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Game Thread Ohio State 20, Wisconsin 17 (Oct. 4)

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cfn

Which five teams have the potential to go from good to elite?

- Wisconsin

All the Badgers have done is win 40 games in four years with four straight trips to Florida on New Year's Day, with a 2-2 record against the SEC, but they still don't get much in the way of respect. Maybe that's because they needed everything in the bag to get by lousy teams like UNLV, Citadel, Iowa and Minnesota and it's hard for any Big Ten team to get any national love. The team was battered by major injuries on both sides of the ball, and now it comes back loaded with a tremendous stable of running backs, a nice offensive line, and a no-name defense that'll be really, really good with LB Jonathan Casillas, FS Shane Carter and DE Matt Shaughnessy among the Big Ten's three best players.

Easy schedules have never really mattered to Wisconsin, who always seems to play down to its competition, but this year's slate isn't bad if the team can get by a nasty early road trip to Fresno State. If you're going to play at Michigan, this is the year, while the other three road dates are at Iowa, Michigan State and Indiana. Ohio State, Penn State and Illinois have to come to Madison.
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Fiutak speculates that Wiscy could have a big year if they get solid QB play.

cfn

Ten biggest spring ball/off-season storylines
10. Allan Evridge
Want to get in early on the blue-chip stock? If you're looking for that team that's been sort of hanging around outside the velvet rope for the last few years and might now finally be showing enough cleavage to catch the eye of the BCS bouncer, watch out for Wisconsin. The Badgers are loaded with four excellent running backs, led by P.J. Hill, Mackey Award favorite Travis Beckum, a tremendous O line with four returning starters, a potential brick wall of a defense [SIZE=-1]as soon as CB Allen Langford and DT Jason Chapman return from injury, and a not-that-bad schedule. There's an early road trip to Fresno State which will be much, much nastier than it might appear, there's a date in Ann Arbor, but this should be the year to face Michigan in the Big House, especially early on, and there are very winnable road games at Iowa, Michigan State and Indiana. Ohio State, Penn State and Illinois all have to come to Camp Randall. All that's missing is a settled quarterback situation.[/SIZE]

Cont'd ...
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Last year Wisconsin really suffered from the graduation of Stellmacher and Zalewski coupled with injuries to Langford and Chapman. Ikegwuonu (can't believe I spelled his name correctly the first time) and Hill were banged up for most of the year, too. Their offensive, while productive, didn't have the fire power to win many high scoring games. A lot of people (myself included) overlooked the loss of leadership in the middle of the defense that Stellmacher and Zalewski provided when picking the Badgers to last year. Assuming they have reformed themselves on defense this offseason and they can stay healthy (they couldn't last year), they still pose a significant challenge to the Buckeye hegemony over the Big Ten. Lots of assumptions there, though.
 
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Was there ever any doubt they'd make this a night game? I'm still waiting for Bielima to come out and reiterate his opposition to B10 night games.

Oh wait, thats only if he has to play them on the road, nevermind.
 
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