Giving up 37 points to Minnesota has left a sour taste in the mouth of Wisconsin’s defense.

Now it is out to prove that it is still a top-notch unit that can shut offenses down.

“We definitely know we’re a better team than we’ve been playing lately, and we just have to go out there and prove it,” UW safety Jim Leonhard said.

Last week the Golden Gophers ran all over the Badgers, finishing with 336 yards on the ground.

“That was an explosive offense,” defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. “I mean, they scored in the high 30s against Michigan and Michigan State earlier in the year as well.”

Leonhard and Cosgrove both felt the Badgers were ready for the high-powered Gopher offense, and thought they just got out-played.

“I felt like we had an excellent plan,” Cosgrove said. “It comes down to execution, and we didn’t get it done.”

Leonhard echoed his coach’s statements.

“We were definitely ready, but we didn’t tackle well,” he said.

Missed tackles plagued Wisconsin throughout the game, as Minnesota running backs bounced off would-be tacklers numerous times. This was surprising because the Badgers have been a solid tackling team for the most part this year.

Big plays also hurt the Badgers tremendously. Gopher running backs broke free for big gain after big gain, but the biggest play came through the air when Minnesota completed a 22-yard pass on third-and-nine late in the fourth quarter that helped set up the game-winning field goal.

“It all comes down to fundamentals,” Leonhard said. “We’ve been right there on most of the big pass plays the last couple games and didn’t make a play.”

Right now Leonhard and the rest of the defense are hungry to play again.

“Anytime you have a rough situation like we’ve been through you can’t wait to get back on the field,” Leonhard said. “Everyone’s got a pretty sick feeling right now.”

The defense will have a stiff challenge this week when Michigan State comes to town.

Quarterback Jeff Smoker, who is first in the Big Ten in passing yards with 2,675 and third in touchdowns with 15, leads the No. 21-ranked Spartans.

Cosgrove knows it will be very difficult for his secondary to shut down Smoker.

“I don’t think anybody’s stopped him this year,” he said. “We have to make sure nothing gets over our heads and keep everything in front of us.”

Leonhard is looking forward to lining up against Smoker Saturday.

“It’s another challenge I look forward to,” Leonhard said. “He’s a great quarterback, and they’ve got a lot of great receivers.”

One worry late in the season always is that if a team falls out of its conference race, it starts to lose focus.

Cosgrove doesn’t see this as a problem at all for the Badgers.

“We can still meet a lot of our goals,” he said. “The guys will be excited and ready to play.”

As a captain, Leonhard says the main thing is keeping the team together.

“Us older guys have been through rough stretches like these before, but some of these younger guys went to high schools where they won all of the time,” Leonhard said. “So we just have to stick together as a team, and we will be fine.”

The Badgers must be excited just to be able to play in Madison again, seeing how their last home game was Oct. 18 against Purdue.

“It’s nice when you’ve got 80,000 people screaming for you,” Leonhard said. “We just have to come out and give them a good show.”