PROVO, Utah – In preparation to face a top-ten team in No. 6 Wisconsin, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake made it clear: he likes the way that the Badgers play especially down in the trenches.

“Coach (Paul) Chryst has done a great job with that team,” he said. “They’re just always going to be strong up front. They represent the state of Wisconsin really well. They’re just tough guys and I love that.”

New Year, New Team

The last time that the Cougars faced the Badgers, they were on the losing end of a 40-6 defeat. This time around, Sitake is excited to see how much his team has grown since that 34-point loss.

“So we’ll see how much our guys have developed in a year and how much they can hang in there at the line of scrimmage,” he said. “Really looking forward to the test, to the challenge. I think there’s a lot of guys on this team that really want to get to this game and see what happens.”

According to Sitake, the Badgers have done plenty of growing themselves. He added that some of the Wisconsin players who were starting in last year’s contest are now backups as faster, stronger players have come in to take their place.

Another Big Threat

The Cougars, having faced preseason Heisman darling Khalil Tate in week one, will face another formitable challenge in Badger running back Jonathan Taylor. So far this season Taylor is averaging 199.0 yards per game with five touchdowns scored.

“I think it’s good to see the standard and I think they kind of set the bar at a physical, hard-nosed running game,” said Sitake. “They have a Heisman candidate there. It’ll be another chance, another challenge to go against a Heisman candidate and see what happens.”

The Cougars and Wisconsin will kick off from Camp Randall Stadium in Madison Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ABC.

BEAT WISCONSIN!!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🏈 BYU at No. 5 Wisconsin
🗓 Saturday
⌚️ 1:30pm MDT
🎙 BYU Radio, SiriusXM 143, KSL 1160AM/102.7FM
📺 ABC
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀#BYUFOOTBALL #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/RpUKvicVUi

— BYU Football (@BYUfootball) September 13, 2018