Saturday’s match-up between the Big Ten’s #8/#9 Wisconsin Badgers (1-0) and the Pac 12’s Oregon State Beavers (0-1) contains a team riding high and one riding very low.
The Badgers offense looked electric in a 51-17 win over the UNLV Rebels while the Beavers fell victim to one of those FCS Schools. To make matters worse, the 29-28 loss to Sacramento State occurred in Corvallis, in front of all the Beavers fans.
Even though Oregon State starts a handful of true freshman and are dealing with some banged up players, the Badgers can’t look past a Beavers team who wants nothing more than some redemption.
Oregon State Synopsis: The Beavers boast the NCAA’s top rusher, Malcolm Agnew (pictured above), who ran for 223 yards on 33 caries in the loss last weekend. Unfortunately, Agnew won’t even make the trip to Madison. True freshman Terrod Ward and Jordan Jenkins are expected to carry the load this weekend.
Injuries are nothing new for Oregon State who are already without their best player and wide-receiver James Rodgers.
One thing the Beavers have going for them is that they play pretty much an identical pro-style offense as the Badgers. Whether that helps them or not is up in the air.
After looking like a team who could contend for the Pac-12 North title, they just look too injured and inexperienced to do so with their tough schedule.
Wisconsin Synopsis: The Badgers are flying high after Russell Wilson stole the show versus UNLV while throwing for 255 yards and totaling three touchdowns. Everyone in the country is waiting to see what he will do next and they’ll get the opportunity with the game on ESPN.
Followers of the Badgers will be interested to see if the defense can turn things around after an average performance in week one. Linebacker Chris Borland admitted some rust and is looking to make a big impact in their match-up with Oregon State. With the offense performing brilliantly in their first game, the Badgers are a solid defense away from being considered as one of the top contenders in the country.
Wisconsin has started 2-0 each season since 2002. The only other FBS team that can make that claim is USC, although some of the Trojans’ results were later vacated.
Prediction: With everything going wrong for the Beavers, I think it would be easy for this to be considered a trap game for the Badgers. But, Head Coach Bret Bielema does a great job of keeping his players motivated and I think they come out hungrier than they were in the opener.
Badgers 48 Oregon State 10
Do you think the Badgers have anything to worry about in their bout with the Beavers? Let me know by commenting below!
Nick Grays is a senior writer at the Sports Bank where he covers the Wisconsin Badgers, Green Bay Packers, and Milwaukee Brewers. He also enjoys to share Fantasy Advice from time-to-time. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here or visit his blog Nick Knows Best.