Wisconsin heads into Saturday’s matchup with Rutgers carrying the kind of pressure that comes with a game it simply has to have. After getting drubbed by Iowa, the Badgers are back in a stretch that could still shape how this season finishes, and the next three opponents sit 16th, 17th and 14th in the Big Ten.
One of the biggest questions hanging over Luke Fickell’s team is what happens at quarterback. Late in the third quarter against Iowa, Fickell and Jeff Grimes turned to Ryan Hopkins in search of something, anything, to spark an offense that had gone flat. That came in garbage time, so it would be a stretch to treat it like a full-on turning point, but it did at least put Hopkins on the radar.
A quarterback change still feels unlikely with three winnable games ahead of the rivalry game against Minnesota. Colton Joseph has not been great, but handing the offense to a true freshman this late in the year brings obvious risk.
Hopkins’ first real chance to throw the ball came in Iowa City, where he went 8-for-13 for 93 yards and threw one interception on a desperation fourth-and-18 heave. The sample was tiny, but for a true freshman in that setting, he looked as comfortable as could reasonably be expected.
Fickell didn’t tip anything in his weekly presser, and the situation is being kept quiet, but Hopkins’ role is worth watching this week.
The bigger issue for Wisconsin may be the response. The effort against Iowa was ugly, and there’s no way around how lifeless the Badgers looked while getting handled by a more prepared and motivated team.
That makes Saturday’s home game a useful measuring stick. If a rivalry game on Halloween, after four straight losses in the series, didn’t bring out the fire, what does that say about the energy for a November game against Rutgers?
Wisconsin should still have enough to win even without playing its best, but the sideline intensity will be worth tracking throughout the afternoon. Getting beaten badly by Iowa hurts, but the season is not close to over.
There are still three games left against teams at the bottom of the conference, then a home matchup with Minnesota, a program Wisconsin has not beaten in two years. If the Badgers handle business and finish strong, a 9-3 finish is still in play.
That path, though, depends on a better response than what showed up last week. A third of the season remains, and Wisconsin still has a favorable closing stretch. The question is whether this team can actually show it knows how to answer adversity.
The defense, as usual, will be central to that. For most of the year, Wisconsin’s defense has been dominant.
Even in a merely average outing by its standards, it held UCLA to 17 points on the road. Against Iowa, though, the performance slipped.
The Hawkeyes averaged just 3.3 yards per carry, but allowing Hank Brown, a quarterback whose job hasn’t been secure this season, to throw for nearly 200 yards in one half was not acceptable.
Rutgers is expected to stick with AJ Surace at quarterback after he started last week against Michigan in place of the injured Dylan Lonergan. The junior completed just three passes on 12 attempts, with completions of 80, 32 and 11 yards. Rutgers did manage 126 rushing yards on 26 carries against the Wolverines, nearly five yards per attempt, so Wisconsin can’t assume the run game will disappear.
Still, this feels like a spot where the Badgers’ defense should have a chance to set the tone. Wisconsin has been strong against the run all season, and if that holds again, Surace will be pushed into more passing than Rutgers would prefer. With the offense still under a cloud, Mike Tressel’s group may end up carrying the weight of the game once more.
In Other News...
Former Badgers Are Already Creating An Uncomfortable Question For Wisconsin
Wisconsins early-season watch list already extends well beyond Madison, because several former Badgers are making noise at other NCAA programs. Daniel Freitag opened his Oregon State stint with a start and 23 points, Gus Yalden logged 30 minutes for Vermont and finished with 17 points, and Riccardo Greppi gave Sam Houston a defensive lift off the bench. Aleksas Bieliauskas and John Blackwell are also in the mix at South Carolina and Duke, adding to the sense that this is not just a one-player storyline.
For Wisconsin, the uncomfortable part is less about any single departure than the way these transfers are showing up right away in new places. Early returns like these naturally invite the question of what the Badgers lost, what they might have been able to keep, and how many of these names will keep surfacing as the season goes on. It is still early, but the list is long enough to make the conversation hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsins Offensive Line Just Got Thrown Into Another Rutgers Test
Wisconsins offensive line has already spent much of this season in a state of flux, and the latest injury news only adds to the uncertainty. Line coach Eric Mateos has had to navigate a series of lineup changes around key players like Kevin Heywood, Emerson Mandell and Austin Kawecki, leaving the group to keep reshuffling while trying to find some continuity up front.
Now the Badgers head into another Rutgers test with Heywood listed as doubtful, which could force yet another adjustment to the front five. The staff has options to consider, but the bigger issue is how quickly Wisconsin can settle on a configuration that holds up against a Big Ten opponent and gives the offense a chance to build rhythm instead of starting over again. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsins Bowl Push May Hinge On These Emerging Badgers
With four games left and Wisconsin sitting at 5-3, the stretch run has started to feel like more than just a finish line. The Badgers are still in position to earn a bowl trip, and a few emerging contributors could end up shaping whether that goal gets reached. Jaylon Domingeaux has begun to matter on offense at the right time, giving the group another option as the season tightens.
On the other side of the ball, Sebastian Cheeks and Cooper Catalano have started to leave their mark in ways Wisconsin can use down the stretch. Their defensive impact gives the Badgers a little more stability as the margin for error shrinks. If this team is going to keep itself on a bowl path, it may come down to how much those younger pieces can keep growing over these final weeks. [Read more 🡒]