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This season, eight of UW's 12 opponents will run some variation of the spread or at least incorporate some spread plays in their offense. And the Badgers don't even play Purdue or Northwestern, the teams that pioneered the modern spread in the Big Ten Conference.
With the spread fast becoming a coast-to-coast phenomenon, figuring out how to stop it has become a hot topic among defensive coordinators. That is especially true at UW, where the impressive gains the Badgers made in defending the spread in 2006 were all but erased in 2007.
''Obviously, we didn't play as well as we would have liked to against the spread,'' said Dave Doeren, who was promoted to defensive coordinator when Mike Hankwitz was fired after UW's 9-4 season.
There were many reasons why UW gave up 103 more yards and 11 more points per game last season than it did in 2006. However, the abridged version is that the Badgers were pretty good against conventional offenses and, with the exception of the Indiana game, awful against spreads.
The basis of the spread is to make defenses cover from sideline to sideline and force them to make one-on-one tackles in the open field. All too often, the Badgers missed those tackles.
''A couple of spread teams killed us last year,'' linebacker DeAndre Levy said. ''But I think the coaches have done a good job in preparing us for it.''
UW's season is riding on it. Coach Bret Bielema hopes to re-adopt UW's philosophy of winning with a strong running game and a dominant defense, and that can't happen unless the Badgers fix what went wrong against the spread in 2007.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was that UW regressed after seemingly figuring out how to stop the spread in 2006. When Bielema started two fast outside linebackers - Levy and Jonathan Casillas - as sophomores two years ago, it changed the nature of UW's defense. Size was out, speed was in and UW had one of the nation's top defenses.
But even though seven starters returned last year, the defense struggled against the spread. That was partly because of injuries, partly because some of the veterans rested on their laurels and partly because the newcomers in the heart of the defense weren't as ready to contribute as expected. Elijah Hodge, who replaced Mark Zalewski at middle linebacker, was solid between the tackles but lacked the speed to make plays outside and new safeties Shane Carter and Aubrey Pleasant had problems tackling.
Doeren said a lack of experience on defense led to communication breakdowns and frequent execution mistakes. Many tackles were missed because players were late getting to where they were supposed to be on a play.
''I feel a lot better right now than I did a year ago,'' Doeren said. ''I mean, last year was scary. They'd see a formation 10 times and all of a sudden it was still a new deal to them. Right now, they've seen a lot of things.''
That's because the coaches have not taken last year's breakdown lightly. For the first time, they designated 15 to 50 minutes daily to stopping the spread during spring and fall practice. They also made several lineup changes, the biggest being the insertion of speedy Jaevery McFadden for Hodge at middle linebacker.
''I think you're at a disadvantage if you don't have guys that can run on defense,'' Doeren said. ''That offense will exploit you in a hurry. It's (designed) to make you make plays in space, so obviously you're trying to match up with guys who can make those tackles and that's what we're doing. You could see two years ago that we had a very athletic (middle) linebacker in Zalewski and last year we didn't with Elijah, so now we have Jaevery in the middle. We're trying to match up and put our best athletes out there, but at the same time they've got to know what to do and how to do it.''
Bielema promoted Doeren in part because of his communication skills, and indications are the message is getting through. The players say their recognition is better and they're playing faster due to the preparation they've done against the spread.
''It's not like it's special or magical,'' Levy said. ''I think sometimes we make it bigger than it really is. It's just an offense. We're a defense. Our job is to stop it and that's what we're going to do.''
They'd better do it or UW could be in for a disappointing season.
