CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: 847badgerfan on September 06, 2022, 08:48:08 AM
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The Badgers cruised in week 1 against Illinois State, giving up 0 points while scoring 38.
The competition ramps up this week, although we don't know by how much. The Cougars struggled to beat Idaho 21-17. I've always thought that if those two schools were in the same state they should merge.
Anyway...
The Cougars are still an air-raid team so the UW secondary will be tested, and that unit will be without starting safety Hunter Wohler, who has a broken ankle. Overall, the defense is replacing 8 starters, which is of concern, but that unit is led by Jim Leonhard, which is of no concern.
Mertz was efficient with his game against ISU. 14-16 passing, with a TD and no picks. That's a good sign, but again, it's ISU. Braelon Allen is a beast of a TB. 96 yard TD set a school record that had been held by James White.
So, who wins?
Wisconsin, comfortably. I don't think they can pitch another shutout here, but it would not surprise me one bit if they did. Mertz should hit the 200 mark, and Allen should hit 150.
Badgers 38
Cougars 10
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WSU head coach Jake Dickert is from Oconto, Wisconsin. Nice area. He played WR at UW - Stevens Point.
His starting running back is a transfer from Wisconsin - Nakia Watson. The former 4* had a hard time seeing the field after 3* JT23 showed up in Madison. I'm sure he'll be motivated this weekend.
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On Wisconsin!
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Wisconsin injury list:
(https://i.imgur.com/mC58pvP.png)
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I know Wazzu isn't the most intimidating opponent, but it's still a P5 team with something of a pulse. I do expect the Badgers to shut down the Cougar offense, but I'm most interested to see if Mertz can have a quality game against a decent opponent. 38-10 sounds reasonable, but will it be with Mertz having 200 yards and 2 TDs passing, or will it just be lots of running the ball and Mertz limping along with 100 yards passing and a turnover or two like we saw too many times last year?
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The Wazzu QB reminded me of a poor man's Tyler Huntley, the ex Utah qb.
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As I understand it, Wazzou is kinda bad. UW should be comfortable, but who knows?
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Still a Power 5 team. I was pretty surprised to see the "bad" Oregon State beat Boise State and Arizona beat San Diego State. I don't think they're good enough to beat the Badgers, but it's a big step up in competition and we'll learn a lot more about them this week.
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They are a P5 team.
For now.
They gone when it's just the P2.