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If we did a “5 Things to Watch for This Weekend,” it would have to be pretty Badgerless…(why is Word telling me Badgerless isn’t a word?)
Anyways, instead, let’s do a quick rundown on what to expect the rest of the season.
October 12th – NORTHWESTERN
This should be the toughest game left on the schedule. Northwestern is riding high heading into its matchup this weekend against Ohio State. A win against Ohio State puts them to the top of the Legends Division, while also giving Wisconsin a shot at the Leaders. If Northwestern loses against Ohio State, this game will be about trying to salvage a chance at their division.
Either way, it’s lucky Wisconsin has this game at home, after Northwestern has played an emotional game. I can’t count (or I guess I could, but I won’t) the number of times Wisconsin has gone to Ryan Field as a favorite and lost. Almost as many times as Iowa has.
October 19 – at Illinois
A big game under the lights. Living in Central Illinois, this game has been talked about for the last couple months as they were able to fill a small limo with fans wanting to go to the game. The price was only $36 for transportation, ticket, and all the food you could eat. Before you think that’s too low of a price, I saw two free tickets in a gas station for the Southern Illinois game.
Illinois is better this year, and playing on the road at night has been the Badgers kryptonite. Don’t take this one for granted, but it should be a win.
November 2 – at Iowa
This could be another tough one. Iowa is also surprising a little bit after holding off a tough test from Missouri State. I grew up in Iowa, and believe me, there is nothing more important to the people of Eastern Iowa than the Hawkeyes. Having not played the Badgers in a couple years, this is a rivalry game they will want to win. I’m sure I’ll be there in Badger red as my brother is a recent graduate. It’s a house divided for sure.
I see Wisconsin winning this game, but it’s the one that worries me. Iowa has ruined a couple seasons in the past and while it’s no Camp Randal, they get a good crowd at Kinnick. The later in the season a team plays the Hawkeyes, the tougher they will be as their young quarterback meshes with his receiving corp.
November 9 – BYU
When writing high school football previews for a newspaper, we always used the format of capitalizing the team if it was a home game and lower casing them if it was a road game (see the previous games I’ve done in this write-up). Anyways, before it seems like I’m off-topic, teams like BYU always frustrated me when they were the road team because it threw off the system.
Man it feels good to finally get that out.
As for this game? I don’t really have anything yet. The only thing I’ve seen from them this year was the fact their fans threw garbage at the same ref that officiated the Wisconsin/Arizona State game. I doubt that’s in the honor code…
November 16 – INDIANA
Oh jeeze, this again? No way will the Hoosiers stop the Wisconsin offense and while Indiana will put points on the board, it won’t be enough. The nice thing for the Hoosiers is the fact that Andersen won’t put 80 up on them and we as Badgers fans won’t have to struggle to condone it to angry fans across the country.
November 23 – at Minnesota
It’s going to be cold. It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be a Badgers win. This one will again be closer than it should, but the axe will stay where it should. The card will say to run the ball at will and try to coast in the second half. The game will say that Stave will need to complete a couple big third down conversions to salt away the game at the end.
Sorry these are getting shorter, but I’m getting tired of writing.
November 30 – PENN STATE
I don’t know what to think about this game. I figured it would be a blow-out last year and instead it was a loss like every other loss. I see the home crowd helping pull out a victory, but it still won’t be enough as I don’t see Ohio State losing two games. It’ll be a sad time as confused fans see a Leaders team other than Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game. I’m just hoping that Ohio State gets into the National Championship game and maybe a two-loss Wisconsin team sneaks back into the Rose Bowl as an at-large, successfully trolling everyone who is sick of them losing there.
There you have it. A great, in-depth, insightful look at the rest of the season.
Any predictions on a final record?
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