Wisconsin Badgers (West Division)
Location: Madison, WI
Stadium: Camp Randall Stadium (80,321)
Coach: Paul Chryst (1st year): 19-20 overall, 0-1 v B1G
2014 Wisconsin Badgers (11-3)(7-2) 2015
Wisconsin Badgers
24 at LSU 28 S5 Alabama (Arlington, TX)
37 Western Illinois 3 S12 Miami University
68 Bowling Green 17 S19 Troy
27 South Florida 10 S26 Hawaii
14 at Northwestern 20 O3 Iowa
38 Illinois 28 O10 at Nebraska
52 Maryland 7 O17 Purdue
37 at Rutgers 0 O24 at Illinois
34 at Purdue 16 O31 Rutgers
59 Nebraska 24 N7 at Maryland
26 at Iowa 24 N21 Northwestern
34 Minnesota 24 N28 at Minnesota
0 Ohio
State 59
(B1G Championship)
34 Auburn 31
(OT)
(Outback Bowl)
Former coach Brett Bielema did a
fine job taking over for B1G legend Barry Alvarez, building on his
success. Gary Andersen then continued
that success the past three seasons and then surprisingly left for Oregon
State. This opened the door for Paul
Chryst, who played QB at Wisconsin in the mid-80s, to accept the job, moving
over from Pitt.
Wisconsin
has always been known for good game-managing quarterbacks and a great running
game. Don’t expect that to change
anytime soon, as the Badgers return senior QB Joel Stave who threw for 1350
yards in Wisconsin’s run-heavy offense and is 21-7 as a starter. The strong running game should continue with
junior Corey Clement. Last year, Clement
was a sideshow to Melvin Gordon who ran for over 2500 yards, but still ran for
just under 1000 yards. This year,
Clement will be the main attraction with freshman Taiwan Deal figuring to
rotate in to make a formidable two-back tandem.
Senior Derek Watt will return as a fullback when the Badgers go to a
short-yardage look. The Badgers lose
dependable TE Sam Arneson and speedy WR Kenzel Doe, but return a good
replacements in sophomore TE Troy Fumagalli (14 receptions, 187 yards) and
junior WR Robert Wheelwright (1 catch, 17 yards). Good news for the Wisconsin downfield passing
game comes with experienced WR senior Alex Erickson being back. The leading receiver from a year ago,
Erickson hauled in 55 receptions for 772 yards and three scores. Wisconsin loses three good offensive linemen
(two 1st team all conference) in Rob Havenstein, Kyle Costigan and
Dallas Lewallen, but return excellent linemen in junior center Dan Voltz and
senior LT Tyler Marz. Redshirt freshman
Michael Deiter and senior Ray Ball appeared to have the edge at the guard
positions coming out of the spring, while sophomore Hayden Biegel saw
significant playing time last year as a backup and will move into the starting
role at RT. Senior Austin Traylor also
returns as the second TE and will get a chance to become an effective receiver
in short yardage and goal line packages.
Last year,
the Badgers had to replace all three defensive linemen and while smaller, they
had more speed and were better in getting into opposing backfields. They suffered through injuries and were not
up to full strength until halfway through the season. This year, they lose experienced d-linemen
Warren Herring and Konrad Zagzebski off a unit that gave up an average of 126
yards per game to opposing offenses on the ground. This year, they return sophomore Chikwe
Obasih at DE, who managed 21 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Sophomore Alec James and junior Arthur
Goldberg had the edge during spring drills to move into the other DE and NT
spots respectively. Goldberg played well
in limited duty a year ago with 25 tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack,
while James played sparingly, coming up with eight tackles, but played well on
special teams. The Badgers will have to
replace two starters in the linebacking corps, but return experienced junior
OLB Vince Biegel and senior OLB Joe Schobert.
Biegel managed 56 tackles and led the team with a whopping 16.5 tackles
for loss (7.5 sacks). Schobert chipped
in 69 tackles, of which 13.5 were tackles for loss (3 sacks). Redshirt freshman TJ Edwards had the edge in
the spring to take over at one ILB spot, while junior Leon Jacobs appeared to
secure the other ILB spot. Jacobs did
well in a backup role in 2014 with 28 tackles and 1.5 sacks. The secondary is the strength on the
defensive side of the ball for the Badgers as three starters return, led by
senior SS Michael Caputo. Leading
Wisconsin in tackles last year, Caputo turned in a whopping 106 tackles, six
tackles for loss, a sack, an interception and recovered four fumbles on his way
to first-team All-B1G. Senior Darius
Hillary also returns as an excellent shut down corner with 41 tackles and three
tackles for loss and is joined by junior Sojour Shelton at the other corner
position with 33 tackles. Senior Tanner
McEvoy moved to FS from QB in the spring and appears to have the starting nod
from the coaches, although he faces stiff competition from sophomore Lubern
Figaro.
The Badgers
return both specialists from 2014.
Sophomore kicker Rafael Gaglianone hit 19 out of 22 field goal attempts
with a long of 51 and senior punter Drew Meyer is back after averaging 37.4
yards per punt. They will have to
replace Kenzel Doe, who handled both the KR and PR duties a year ago and the
competition appears to be wide open.
Clement and backup WR sophomore George Rushing could be returning kickoffs,
while Rushing, McEvoy, and Shelton could be returning punts.
With just
five returning starters on offense and six on defense, the Badgers may not look
like they can compete, but last year’s defense had only three returning
starters and they ended up as the #4 defense in the country, allowing just 294
yards per game. Last year’s offense also
outgained their opponents by an average of 215 yards per game and were -9 in
turnover margin. Wisconsin has a tough
opener against Alabama, but the rest of the schedule is very manageable with
the toughest part road games at Nebraska and Minnesota.
2015 Projection: 9-3 (6-2) 1st
in West Division
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