Childress Sees Rush to Judgment for Much-Maligned Bruin Defense

Wisconsin offensive coordinator Brad Childress has learned a valuable lesson: It’s better to mold your system to fit your players than to force players to fit into a mold.

In 1995, he coordinated a Badger offense that set a school passing record with a 221.7-yard average; in his previous jobs, he coached at Illinois, where David Williams caught a Big Ten-record 101 passes in 1984, and at Northern Arizona, where Greg Wyatt became the first career 10,000-yard passer in a no-back offense.

This season, however, the 10-1 Badgers averaged only 109.9 yards passing and 204.4 yards rushing. Of their 735 offensive plays, 552 (75.1%) were rushing attempts, with tailback Ron Dayne carrying the ball 268 times.

“It’s always important to know who you are, what you can do well and what you can command,” Childress said Tuesday. “At Northern Arizona, we threw 45 times a game. Our mandate here is to run the ball and stop the run. . . . It’s no secret we’re going to run the football and they’re going to stack the line and try to prevent us from running the football.”

Childress believes UCLA’s defense has been unfairly maligned, and he expects the Bruin defense to rise to the challenge Friday.

“This is an athletic defense. To me, the Miami game was an aberration,” he said of the Bruins’ 49-45 loss. “They had people in position to make plays, and I’m not foolish enough to believe they’re going to play without pride. They can run around, and [strong safety] Larry Atkins is a big-hit guy. Their athleticism is of great concern to us.”

That said, Childress doesn’t anticipate a defensive show. “I’m not thinking it’s going to be a 7-6 game,” he said. “I believe they’ll be a tremendously prideful group. They’ve been run down in the newspapers and their kids have seen that. The kids don’t like it any more than the coaches do. I expect them to respond in a big way.”

Wisconsin wide receiver Chris Chambers, who led the team with 537 yards receiving in 26 catches, is also expecting a wild ride.

“UCLA is going to come out and score some points. Hopefully, our defense will calm them down and our offense can stay on the field and run the clock with some long drives and big plays,” he said.

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Offensive lineman Aaron Gibson declined to say how many points it might take to win Friday. “A lot,” he said, laughing.

A key statistic for the Badgers will be how many times Dayne carries the ball. His season high is 39, against Illinois and Iowa. “I don’t know that we put a number on it,” Childress said. “Probably if he carries it 50 times we’ve got a pretty good chance of winning the game.”

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A victory by the Badgers on Friday would result in the first 11-win season in school history. However, players aren’t focusing on that possibility.

“That’s something extra,” left tackle Chris McIntosh said. “Our number one goal is just to win the game.”

Gibson will let others decide after the Rose Bowl if this is the Badgers’ best team ever. “We just want to be our best,” he said.

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Wisconsin closed its practice Tuesday and will keep them closed the rest of the week. . . . Much has been said about the Bruins’ disappointment over not playing in the Fiesta Bowl, but the Badgers believe they also might have had a shot at the national title if not for their 27-10 loss to Michigan on Nov. 14. “Both of us have some sort of chip on our shoulders,” Chambers said.