Last week was a little better. But with the elephant rolling into town, what can Wisconsin do to have a chance?

Looking Back: 

South Dakota – 13
Wisconsin – 27

Wisconsin won by 14 in week 1, then did it again in week 2. So did things get better, or worse?

Despite the opponent being from a lower division, this was actually a tougher matchup. South Dakota is rated higher than Western Michigan by advanced metrics and Vegas had the spread tighter (19.5 vs 24.5).

Wisconsin’s offense isn’t pretty, it’s actually quite bad. But, it is measurably better than last year. Across 2 games this season Wisconsin has had 6 drives of 13+ plays. Last SEASON Wisconsin had 5 total. Wisconsin can move the ball, it’s just ugly. The Badgers are currently 133rd of 134 teams in explosive play rate – i.e. the offense is the opposite of explosive (last is Air Force).  

Looking forward

Game Preview: Alabama 

#4 Alabama at Wisconsin 

Where: Camp Randall Stadium

When: Saturday, 9/14 – 11:00 AM (CST)

How to Watch: FOX

Spread: Alabama -16.5

O/U: 50.5

Alabama Crimson Tide’s 2023 Record: 12-2
Won the SEC Championship Game vs Georgia
Lost in the CFP Semifinals to Michigan

Nick Saban is gone, but this is still Alabama. His replacement, Kalen DeBoer, made it to the National Title game last season. DeBoer has won everywhere he’s been in college, but he’s only been head coaching at the FBS level since 2020. Now he has the keys to the Ferrari. 

Bama’s biggest Strengths:

Talent. Almost every player for Alabama will be bigger, faster, and stronger than their counterpart playing for Wisconsin. Bama is loaded at RB, the QB is a Heisman contender with dual-threat running ability, and the secondary is one of the best in college football. 

History Lesson:

Wisconsin is 1-1 against Alabama all time.  The loss was at Jerry’s world in 2015. It wasn’t close, Bama 35 Wisconsin 17.

The win is more interesting. Alabama came to Camp Randall in November of 1928 and lost 15-0. This was a solid bama team too, they had won nattys in 1925 and 1926 and ended up 6-2 in conference that season. The most Wisconsin stat of the game: the Badgers were 1/9 passing. The starting Badger QB played receiver to haul in the lone completed pass. Van Dyke will need to do a little better than this to pull off the upset Saturday. 

What concerns me about Wisconsin:

The run defense is still atrocious. Even with Alabama being depleted on the OL, the tide should run all over wisconsin. My second concern is if Wisconsin will be able to score. Under 30 points the last 2 weeks vs “bad” teams is not promising. TVD and the WRs will need to play the games of their lives just to get a few TDs on the board. 

Wisconsin’s biggest advantage:

Alabama has multiple injuries on the offensive line and was struggling to run the ball against USF last week. USF was down 1 point in the 4th quarter… and then Bama scored 4 unanswered TDs to end the game. 

What I want to see:

Alabama is averaging 10 penalties per game this season. Wisconsin is averaging only 3. This is an area where a rocking crowd can help Wisconsin immensely. If the fans at Camp Randall can affect Bama just a few times, their penalty numbers could reasonably be around 12-15. I want to see MadTown show up in full force. That has the potential to be game changing. Add in a turnover or two at the right time and we have the formula for a miracle. 

Prediction:

Be there, Be loud, Be-lieve.

Fickell will out coach DaBoer.

#BuckyByAMillion

Wisconsin 23 
Alabama 20

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See who the how we felt after week 1 in last week’s Wisco Wednesday.

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This article was written by Cole Tollison and edited by Hayden Breene