Last season the Badgers of Wisconsin won the 2014 Outback Bowl with a win over the Tigers of Auburn, but their season goal, really was to win the Title for the Big 10, but that was not to be as the Buckeyes of Ohio State manhandled Wisconsin in a shutout win in the Big 10 Title game at 59-0!
The discouraging loss became the 1st time since back in 1997 that the Badgers had been shutout in a game. After that the Badgers decided they had to make some changes, so they started with hiring their former offensive coordinator P. Chryst, to take the helm as their new Head Coach. Now Badger fans are wondering if their team can do better than last year’s 11 wins and 3 losses for 2014.
Taking a look at the 2015-16 Badgers of Wisconsin upcoming football season, we start with the fact that the star RB M. Gordon has left the team. That is a concern as well as the Badgers need to bring back to life the passing game that was in the nation in 2014 ranked at 118th.
Then their senior QB J. Stave in his 5th year needs to come back from a more or less season in 2014. Primarily, he needs to improve his passing game as in 2014 he had 10 interceptions and 8 TD’s, with a 53.5% completion rate. Whereas, in 2013 he had 22 TD’s and 13 intercepts and a 61.8 completion rate in comparison.
Coach Chryst has several issues with the offense, but with the defense as in 2014 the ranked 4 in the USA and their last year’s defensive coordinator was rehired, as he did a great job, and that allows Coach Chryst to concentrate on beefing up his offense. A defensive player to watch this 2015 is star LB V. Biegel who had 7.6 sacks and 16.6 tackles for losses. So again, the Badgers will have a great defensive roster, and last year the team that in the Big 10 allowed the least passing yards.
The Badgers star player or key player in 2015 is C. Clement, a RB who is expected to take up where RB M. Gordon left off as Clement was a very capable back-up last season with great numbers for a back-up. The junior in 2014 scored 9 TD’s while he only had 10.4 carries per game last season for some 649 yards rushing. Thus, they are hoping this year as a starter he will double his 2014 statistics and lead the offensive campaign.
The drawback for Clement is the offensive line only is returning 2 starters from 2014, so he will have to find his own trenches to run through. If he can continue his running force in the ground despite a weak offense his value becomes more important. That would be great news for the Badgers who presently have early odds at +10,000 to take the National Title in 2015.
An early and key game comes up on the 3rd of October against Iowa even as their 1st game is with the Alabama Crimson Tide, but that’s a tough game, but the Iowa game turns out to be a pivotal game. Apart from Alabama the Badgers have a fairly easy schedule and do not play the Buckeyes this season, but maybe a rematch to see whom takes the Big 10 title this season. After the 1st game with Alabama, they play 4 straight home games and they should win those 4 home games.
We will predict that the Badgers of Wisconsin will surprise us all and beat the Buckeyes of Ohio State for the Big Ten Tiles, then no National Champion’s title, but they will have a bowl game victory.