College Corner: Wisconsin Badgers
The first college corner of the offseason has come and gone, with the Miami Hurricanes season preview appearing in the last edition. Today we shift up to the first of five Big-10 profiles in this series – the Wisconsin Badgers. They are playing in the weaker half of the Big-10 division in the Big-10 West. After a somewhat disappointing 2015, can the cheese heads bounce back into the mix this time around?
2015 Season: I say that the Wisconsin season in 2015 was a disappointment, but most teams in the country would take a 9-3 regular season with a bowl win over USC. The reason it was disappointing was that it could have been so much better. After a week one loss to Alabama in a game they never had a chance in, Wisconsin finished up 9-2. The two losses were home losses to Iowa and Northwestern by scores of 10-6 and 13-7. They failed to score in the fourth quarter in both games.
With a little better offense, 11-1 with a chance at the playoff was not out of the question. In fact they had the best scoring defense in the country last year, averaging only 13.7 points against per game. This year they’ll look to go one step further than the tight losses of 2015.
Key Losses/Recruiting: Two Wisconsin players were drafted this year. Linebacker Joe Schobert was the first pick of the fourth round to the Cleveland Browns, and fullback Derek Watt went to San Diego in the sixth round. They are also losing secondary studs Darius Hillary and Michael Caputo.
On the recruiting front, the Badgers signed two of ESPN’s Top 300 . Defensive tackle Garrett Rand, and offensive tackle and local product Cole Van Lanen from Bay Port High School in Green Bay will join the Badgers next season. The rest of the recruiting class has some good players in it as well.
2016 Outlook: Wisconsin have always been a consistent program, but is this the year that they finally take the next step? This big question is at quarterback. Joel Stave was the man under center last year, but he has since graduated. Bart Houston is the projected starter, but he should face some competition in camp Alex Hornibrook. Houston is the favorite after he played one full Big-10 game last season against Illinois – a 24-13 win on the road.
However, running backs Corey Clement and Dare Ogunbowale are back to help anchor the offense. Regardless of who is taking the snaps, they will spend a lot of their time handing the ball off to these two guys who combined for 1,040 rushing yards last season.
On defense the big change is that defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has moved on to become the defensive coordinator at LSU. New defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox will have a tough task to maintain the pace of Aranda’s defense in 2015. As mentioned earlier they had the best scoring defense in all of college football. Seeing as they lack an established quarterback, the defense won’t be able to skip a beat from last season if they want to have any chance at the playoff.
Overall, it’s going to be some typical Wisconsin football from back in the days of Bret Bielema. Get a lot of linemen up front, pound the ball up the gut, smash them on defense, and hope the quarterback play keeps them in the game. That’s been the name of the game for the Badgers since back in the days of Scott Tolzien, and that won’t change this year.
2016 Schedule:
9/3 LSU*
9/10 Akron
9/17 Georgia State
9/24 @ Michigan State
10/1 @ Michigan
10/15 Ohio State
10/22 @ Iowa
10/29 Nebraska
11/5 @ Northwestern
11/12 Illinois
11/19 @ Purdue
11/26 Minnesota
*At Lambeau Field
Prediction: 9-3 (7-2 in Big-10 play)