The Wisconsin Badgers fell to the UCLA Bruins 17-7 on Saturday evening, missing an opportunity to upset a ranked opponent. Instead, they remained out of the AP Top 25 on Sunday, while the Bruins moved up to No. 9 in the country.
While Wisconsin’s offense really struggled, the Badgers defense did a great job in one key category: defending the run. Wisconsin held star running back Wayne Knight to just 23 yards on 13 carries, and the Badgers really forced UCLA to get everything in the air until the final drive when the game was out of hand.
The pass defense is where the Badgers struggled. Wisconsin allowed UCLA to convert 13 third downs and hold the ball for over 37 minutes of clock, as they just could not get off the field.
Here are the snap counts and PFF grades for the defense from Wisconsin’s loss to UCLA on Saturday.
Defensive Line
Hammond Russell IV – Snap Count: [42], Grade: 56.6
Charles Perkins – Snap Count: [27], Grade: 62.3
Junior Poyser – Snap Count: [25], Grade: 77.2
DeNigel Cooper – Snap Count: [20], Grade: 50.8
Nolan Vils – Snap Count: [19], Grade: 67.9
Dillan Johnson – Snap Count: [9], Grade: 49.8
Michael Garner – Snap Count: [9], Grade: 48.2
Jacob Anderson – Snap Count: [1], Grade: 60.0
Hammond Russell played the most snaps for the Badgers, but they rotated a ton of bodies as they have all season. Really, for the most part, this group did their job. Wisconsin came into this game looking to stop the run, which meant winning the line of scrimmage, and they did that.
Junior Poyser was the player who stood out the most of this group in live time. On a game with over 75 defensive plays, he got a good number of snaps.
Outside Linebackers
Sebastian Cheeks – Snap Count: [58], Grade: 67.7
Tyreese Fearbry – Snap Count: [45], Grade: 71.3
Justus Boone – Snap Count: [26], Grade: 66.8
Nicolas Clayton – Snap Count: [25], Grade: 50.6
Aaron Witt – Snap Count: [14], Grade: 62.0
Sebastian Cheeks, who has been one of the best pass rushers in the country, saw a ton of chips from UCLA. Still, Wisconsin had 21 pressures, as Mike Tressel looked to blitz Ty Dieffenbach a good amount.
Many, including Luke Fickell, didn’t think the Badgers got enough pressure on the quarterback in this one. To me, they honestly were winning at the line of scrimmage throughout the game. Dieffenbach just made some really nice plays early under pressure, and UCLA had a great game plan to get the ball out of his hands quickly, especially when the blitz was sent.
Dieffenbach was pressured on 16 of his 33 dropbacks. For reference, Colton Joseph was pressured on 11 of his 21, while Dieffenbach had a much quicker time to throw.
Nicolas Clayton had the best game of his career to date. He had five pressures, while Cheeks still got three despite the extra attention.
Linebackers
Mason Posa – Snap Count: [77], Grade: 77.6
Cooper Catalano – Snap Count: [77], Grade: 63.5
Jon Jon Kamara – Snap Count: [3], Grade: 59.9
Wisconsin looked to blitz a ton on this one, and Mason Posa ended up with five pressures. Posa ended up being all over the field in this one. While he was targeted a few times in coverage, Posa had seven tackles and six defensive stops. He was also quite disruptive as a pass-rusher, adding a team-high five pressures.
Catalano had five tackles, three defensive stops, two pressures, and a key pass breakup. Both of these players had solid games with a few missed plays.
Cornerbacks
Jai’mier Scott – Snap Count: [70], Grade: 63.3
Bryce West – Snap Count: [59], Grade: 66.9
Javan Robinson – Snap Count: [55], Grade: 67.9
Eric Fletcher Jr. – Snap Count: [26], Grade: 61.8
Wisconsin rotated in Eric Fletcher Jr. with Javan Robinson in this game, so there may have been a potential injury there. But Robinson remained lockdown on his side of the field, as he wasn’t targeted once.
I was impressed by Jai’mier Scott as well, as I thought he had a few very good coverage reps, and he made a few open-field tackles as well.
The Bruins looked to work in the short and intermediate range over the middle of the field, and Bryce West was heavily targeted. He gave up seven catches on nine targets, giving up 85 receiving yards.
Safeties
Matthew Jung – Snap Count: [63], Grade: 68.1
Marvin Burks Jr. – Snap Count: [46], Grade: 69.7
Cairo Skanes – Snap Count: [37], Grade: 65.0
Matthew Traynor – Snap Count: [10], Grade: 68.2
Carson Van Dinter – Snap Count: [4], Grade: 62.0
Matt Jung played a majority of the game, but was ejected late in the fourth quarter on a targeting call. I thought this group struggled in coverage a bit. Jung had a costly mistake on a third and long, as he came down off his receiver as Ty Dieffenbach scrambled to extend a play. The Bruins ended up converting the play and extended the drive.
It felt like UCLA was also consistently looking around Cairo Skanes when he was on the field. Skanes was credit with two receptions allowed for 24 yards, but he had a late coverage bust that led to a game-sealing explosive for UCLA, and it also looked like he also had some communication issues in coverage.
Still, the defense only gave up 17 points and was able to stop the run at a high level, so there are definitely some things to build off from the loss.