After another good season of Badger football last year, Wisconsin looks to continue its dominance in the Big Ten West. Wisconsin ended up with a 10-4 record last year and a Rose Bowl appearance (though they lost to Oregon by a point).
The Badgers lost Heisman contending running back Jonathan Taylor to the draft but they look to be able to replace him. The plan is to split the carries between Jalen Berger, Nakia Watson, and Garrett Groshek, behind an elite offensive line.
They also return quarterback Jack Coan and 6 other starters on offense from last season. Defensively, they have a top safety in college football in Eric Burrell and a couple of other huge pieces.
This season the Badgers are set to play a decently tough non-conference schedule. Wisconsin plays Appalachian State, and Southern Illinois, as well as Notre Dame in a huge game at Lambeau Field.
In conference play, they host Indiana, Minnesota, and Nebraska. They travel to Michigan, Iowa, Maryland, Purdue, and Iowa (rivalry week).
They have a lot of tough games but all are definitely winnable. Therefore, I think their ceiling is 12-0. My prediction has them coming in at 11-1 with a loss in Ann Arbor to the Michigan Wolverines. I have their floor coming in at 8-4 with losses to Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, and Notre Dame.
Wisconsin should have a very experienced roster with most of their team returning. Jack Coan returns as the quarterback, but Graham Mertz could possibly steal the job in the season. At wide receiver, they return two redshirt seniors in Danny Davis and Jack Dunn.
Their offensive line is solid once again with Van Lanen a potential All-Big Ten player along with 4 Redshirt Juniors in Josh Seltzner, Logan Bruss, Kayden Lyles, and Tyler Beach. At tight end, they return Jake Ferguson who looks to be a huge part of the offense this upcoming season. And at RB as I said earlier, 3 backs look to split carries (Berger, Watson, Groshek).
Obviously, the loss of Jonathan Taylor hurts the offense a lot, but I think they’ll be able to recover with all the returning weapons. Their defense also suffered some losses in Chris Orr, Zack Baun, and others. This defense looks to be headed by potential All American Eric Burrell. Cornerback Cesar Williams and Isaiah Loudermilk also look to be big pieces in the Badger defense.
Photo: Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports
