BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PREVIEW TITLE
BADGER BREAKDOWN: BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Mike Lucas of UWBadgers.com and the voice of the Badgers, Matt Lepay, offer their pregame analysis on No. 15 Wisconsin's matchup with No. 11 Michigan State Saturday in Indianapolis.
Wilson cited an example from the October game at Michigan State. After Mike Sadler's punt went out of bounds on
the UW 5-yard-line, the Badgers missed a cut-off block on the line of scrimmage and Jerel Worthy tackled Montee Ball for a three-yard loss. Wilson was looking at second-and-13 from his
own 2.
"I got caught in a funny situation,'' he said. The Spartans brought pressure with lineback- er Denicos Allen and cornerback Denzel Drone. "I came out of the play-action fake and the guy
(Allen) is blocked initially and all of a sudden he comes out of nowhere,'' Wilson recalled. "I have to think, 'Ok, what can I do in that situation?' Wilson was trapped in the end zone because he couldn't get outside of the tackle box to get rid of the ball without getting flagged for intentional grounding. That resulted in a safety. "The only thing I think that I could have pos- sibly done,'' he said, "is maybe before the play
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(unfolded) think, "What's my escape plan?' (If such and such happens.)
"The mental aspect has to be there every sin- gle play. Maybe that one play I took off. I don't know. Maybe somebody else took off. But I have to make sure everyone is on the same page. "It all starts with communication — the com- munication with myself before the play — men- tally visualizing what's going to happen or pos- sibly what could happen.'' That entails knowing the
score, the time on the clock, the down and distance. "There's also the communi- cation with my teammates,'' Wilson said, "making sure they understand the situa- tion.''
That safety came on Wis- consin's first possession of the second quarter.
» DE Louis
Nzegwu and DT Patrick Butrym did their best to make sure Michigan State's last-second Hail
Mary didn't leave QB Kirk Cousins' hand, but the pass found its target and gave the
Spartans a 37-31 win on Oct. 22.
