out team, but they run the football,” said Cosgrove. “When you look at their breakdowns, they run it when they’re supposed to run it, and they throw it when they’re supposed to throw it. You have to be able to prepare for the spread-type offense, but you have to be sound against the run.”

West Virginia’s head coach is Rich Rodriguez, who took over for the legendary Don Nehlen following the 2000 season but struggled to a 3-8 record last year. He was known as an offensive innovator during his assistant days and acted as the offensive coordinator at Clemson before coming to Morgantown. There he coached quarterback Woody Dantzler, who was known for his incredible versatility, and ran an offense that would pull just about anything necessary to win.

“What their offense does is make you have to defend everything,” said Cosgrove. “They’ll run option, they’ll run tailback option, they’ll run option to the wide receiver, and they’ll throw the ball downtown. You just have to play smart.”

In other words, it will be a perfect opportunity for the green yet talented Badger defense to gain even more valuable experience.