[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Through the first half of play Saturday in West Lafayette, the game flowed like so many have this season, behind the colossal frames of the Badger front four. Perhaps then it’s no wonder that when right end Erasmus James, right tackle Anttaj Hawthorne and left end Jonathan Welsh all succumbed to injury against the Boilermakers, the Wisconsin defense seemed like an entirely different unit. Now it appears Wisconsin must cope with a deteriorated defensive line yet another week.

The team announced Sunday that James will sit out at least one game, looking to get a two-week rest and ideally restore himself to full health coming out of the bye week Nov. 6 against Minnesota.

Against Purdue, James recorded one of the more impressive two-tackle performances in recent memory, registering one sack, a forced fumble, a broken-up pass and numerous hurries on Boilermaker quarterback Kyle Orton.

To add to the defensive-line woes, Wisconsin coaches now say Welsh also appears doubtful for the homecoming game against Northwestern. According to defensive line coach John Palermo, the senior end practiced very little this week and now the team plans to place young ends Jamal Cooper and Joe Monty in the starting block for Saturday.

Facing yet another potent Big Ten aerial attack, the Badgers will look to recuperate from the loss of one of the best pass-rushing duos in the country.

“I don’t think that anything we do in our defense is based on any one person,” defensive coordinator Bret Bielema said. “There’s going to be two guys that line up at defensive end and two guys that line up at tackle and whoever they are, they need to execute on their assignments.”

Behind the arm of quarterback Brett Basanez, Northwestern sits second in the conference with 265.3 passing yards per game. Two weeks ago, Basanez orchestrated an upset over then-No. 7 Ohio State, throwing 24-for-44 with 278 yards, another 53 running, and two touchdowns.

Additionally, few in Badgerland could forget the dominating presence of punishing tailback Noah Herron. Herron and the Wildcat backfield ran wild against Wisconsin last year, scorching the Badgers for 263 yards rushing and 105 yards receiving in a 16-7 upset in Evanston. Herron himself caught three passes for 35 yards and rushed for 104 yards on just 11 carries.

“They’re two very good football players that I think make everything tick,” Bielema said. “Basanez does a good job getting them in the right calls, doing the right things in the passing game as well as the running game. But the big thing is Herron is a good football player who can be used as a runner and a receiver and he’s got a lot of experience in games that carries over from week to week.”

This year the team expects even more fight from the veteran pair, who lead a Wildcat attack posting 438.5 yards per game heading into Camp Randall.

Herron in particular appears well on the way to registering a breakout season. The Wildcat senior trails only Minnesota tailback Lawrence Maroney in the Big Ten with 112.0 rushing yards per game and shares the conference lead at eight rushing touchdowns through just six games. Herron has also picked up steam as of late, finding the end zone five times in the Wildcats’ last two games.

“I absolutely expect [Herron and Basanez] to give us trouble,” Palermo said. “I think the two of them as a tandem are doing a great job with their zone play. They present a lot of problems for you defensively and you just have to be at the top of your game.”

Fortunately for Wisconsin, Hawthorne, who also limped off the field last week at Ross-Ade Stadium, appears to be back at full capacity. Hawthorne and left tackle Jason Jefferson both started in the Badgers’ heartbreaking loss to Northwestern last October. The duo now gears up to play a pivotal role in earning vindication — that is, as long as Hawthorne isn’t hindered by last week’s injury, which coaches assert shouldn’t be a problem.

“Anttaj (Hawthorne) is fine,” Palermo said. “I’m very hopeful that they [step up]. As I reiterated to the two of them, they need to pick up the slack that we’re lacking in the ends. We need to have the tackles over-perform this week.”

Between the two stand-in ends, sophomore Joe Monty heads in to the game Saturday with a great deal more field experience. The 257-pound younger brother of Wisconsin all-time tackle leader Pete Monty played as a reserve for Wisconsin in 12 of 13 games last year. With the main four healthy for most of the 2003 campaign, the Badgers’ fifth man up front saw little action, registering just seven tackles on the year.

Despite seeing a great deal more snaps against Purdue, Monty managed to keep off the game scorecard entirely.

“Monty is a solid, intelligent player,” Palermo said. “He’s still a young player, only a sophomore, so he’s going to make mistakes but he works hard to correct those.”

From the other side of the line, Jamal Cooper looks to minimize the loss of James by supplying some much-needed speed around the corner. The lanky redshirt freshman registered three tackles, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup against Purdue but couldn’t pick up the pressure on Orton after stepping in for James.

“[Cooper] had 63 snaps the other day and did a fair job for us,” Palermo said. “He’s obviously going to have to pick up the pace a little bit to cover for Erasmus (James). But I’m confident that he’ll come out and play hard and play well.”

Despite being thrown into a starting role so early in his collegiate career, Cooper feels the experience in West Lafayette helped him acclimate to the new system. As for the pressure of playing in weighted showdowns down the home stretch, Cooper asserts it’s all the same game.

“[The Purdue game] was a big warmup,” Cooper said. “Before that I think I only had 12 or 13 plays at the most and then to get 63, that’s a big jump. I think it’s gotten me used to our types of plays, but other than that it’s just football, it’s not like I’m going out there scared. I’ve been doing it for a long time. I just play to my standards and do what I’m going to do.”

Despite all the midseason patchwork along the line, the Badgers won’t be drastically altering the game-day strategy that has afforded them so much success throughout the season.

“It’s the same old stuff, just getting ready to go and making sure we’re on top of everything,” Cooper said. “We’re not going to change the game plan just because we have a few guys injured. We need to play our base defense and play good sound fundamentals.”

With Wisconsin’s stellar pass-rushing talent on the sideline against Northwestern, the retooled line will depend on those fundamentals against a Wildcat pass block that has allowed just six sacks all year.