For the first time since November of last year, Wisconsin has a Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
Sebastian Cheeks picked up the honor after a dominant outing that included six pressures and 2.5 sacks, earning the conference award and giving the Badgers their first winner since Darryl Peterson against the Illinois Fighting Illini last year.
Cheeks has been one of the country’s most disruptive edge rushers this season, and he turned in another active game against the quarterback while also piling up four defensive stops. According to PFF, he finished with six pressures and a 17.1 percent pass rush win rate. That brings him to 34 pressures on the year, a strong response after he managed just one pressure against UCLA, a game in which he was constantly chipped and doubled.
The Big Ten also handed out several other weekly honors. Northwestern’s Aidan Chiles was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after piling up more than 300 yards and five touchdowns in a blowout win over Rutgers. Minnesota’s Luke Drzewiecki took home Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week, and Illinois’s Michael Clayton was selected as Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Cheeks’ numbers have made him the centerpiece of an elite Wisconsin defense. Through seven games, he has 34 pressures and 18 defensive stops, which already tops what he produced all of last season.
PFF ranks him second among Power 4 edge rushers in pressures this season. Virginia’s Matthew Fobbs-White leads that group with 35, though he has played one more game than Cheeks.
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Wisconsins Rotation Is Taking Shape Around One Growing Concern
Wisconsins exhibition slate offered enough to feel encouraged and enough to keep the staff measuring the depth chart with caution. The Badgers finished 3-0, capped by a win over Oklahoma State, and Owen Foxwell looked like the guard most ready to steady things early. He brought efficient scoring and a clear presence in the backcourt, the kind of start that can settle a team while the rest of the rotation sorts itself out.
The bigger question now is what happens in the minutes around him. Other players have flashed, but nobody has yet locked down a dependable scoring role, which leaves the Badgers with a real sense of possibility and a lingering concern as the season approaches. Wisconsin has a workable foundation, but the way those non-Foxwell possessions are filled in may end up shaping how quickly this group finds its rhythm once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Badgers Showed Real Promise But One Issue Still Stands Out
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Even with the strong shooting night and a defense that held the Cowboys to 65 points, there was still a familiar issue sitting in the background. Wisconsin turned the ball over 15 times, and while that did not spoil the result in an exhibition setting, it remains the kind of detail that can undercut a promising night once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Faces Two Iowa Unknowns That Could Decide The Heartland Trophy
Wisconsin heads to Iowa this week with the kind of game that can turn on small details, and the matchup already has a little extra uncertainty baked in. The Badgers, now No. 25, are facing an Iowa team that slipped out of the AP Poll after its loss to Minnesota, but the bigger question is what the Hawkeyes will look like on offense with the quarterback situation still unsettled and Hank Brown set to start.
There is another layer of unpredictability around Iowas backfield, too, with star running back Kamari Moulton out for the season and the workload shifting elsewhere. For Wisconsin, that means preparing for a rivalry game in which the usual scouting report may not hold up for long, and the Heartland Trophy could come down to which side adapts fastest once the ball is kicked off. [Read more 🡒]