Wisconsin Badgers 2021 Football Schedule Preview

[Music] the 2020 schedule for wisconsin was really just a mess when you look at all the cancellations of course covet uh playing a big factor especially in the big ten last season they didn't get to play nebraska they didn't get to play purdue and they also did not get to play minnesota now they did play in their bowl game so that was that was an additional game for them and wound up because of that win getting them to a winning record um as they finish the season off at four and three this is the schedule for 2021 before we go game by game let's first look at who they play outside of their division because of course we know they're going to play every team in the big ten west outside of the division they'll play eastern michigan in the non-conference a team that has been you know pretty good in the past out of the at the group of five level but i don't think that's going to be too big of a challenge then you also have notre dame they'll play that game in chicago i believe at soldier field that'll be a really big game um looking forward to that one and then they'll have army a tough non-conference match up there army always is a tough team to beat that that's probably going to be a pretty low scoring game if i had to guess i think both teams are probably going to want to run the football um and i think you see a lot of a lot of long drives in that game uh and then out of the big ten east the teams they'll play across the division they'll play penn state and michigan both at home so you're playing two of the better teams although michigan wasn't very good really both teams were not very good last year so you're playing still normally two of the better teams out of the east but you get them both at home so that's the good news and then they'll have rutgers on the road rutgers is a program that is is starting to come up with greg schiano they looked much better last year so that may not be an easy win there so let's go back to the schedule and we'll go game by game starting with the opener on september 4th against penn state talk about a way to start the season off that's going to be a huge game i mean that you're talking about two of the better teams i think next year in the big ten they will go at it right out of the gate week one conference game looking forward to seeing what happens in that game again i think that that is going to be um an exciting matchup and it's just it's to me it's kind of weird to see big ten conference games in week one i know they've started to do that um but you're gonna be thrown in the fire right away big game there then eastern michigan on september 11th that'll be maybe their easiest game of the season and again we're talking about a group of five team that's not bad and so they'll play them and then get ready for notre dame now they have a bye week very early in the season this year they will have their bye week between eastern michigan and notre dame so once you get to notre dame it's 10 straight weeks of football they will have no bye weeks after that but after playing a tough penn state team in eastern michigan you might need a bye week before playing notre dame i think that is is maybe their biggest game of the year out well i wouldn't say it's the biggest game of the year just because it's not in the in the conference you know it's not going to affect whether or not they go to the big 10 championship but if this team is going to do something big if they're going to potentially make a run at the college football playoff if they're going to be that level of a team then this is their biggest game because this is probably the toughest opponent that they'll play they don't play ohio state in the big ten so notre dame gonna be a big game there in chicago then they'll go right back to michigan i mean this schedule does not start off easy you got michigan on october the second and then they'll play illinois on the road october 9th that might be their easiest big ten conference game and then army on october 16th so it's it's kind of a weird schedule playing normally the big ten teams play their non-conference games pretty much the first three weeks or three the first four weeks but they're gonna have a non-conference game there in mid-october against army and that's going to be again a pretty tough matchup purdue comes on october 23rd that game will be on the road uh against you know a purdue team that is is competitive i mean you're not going to just go in there and blow them out purdue hasn't had great records last few years but they've been pretty competitive in their games and so i think that that is going to be a pretty big test for wisconsin i don't think that's a game where you just go in there and show up and win i know last year well they didn't play purdue last year so who knows what would have happened but they'll play purdue again on october the 23rd i realize the michigan game says september 2nd it should say october 2nd just a typo on my part then you've got iowa coming up next november 30th when we're talking about the biggest game in the conference the biggest game that will more than likely have the biggest impact on the big ten west then it's this game so if this is not a playoff team and and i don't really know that they will be but if this is a team that's just maybe trying you know have a chance to get to the big ten championship game and this was probably their biggest game another game notre dame game really won't matter this iowa game though will matter and i think these are probably the top two teams in that division they get them at home that's good news uh but that's going to be a big game there rutgers on november 6th on the road then northwestern on november 13th nebraska november 20th to get those two games back to back at home and then minnesota to close it out november 27th on the road this is a tough schedule now i know you're going to say well this schedule is not that tough they don't play any any really top 10 teams notre dame might be a top 10 team but there are just no easy games on this schedule i mean every opponent that they play is going to be able to to play with wisconsin i don't think wisconsin is going to blow out many teams unless they turn out to just be a really good team uh you know a top 10 elite type team which they might be but just there's a potential for so many losses here penn state michigan talk about army a sneaky game there of course notre dame purdue on the road iowa rutgers is going to be a tricky game northwestern just won this division nebraska's got talent we'll see if they put it together and then minnesota on the road i mean it's just week in and week out and because their bye week comes before notre dame there's just no break and even you know if you go past the illinois game who might be you know illinois might be an easy win in the big ten this year there's really no break at all from army to minnesota so this schedule is not on paper the the toughest schedule when you talk about um top 10 opponents you know having to play really really hard games but it's a tough schedule just because of the grind and the fact that they will play quality teams week in and week out they don't have any two tough uh back-to-backs i don't think notre dame michigan probably their toughest back-to-back they don't have any back-to-back road games so there are some things that set up well for wisconsin but again it's just going to be a test each week and if they they will have to play at a high level play consistently all year long if they are going to have success in 2021