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LUCAS AT LARGE M I K E LUCA S ��� UWB A DGERS.C OM Amid changes, preparation is a constant A s Wisconsin���s head coach, Barry Alvarez was identified by his workhorse tailbacks and ground-hugging offenses. But he really doesn���t want to be stereotyped that way today. ���It was all dictated by who we had,������ he said. So it was more about his personnel than his own personality? ���Go back and look at my last year,������ he ordered. In 2005, Alvarez���s final season, the Badgers averaged 34 points per game and nearly 400 yards of total offense. They threw for nearly 230 yards and rushed for nearly 170. Tailback Brian Calhoun was a workhorse. He had a school-record 348 carries for 1,636 yards. But quarterback John Stocco threw for almost 3,000 yards and 21 touchdowns, a record, then, too. Alvarez��� first Rose Bowl team had even more balance. In 1993, the Badgers rushed for 250 yards and threw for 204. All of this came back into play when Alvarez did -- as Wisconsin���s interim coach. That begged the question, ���Can he relate?������ Can he relate to what he saw in the Big Ten championship game against Nebraska? Can he relate to offensive coordinator Matt Canada���s creative play-calling? ���I loved it,������ Alvarez said. What���s there not to love about 70 points and 539 rushing yards? ���I thought it was one of the best and most unique game plans and play-calling that I���ve ever seen,������ Alvarez said. ���Matt has done a nice 16 �� VARSITY D EC E M B E R 13, 2012 job of creating problems with his formations. ���It totally confused Nebraska and got their defensive players to the point where they were guessing because of miscommunication on the field. I really liked what I saw.������ Earlier this week, Alvarez watched some film with Canada. They both drew the same conclusions about the Stanford defense. This is a special unit, one of the best in college football. ���They���ve got an in-depth defensive scheme,������ Canada said. ���They���re extremely sound. They���re in the right place at the right time. You can certainly tell they���re wellcoached and have good players. ���That���s a combination that is a challenge when you���re trying to move the football. They���re primarily a three-down front, which is a little different from some of the teams we���ve played of late.������ The statistics tell a story. Stanford has the No. 3 rushing defense in the country behind Alabama and BYU. (Notre Dame is No. 4.) Opponents are averaging just 88 yards per game on the ground. Moreover, Stanford leads the nation in quarterback sacks with 56 (the Badgers have 31) and tackles for loss with a mind-blowing 120 TFLs for 500 negative yards (the Badgers have 74 for 309). ���You���re not going to fool them like Nebraska,������ Alvarez said. ���You have to block them.������ There���s another twist to this matchup, in that Stanford���s offense likes to change the strength of its formations with considerable presnap movement ��� just like UW. As a result, the Cardinal defense practices against it daily. ���They certainly know how to line up to some of the formations that we run,������ Canada said. ���It���s not a spread team that���s trying to get ready for us.������ Alvarez will rely on his assistants for much of the film study going into the Rose Bowl. When he was coaching, Alvarez said, ���I���d watch our practices and every game that we had on our opponent, and I would take notes and then match my notes with both sides of the ball.������ He knows what he���s looking at, and looking for. Now, when he watches film he wants to get a ���feel ������ for Stanford and a ���feel������ for the game plan. ���Any information he needs or anything he wants me to do, I���ll do,������ Canada said. ���He knows our strengths and weaknesses and he can add another voice to what he has observed.������ Canada plans on putting the bowl prep to good use. ���It allows you to study the opponent more,������ he said. ���But it also allows everybody to do different things as well. You still have your system. You still have what you believe in. ���Those are the plays that you hang your hat on, which really don���t ever change. But we���ll have some wrinkles and we���ll add to it (the game plan). I���m sure Stanford will do the very same thing.������