Four days before No. 5 LSU faces Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Lambeau Field, The Daily Reveille’s Sports Editor Christian Boutwell sits down with Bobby Ehrlich, the Sports Editor at one of the University of Wisconsin’s two student newspapers, The Daily Cardinal.
Boutwell: How big of a blow is it to Wisconsin’s defense that T.J. Edwards, the middle linebacker who led in tackles for Wisconsin last season, is “out” against LSU?
Ehrlich: It is to an extent. It’s weird though, because the way it ran last year with [Dave] Aranda was that they never really had their linebackers set too much. They moved them around so much that it was difficult to figure out who was playing and who was starting at different times. Between [Chris] Orr and [Vince] Biegel and some of the other guys that they have, I don’t know how much of a blow that it is going to be if they use a similar [defensive] scheme, I just don’t know how [Wisconsin defensive coordinator Justin] Wilcox is going to operate in terms of he’s not going to be the same as Aranda.
Boutwell: Have Wisconsin’s players talked much about how different the defense is without Aranda? I know at LSU the players are always saying the defense, now, is “simpler” now with Aranda’s defense.
Ehrlich: That’s interesting. That surprises me though, because of how much Aranda mixes it up with the different packages. So that’s surprising. Wilcox is kind of similar to Aranda in the way he mixes it up a lot. The way he blitzes, those kind of things. But, [Wilcox] does a lot of straight 3-4 sets, too.
Boutwell: Well that brings up a good point, how ‘crazy’ was Aranda’s defense last year?
Ehrlich: They would do a lot of unusual stuff. Biegel, at times, would rotate from playing middle linebacker to being outside and then all the sudden he’d be on the line. He was constantly moving the pieces. Maybe there’s more of a method to the madness, I guess.
Boutwell: About Bart Houston, a lot of LSU’s players are being asked how to prepare for a guy who hasn’t played much and has such little film to watch. They say he can throw it, run it, so they have seen him play, clearly. But what are they watching, what has Bart done previously?
Ehrlich: I think [Wisconsin coach Paul] Chryst sees a lot of your typical Wisconsin quarterback in Bart Houston. He can handle himself well enough, first of all, to hand the ball off to the backs, and second of all, do well enough in play action to handle himself in the pocket and be a decent pocket passer. Now, is he going to be anything flashy? No. I think Chryst, though, thinks he’s the safe option since he’s been in the program for so long. He know Big Ten football, he knows the big stage.
Boutwell: How much dual action (between Houston and freshman Alex Hornibrook) at quarterback should LSU expect to see?
Ehrlich: My guess is none. From everything I know about Chryst is he will pick a guy and stick with him. I would be surprised to see them both.
Ehrlich: How do LSU’s players feel about coming up to Wisconsin and playing at Lambeau? Are they excited about that?
Boutwell: Oh, yeah. Tre’Davious White, one of LSU’s cornerbacks, said the farthest north he’s ever been was Arkansas before LSU played at Syracuse last season. A lot of guys are excited. Some of them have said if they score they’re going to do the ‘Lambeau Leap.’ I know Tre’ did. Some players though said they wouldn’t do it so they won’t get a penalty or a punishment from Les. I’ve seen some say Lambeau is the NFL version of Tiger Stadium. Clearly, they’re excited about that.
Ehrlich: You mentioned the coaching staff saying if LSU’s players ‘Lambeau leaped’ that they would get in trouble?
Boutwell: Yeah, I think Les may have given the guys an in-house punishment if they did it. Supposedly, to some of them, it’s not too bad and they’ll disobey it. The freshman, maybe not. I think it’s a dream of every football player to do that, though. If it’s a senior and he picks one off and takes it back, you can expect them to do it. This is the only time they’ll be at Lambeau Field in college.
Boutwell: We talked earlier about the inside linebackers, and about T.J., who’s going to fill his spot?
Erhlich: Basically, I think you’ll see guys who will be rovers filling in the spot. Obviously, Chris Orr will be big for them. He played well in a spot role for them last year. He didn’t get a ton of playing time last year because their linebacking corp was so good. That’s a guy to look for. Another guy is Biegel. He’s a big time player and he’s there when you need him. It’s definitely a loss, and is going to hurt. But, they have enough depth that I think they’ll be OK.
Boutwell: At running back, I know Corey Clement is coming back from an injury. Is he ready to go, is he back, starting?
Ehrlich: Yeah, he’s good. He’s going to be the premier back. He had a really rough year last year. The injury was bad. He actually went overseas to get surgery because they have one of the best doctors over there (in Germany). He came back, they thought he was going to come back and play. He did, came back for one game and looked great. Then he re-aggravated his injury. Now, he’s doing a lot better from what I’ve heard.
Prediction:
Ehrlich: 28-17 – LSU
Boutwell: 34-17 – LSU
Ehrlich: In my general opinion, if the LSU defense can shut down the run, it’ll be a rough day for Wisconsin. Houston can be effective, but maybe not to lead an offense. He needs the running backs to lead the offense. I think they’re similar teams, but I think LSU’s just going to be better.
Boutwell: I think Leonard and LSU’s offensive line will be too much, they’re just giant guys. I think 34-14, 34-17, I’m not sure. Let’s go 17.
You can reach Christian Boutwell on Twitter, @CBoutwell_ and Bobby Ehrlich at @B_Ehrlich11