because of a concussion. His presence was definitely
missed. Caputo still finished as the second-leading
tackler to Borland with 62 overall ― 14 more than
linebacker Ethan Armstrong.
"He's integral, he holds our secondary together,"
Aranda said. "He allows Dez (Southward) to play in
space where he's most effective. He (Caputo) adds
physicality and a presence in our run box and anytime we can blitz Michael ― I think of Northwestern
and Iowa ― he makes plays."
That's what it always boils down to: making plays.
The last three Rose Bowls are proof of that.
"We need to pressure their quarterback," said
Hemer, citing one of the defensive keys. "He's very
talented and runs very well. On film, it looked like
a lot of teams didn't seem to expect to see him run
the way he did. So that's something we're definitely
thinking about.
"Also we need to be assignment-sound. When we
call our blitzes and when we call our stunts (on the
defensive front), we need to hit where we're supposed to hit and make plays when opportunities
come our way."
Kelly was reluctant to over-analyze the keys. "It's
easy to say, 'If we stop the run (the Badgers will win)
… but what if they pass for 600 yards?"' he posed.
"Football is a funny game. It's not about doing one
thing right, it's about doing everything the right way.
"There are a lot of things that you can point to ―
you just can't point to one thing. We need to stick to
the game play and play with a chip on our shoulder.
We have to play with that little extra motivation. We
have a lot of seniors and they know the pressure is
on them to perform."
Where's that chip from?
"Penn State," Kelly said. "You can thank them for
that."
Adding fuel to the fire that still burns from that
disappointing loss to the Nittany Lions on Senior Day
might be this comment from South Carolina running
back Shon Carson, who responded to a statement
about the Badgers defense by saying, "They're big
guys, (but) not that fast."
Make room for another chip on their shoulder.
"Obviously everyone is going to be watching this
game, because it's SEC versus Big Ten," said Kelly.
"Historically, you look at SEC teams and people expect them to roll over Big Ten teams. But there's a lot
of motivation there to say, 'Not this time."'
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