Wisconsin Badgers tailback Corey Clement will be out for the next four-to-six weeks due to sports hernia surgery.
“Corey Clement has been dealing with some issues since before the Alabama game,” Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst said. “He has been undergoing treatment since that time and has seen some progress but not to the point where our medical staff is satisfied. So after consultation with our medical staff, Corey has decided to have surgery for a sports hernia.”
“I feel bad for Corey that this is impacting his season because I know how hard he works and how important this football team is to him. We are very confident that he will make a full recovery after the surgery and I know he will attack his rehab so he can get back on the field as soon as he can.”
Corey Clement, who had the second best sound bite of anybody at Big Ten Media Day (Ohio State’s Josh Perry was number one), was poised to shed the “next Melvin Gordon” or “Melvin Gordon’s successor” title and truly become the first Corey Clement. That’s going to have to wait for now, as he’ll miss the next four: Hawaii, Iowa, at Nebraska and Purdue. He may miss the home date Rutgers and the trip to Illinois as well.
Wisconsin has tailbacks a plenty, so although this is a mighty huge setback, the Badgers are certainly not out of it in the Big Ten West yet.
However, watching Ole Miss beat Alabama the way that they did, all of a sudden the Badgers complete beat down at the hands of the Crimson Tide doesn’t seem so acceptable. So everybody’s favorite to win the Big Ten West is again, quite vulnerable. As for the team that everyone was picking to finish second in the west, Nebraska, well they have even bigger issues.
Nebraska versus Miami in 2015 was exactly like Pamela Anderson in 2015- you’re left thinking “can’t we have the 1990s version, which was a zillion times better instead? The Cornhuskers have had a very rough start to the Mike Riley regime, and it’s hard to picture them finishing higher than third or fourth in the West Division right now.
Illinois and Purdue are completely irrelevant so we’ll move on to the three pre-season “sleeper” teams that are now all of a sudden front-runners.
Everyone had Iowa, Minnesota and Northwestern all finishing somewhere between third to sixth in the division in August. Today, they all have as good a chance (if not better) as Wisconsin and Nebraska to making it to Indianapolis. Right now Northwestern is the third highest ranked Big Ten team, and the highest ranked of any team in the West.
Their win over Stanford is the league’s second most signature so far, with Michigan State beating Oregon as the obvious number one. I’ve seen a few bowl projections that have Northwestern vs. Alabama. Nick Saban vs Pat Fitzgerald, Lane Kiffin’s O. vs Mick McMall’s D. on New Year’s Day.
That sounds crazy on paper but really it’s not. As of now, it’s #12 vs #17. Not too crazy.
Anyway, a million things will change between now and New Year’s but the Big Ten West is truly a five team race now. (Unlike the East which is obviously a two team race) The Corey Clement injury leveled the playing field even more.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
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