The Bret Bielema era at the University of Wisconsin is now 17 games old and the Badgers football coach is still capable of springing new things on us.

Last week, for instance, we witnessed a totally new tactic from the second-year coach.

He circled the wagons.

That's right, Bielema responded to some mild but deserved criticism of his defense by forming his defenders into a tight, impenetrable group. He did this so purposefully that you might have thought it was Hayden Fry or Barry Alvarez calling the shots. After all, Bielema's mentors were masters at turning a lack of respect, whether real or perceived, into motivation.

Still, this was virgin territory for Bielema as a head coach. But with border rival Iowa coming to Camp Randall Stadium for the Big Ten Conference opener Saturday night, Bielema's time-worn 1-0 mentality turned into the us-against-the-world mentality.

He made his defensive players off-limits to the media and hoped the criticism would serve as a catalyst for recovery by a veteran unit from which much was expected this season but which had struggled at times in UW 's three non-conference wins. That was especially true the previous week against The Citadel, a team from the former Division I-AA that had put up 31 points on UW.

Well, Bielema got his coaching wish Saturday night in a punting duel that for some unknown reason was sent to about 40 percent of the country by ABC. The UW defense we've all been expecting to show up finally did in the ninth-ranked Badgers' 17-13 victory over the Hawkeyes.

"I know there 's been banter and talk up here about the defense," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "I think they answered that question tonight."

Yes, the defense is back. The unit that made it so tough for opponents to dent the scoreboard in 2006 finally made its 2007 debut against the Hawkeyes. And just in time, too, because UW's offense was unable to move the ball with any consistency against Iowa's quick, disruptive front four.

That meant this game was the defense's to win or lose, a notion that wasn't particularly appealing after three marginal non-conference opponents averaged 21.7 points and 337 yards against UW. This time, though, the UW defense played more aggressively in limiting the Hawkeyes to one touchdown and 228 yards.

"I thought our defense came with an attitude," Bielema said. "They tackled well. They attacked the ball."

Some of that can be attributed to Bielema's straight-from-the-coaching manual motivational ploy that had UW flying around on defense like it hasn't done all season. Not all of it can be credited to Bielema, though. Iowa 's offense ranked last in scoring and total yards in the Big Ten entering the game, the Hawkeyes had less skill-position talent than The Citadel after they lost their two best receivers to injury in the first quarter and they don't run the spread option offense that so confused UW in its first three games.

But except for a brief lapse in the final minute of the first half, the UW defense held firm all night. It flew around, bailed out the offense and special teams on several occasions and prevented Iowa from going on long drives by consistently getting off the field on third down.

"I think everybody had an extra chip on their shoulder," linebacker DeAndre Levy said. "We were playing to the level of the other teams, giving them a lot of things. I don't think we gave them a lot today."

It helped that the coaches coached as aggressively as they asked their players to play. The Badgers blitzed early to set the tone and blitzed effectively at key times throughout the game, especially with cornerback Aaron Henry.

Bielema may have bristled at the criticism his defense received after The Citadel game, but what were people supposed to think? That The Citadel was an offensive machine because the week before it had run up 76 points on the Fighting Chefs of Webber International? Bielema himself confirmed the accuracy of the criticism when he didn't name a defensive MVP for The Citadel game. Even his players, once they had their muzzles removed, couldn't defend their play in the first three games.

"I think we deserved the criticism we were getting," linebacker Jonathan Casillas said. "But I think we responded today."

Indeed, until UW's offense wore down the Hawkeyes in the fourth quarter, it was the defense that was most responsible for getting the Badgers off to a 1-0 start in the Big Ten, a feat they couldn 't manage a year ago.