BYU football: Three things to know for the Wisconsin Badgers

BYU football has dropped back-to-back games and things don’t get any easier this week with the Wisconsin Badgers coming to Provo on Saturday.

BYU football is hosting the Wisconsin Badgers this Saturday, with the hopes of breaking a two-game losing streak.

It will be a tall order, because the Badgers are a great team. Currently ranked No. 10 in the nation, Wisconsin is a hard-nosed, ground-and-pound team.

Realistically, a win would be tall order. But, at the very least, the hope is that Ty Detmer and the Cougars find more success on offense. The final minutes against Utah left us with some hope that things could turn around, but we’ll see how the offense looks this weekend.

For now, here are three things to know for the Wisconsin Badgers.

Bonus: For more on Wisconsin, check out our interview with Badger of Honor’s Noah Seligman.

Run first, run second, run third

The Badgers are big, strong and there to establish the running game. They’ll throw it when they absolutely have to, or they’ll go for safe throws after pounding teams on the ground.

On the season, the Badgers have thrown the ball 53 times and run it 99 times.

Wisconsin has a stable of running backs – all of which can hurt you. The top three on the depth chart – on a rotating basis – are Jonathan Taylor, Chris James and Bradrick Shaw.

That trio has 510 rushing yards through three games. Taylor has been the most impressive, averaging nearly nine yards per carry – but James and Shaw are no slouches. Both are averaging well over four yards per carry.

The good news? BYU football is good at slowing down the run. The bad news? Just go back and re-watch the LSU game (or don’t, I can’t say I’d blame you if you didn’t). The Badgers have massive linemen would will just continually pound the Cougars.

There’s a very real chance the defense is stranded on the field for 40 minutes again, which means that, eventually, the Badgers will start gashing BYU football.