The Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Wisconsin Badgers find themselves staring at the same problem heading into their matchup on Saturday in Lincoln.
Sitting at 5-5, both the Huskers and Badgers are desperate for some sort of excitement to end their seasons.
Nebraska has been down this road plenty of times before, as their currently facing a seven season bowl drought, the longest active bowl drought in the Power 4 of the ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and SEC.
Wisconsin on the other hand, has not missed a bowl game since 2001, so their 5-5 record doesn’t sit well with many badger fans, especially given how their season has gone.
Even though the Badgers would lose Miami transfer quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a torn acl in the first quarter of their 42-10 loss to Alabama, the Badgers would jump out to a 5-2 start with backup quarterback Braedyn Locke under center.
Locke couldn’t find any success in the air raid during the Badgers three game stretch that included #3 Penn State, Iowa and #1 Oregon, resulting in three straight losses for the Badgers, dropping their record to 5-5, and forcing head coach Luke Fickell to fire offensive coordinator Phil Longo.
If you don’t have a clue on who is going to win this matchup, I’d say flip a coin.
What to Expect on Offense:
Longo’s air raid experiment lasted a total of 22 games, and so far this season it hasn’t done the Badgers any good.
Ranking 102nd in the country in passing, The blackshirts have a really good opportunity on defense this week against the pass.
On the ground, the Badgers mostly lean on transfer running back Tawee Walker from Oklahoma, who has ran for 773 yards and 10 touchdowns behind the 57th ranked rushing offense in the country.
Not many defenses have been able to get to the quarterback this season either with the Badgers offensive line only allowing 11 sacks all season, which is tied for 15th best nationally.
The blackshirts will find success against the Badgers if they can control first and second down.
The Badgers rank 86th in the country on third down, which is a great spot to bring pressure on Locke and make some plays.
Key Players:
WR- Vinny Anthony II: 28 rec 496 yards 2 TD
WR- Will Pauling: 42 rec 407 yards 3 TD
What to Expect on Defense:
The Badgers defense ranks 33rd in the country, but that number is heavily deflated by a poor run defense that ranks 88th in the country.
The Purdue Boilermakers are the only team that didn’t reach 100 rushing yards against the Badgers this season, and they finished with 99, if that gives any clue as to what we should be seeing on Saturday.
Their pass defense on the other hand is very strong, ranking 8th in the country while only averaging 164.8 yards per game through the air.
This may be because teams are attacking the Badgers more on the ground than anything else.
In the Badgers last three games, all opposing quarterbacks finished with a completion percentage of 70% or higher, including both Penn States starting quarterback Drew Allar and backup quarterback Beau Pribula.
Key Players:
LB- Christian Alliegro: 47 TOT 3 sacks
S- Hunter Wohler: 63 TOT 6 PD
LB- John Pius: 2.5 sacks 1 FF
