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I felt Clayton Thorson’s pain.
Ok, I didn’t literally feel it. That would’ve been awful.
But each time the Northwestern signal-caller dropped back to pass on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, I winced on his behalf. See, Thorson has some wheels. He can move around in the pocket and make some plays with his legs.
That, however, didn’t matter very much against Wisconsin’s pass rush.
As usual, it was relenting. When it wasn’t Garret Dooley, it was Chris Orr or D’Cota Dixon. Each one of them took down Thorson. He was so out of whack that he inexplicably was sacked for a safety on Northwestern’s final drive. Wisconsin finished the afternoon with eight sacks, three quarterback hurries and ultimately, a victory.
So what’s next for Wisconsin? Tanner Lee. You know, the guy who gives out pick-sixes like your rich neighbor hands out king-sized candy bars on Halloween. Lee is the guy who when asked when he likes to run said, “when I have to.”
Lee is going to have to run on Saturday. If he doesn’t, that Wisconsin defense is going to devour him like a king-sized candy bar.
Tommy Armstrong took a lot of heat during his time in Lincoln. Some of it was justified, but nobody could ever knock his ability to make things happen with his legs. That’s what he tried to do to avoid the Wisconsin pass rush when the two teams met in Madison last year.
To a certain extent, it worked. Armstrong only took two sacks, he had 39 rushing yards, he added a rushing touchdown and the Huskers lost to a battle-tested Wisconsin team in overtime.
The problem was that Armstrong couldn’t do it all with his legs. On plays that he wasn’t pressured, he threw two interceptions that proved costly. Wisconsin also held him to just 12 completions on 31 attempts. The Badgers didn’t send the kitchen sink because they respected Armstrong’s ability to run.
Against Lee, it’ll be a completely different story.
Well, at least it’ll look like one. What Wisconsin does so well — whether it’s Dave Aranda, Justin Wilcox or Jim Leonhard — is disguise pressure. The Badgers can rush four and make it seem like they’re rushing seven.
Against a guy who still isn’t experienced in the art of beating top-notch pass-rushes, that’s a solid blueprint to take down Lee. Those back-footed throws into double coverage aren’t the way out of those plays, either.
Go back to that Rutgers game and you’ll see exactly what I mean. The Scarlet Knights lined up with what looks like a six-man rush:
There’s nothing harmless about that, right? After all, it was Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights currently rank dead last in the B1G and 111th in FBS with one sack per game. That was a pretty standard look.
But instead of rushing six, Rutgers only sent four. To Nebraska’s credit, it was picked up well. Lee had a clean pocket to step into a throw if he so choosed:
So what happened next?
Lee kept backpedaling and instead of rolling out of the pocket or stepping into it, he made up his mind that he had to get rid of the ball. Lee threw to the guy he had his eyes on the whole time. Even worse, he did so off his back foot.
The result was an awful interception into double coverage:
That was Rutgers, which essentially baited Lee into making a throw he never should’ve made. The Scarlet Knights disguised pressure and even without getting to Lee, they forced him into a costly mistake.
Wisconsin will try and do that all night long.
That’s the concerning thing with Lee. His nine interceptions came against the likes of Northern Illinois, Oregon and Rutgers. Did Lee look better against Illinois? Absolutely. Is Illinois or any of Nebraska’s 2017 opponents so far in the same defensive stratosphere as Wisconsin? Absolutely not.
The Huskers will undoubtedly try and simplify the game plan for Lee. They want to put him in as few obvious passing down situations as possible. Naturally, establishing the run will be huge. Avoiding an early two-score deficit would be ideal, too.
All of that is well and good. There’s also the flip side.
Wisconsin ranks No. 10 in FBS in defending third down. Against the run, the Badgers are ranked No. 4. And just in case you were wondering, they rank No. 4 with four sacks per contest.
RELATED: Wisconsin a heavy road favorite vs. Nebraska
Ah, but there are a couple things that Nebraska has working in its favor. While Wisconsin has a massive total points advantage through four games (+109), most of that came in the second half. The odds of the Badgers sprinting out to an early lead on the road aren’t favorable, at least if recent history suggests anything.
And speaking of recent history, Nebraska has won 20 straight night games at Memorial Stadium. That dates all the way back to 2008 when the Huskers were still in the Big 12.
Many will point to that 2015 game against Michigan State to justify the old “anything can happen under the lights” belief. The Huskers came into that one as the laughing stock of college football having just lost to lowly Purdue. Then the 3-6 Huskers came out guns blazing and stunned the red-hot Spartans.
For all we know, that’ll happen again against Wisconsin. Maybe Lee will play like the savior he was hyped up to be and we’ll be talking about a Nebraska team that’s suddenly in the driver’s seat to win the B1G West. If Northern Illinois can pull off a stunning upset that makes zero sense on paper, why can’t Nebraska?
It can. Well, it can as long as Halloween doesn’t come early for Wisconsin.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.