Wisconsin Badgers (Luke Fickell) 2024 football game by game predictions and roster discussion

today I'll be doing Wisconsin so most head coaches do uh see Improvement in their second season at a program and I think that will be the case for Wisconsin with fickle you know they didn't have that good of a season in his first year there but uh really uh I think it was too soon for them because Wisconsin's roster is not bad but they just do not have a whole lot of talent like places like Alabama and Georgia that are loaded with Talent uh but uh so I will talk some about the roster first and then I'll go through the schedule game by game and give you a predicted winner and loser for each game so starting on the offensive side uh Wisconsin's offense I saw before last season started was uh going to switch to the air raid but that didn't come close to happening it still looked like Wisconsin's offense of the past where they run the football a whole lot more than they throw it uh with a good running backs and a strong offensive line and they move slow and use up a bunch of clock uh but their offense that was terrible last year only scoring on average 22.3 points per game and I think that that will improve this year so the big reason why their offense was a disappointment last year was the quarterback transfer that they brought in was a big disappointment he was supposed to be good but didn't turn out to be any good at all and this year they bring in a another transfer quarterback his name is Tyler van djk from Miami he's a fourthe starter and he started a a total of 28 games in college and he's really been three different quarterbacks in his college career at Miami at times he's looked great like one of the best quarterbacks in the country and then at times he's looked uh pretty average and then at times he's also looked like a bad quarterback and if you don't believe me you can look at his numbers in games he even got benched last season for a little while because he was playing badly and Wisconsin's season I think is going to depend a lot on how he is as their quarterback if he's great like he's been before at Miami Wisconsin could have a really good season and if he struggles Wisconsin I think he's going to struggle again and if he's average I think they could still improve I think he'll be solid for them at quarterback but I'm kind of doubtful that he's going to be great uh and then at running back they're good here they do lose brayan Allen who's off to the NFL who was one of the best running backs in the Big 10 but they return chz maloi who has in 22 games 336 carries for 159 95 yards and 11 touchdowns averaging 4.7 a carry he's coming back from a broken leg suffered early last season and they also bring in a good running back from Oklahoma toe Walker who had on 102 carries last season 513 yards and seven touchdowns averaging five yards a carry and he had two games of over a 100 rushing yard yards and at wide receiver will Pauling returns and he's one of the best wide receivers in the Big 10 he had last season 74 catches for 837 and six touchdowns averaging 11.3 a catch now uh helping him out I think is going to be a questionable thing uh they do return Bryson grain who is a possibility to become a a second a good wide receiver for them this season he has in 22 games these past two seasons a 68 catches for 1,064 and seven touchdowns averaging 15.6 a catch and he had in the bowl game last year seven catches for 105 yards and then their offensive line is going to be good they return four starters from a strong offensive line last season that includes a Right Guard Joe Huber who had allowed zero sacks uh all of last season in 825 snaps and right tackle Riley malman who had a pressure rate of only 3% and of course with a pressure rate you want it to be lower than higher uh and they get back uh fickles old center from when he was at Cincinnati who has missed the last two seasons with an injury but in 2021 he only allowed two sacks All Season his name is Jake Ren and on the defensive side they were good uh overall here last year uh only allowing 20 point points per per game on average but the defensive line is a big concern for Wisconsin I don't think it's going to be very good it wasn't very good last year and they only were return one starter from the defensive line and they didn't bring in any good transfers there and if you're not strong up front that is an issue but uh at linebacker they look very strong they were return Jake Cheney who had last season 80 tackles and three sacks and 14 total pressures and they bring in a transfer linebacker from Arkansas Jim Thomas who was really good he had last season 90 tackles and three and a half sacks and two pass breakups and nine total pressures and they also have a a transfer coming in from USC who was a fourstar recruit uh hacket Curtis who started eight games and played in uh 12 games last season as a crew freshman and had 40 tackles and two sacks and two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble and a pass break up and they also bring in a transfer from an fepcs school but I had to mention him because the you can't really ignore the numbers that he put up there is name is John Pas who had in two seasons there 10 tackles 18 and a half sacks and three pass breakups and a forced fumble and fumble recovery and last season he had 39 total Crashers and then the secondary is going to be the biggest strength of Wisconsin's whole team not just the defense their secondary is going to be leap this year so starting at cornerback they return Ricardo Hallman who has a 34 tackles and seven interceptions and a pick six and five pass breakups last season and they also have uh Nazir for Corin who started five games and played in 12 games last season and had 39 tackles and two sacks and two pass breakups and then they're really good at safety too they were return Hunter woer who had 12 tackles last season and also six pass breakups and two interceptions and a sack and they also have Austin Brown who started four games and played in every game last season and had 36 tackles and two pass breakups and a sack and they also have camoi loua who has in 24 games making 18 starts uh 75 tackles and six pass breakups he had 56 tackles in 2022 and Wisconsin returns a lot of production from last season 68% and on special teams they look solid here both Specialists come back and they did a decent job for them not a great job uh so uh now uh moving on to the predictions that they start the year against Western Michigan which will be a very easy win and then they get another easy game against South Dakota a blowout and then they have a big home game against Alabama so I think this is a bad matchup for Wisconsin because Alabama is still going to be a team I think that is going to want to run the football more than they're going to want to throw it because the Alabama's wide receiver unit is talented but it's not loaded with proven wide receivers in college and Jaylen milro has improved as a passer but he's still not an elite passer in my opinion and they've got two really good running backs and of course Jaylen melro is also a really good runner and I think Alabama's a really good offensive line will dominate Wisconsin's weaker defensive line and Alabama will run for a whole lot of yards on them and um Wisconsin uh is I think not going to score that many points in this game because the Alabama's defense is probably going to take a step back this year but that's because of the secondary getting Waker Alabama's front seven is still really strong and that's what uh was wiconsin is going to want to do more I think this year is run the football so uh I do think this will be a competitive game but I think in the fourth quarter Alabama pulls away and wins by around two touchdowns so then they play on the road at USC so this game I think is going to be really close fairly high scoring but so Wisconsin secondary can probably slow down but us se's passing attack a little and Wisconsin I think will have success running the football against USC but uh I know Lincoln Riley is known for having Heisman level quarterbacks but his offenses can also beat you on the ground too and I think that's what they'll do to Wisconsin they'll run the football a whole lot on them successfully and USC's uh passing attack is not the type that is just going to be shut down completely they're still going to make some big plays uh throwing the ball even against Elite defensive backs and I don't think Wisconsin has quite enough in the passing game to keep up with USC so I think USC wins by about a touchdown and then they play Purdue and Purdue even if Wisconsin is not playing at their ceiling in this game I don't think he uh capable of winning this game but they're horrible and Wisconsin should beat them by like three touchdowns but so then they play on the road at Rutgers I think this will be a lower scoring close game so ruggers offense is going to want to run the football this year for one reason that's all they can do because they can't throw the ball hardly at all and then another reason is Wisconsin in secondary is El lead and their defensive line is weak uh so I think ruggers will have success running the football in this game uh but uh ruggers defense I know was pretty good last year but I don't think it's going to be quite as good this year they do lose some uh really good players on that side of the ball and uh Wisconsin's offense I do think is just a little bit more balanced than ruers is I think they'll make a little bit of plays throwing the football in this game enough to get the win and uh so next on the road at Northwestern so I think this will be a close one but uh Wisconsin I think has a better offense than Northwestern Northwestern is a very questionable at the quarterback position and I think Wisconsin is a better rushing team and they've got the better offensive line and northwestern's defense does return a lot of players and I think they're stronger on the defensive line but at Wisconsin is much stronger in the secondary and at linebacker than Northwestern is so I think Wisconsin gets a road win here so uh then they play Penn State at home so this is going to be a tough one for Wisconsin Penn State has two really good running backs and I think they'll take advantage of Wisconsin's weak defensive line and run for a whole lot of yards in this game and of course Wisconsin's secondary is great but no one is really concerned about Penn State's uh throwing this season and Wisconsin though I think will be able to run some too in this game because I think their offensive line matches up well with Penn State's defensive line just they won't quite be able to run as much as Penn State well but Wisconsin's secondary is even better I think than Penn State as a and I think that Wisconsin will be able to make it a few more big plays throwing the football in this game than Penn State because you know Penn State is stuck with disaster Aller at quarterback and I do think that Penn State is the better team and if this was at Penn State I would take them but at home uh I think Wisconsin pulls the upset so uh then they play on the road at Iowa so this will be a defensive battle because it's I a really good defense and a non-exist offense so last year Iowa beat Wisconsin because they just shut down Wisconsin's offense was Wisconsin's offense was awful too so Iowa didn't even have to score much but Wisconsin's offense I think has the ability to be much better than Iowas this year and Iowa has a big advantage over Wisconsin on the defensive line but everywhere else the linebackers and the defensive backs I think Wisconsin matches up well with iow on the defensive side and Wisconsin has the better of everything offensively than Iowa offensive line quarterback running back and wide receiver and don't think that Iowa is just going to be able to run the football in this game because I know Iowa's passing game was horrible last year like nonexist existant but they also ranked in the 100s in rushing yards two last season so I think that Wisconsin's offense will make a big play to win this game so uh then they play Oregon at home so this is like with Alabama game a bad matchup for Wisconsin because Oregon I know could be slowed down throwing the ball by Wisconsin Elite secondary but Dylan Gabriel and those wide receivers like TZ Johnson aren't going to be able to be just shut down completely by Wisconsin secondary they're still going to make quite a few plays throwing the football and Wisconsin I think 's offensive line does match up pretty well with the Oregon's defensive line to where Wisconsin will be able to run some in this game but uh Oregon has also gotten in at Le secondary to where I don't think Wisconsin will be able to throw much in this game and Oregon has also got two good running backs and one of the best offensive lines in college football so I think they'll be able to run for a whole lot of yards on wcon in this game and I think it'll be competitive but I think Oregon pulls away in the fourth quarter and wins by around two touchdowns so then they play on the road at Nebraska this will be a club close one so Nebraska's quarterback you know is a true freshman even though he's a five-star quarterback so Tyler van djk has much more experience than him even though he probably doesn't have as high of a ceiling as Nebraska's new quarterback and Wisconsin does have a much better running back unit than Nebraska does now Nebraska I think has the better group of w receivers and on the offensive line they're pretty even Nebraska is strong off on the offensive line too and the defensive line Nebraska is stronger than Wisconsin no doubt but uh I do think that Wisconsin has a clear Advantage at linebacker and in the secondary at least by a little bit so uh I just think was wiconsin is a little bit better than Nebraska I wouldn't be surprised if Nebraska won this one but I'm going to pick Wisconsin even on the road so uh then they end the season at home against Minnesota so Minnesota is going to want to do in this game what they pretty much always want to do run the football and use up a bunch of clock and they'll have success doing that I think because of the struggles on the defensive line for Wisconsin but Minnesota I don't think is going to have that good of a group of wide receivers either like you know Wisconsin doesn't have the best overall group of wide receivers uh and Wisconsin I think is deeper at the running back position than Minnesota is and Minnesota does uh have a better defensive line but Wisconsin is better everywhere else uh on the defense so I don't think there'll be a whole lot of points scored in this game but I think Wisconsin wins this by at least a touchdown so my final prediction for Wisconsin is a nine and3 overall and seven and two in the conference uh so that would be a two win improvement from last season but you know they could do worse than this because those Road games against ruers and Northwestern and Iowa and Nebraska are all games they could lose that I pick them to win every one of and also Penn State is a game that they're going to be the underdog in that I pick them to win so they could possibly even miss a bowl game if things don't go right with the roster but I think that their head coach Luke fickle is going to get it together this season to have a good year uh but that will be it with this video thanks for watching please subscribe and I'll be back soon