Barring the most miraculous upset of all-time, the Indiana Hoosiers (1-5) have no shot at winning at Camp Randall against the #4 Wisconsin Badgers (5-0). With the outcome basically decided, the only question left is how many points can the Badgers score or how many push-ups will Bucky have to do, how ever you want to look at it.
Last year, it was an astonishing 83 points (or 573 push-ups), the most-ever against an Indiana football team. With an even better offense led by Heisman Candidate Russell Wilson (@RussellManiaXVI) and a Hoosiers defense ranked close to last in the Big Ten (421.5 yards per game), the possibilities are really endless.
Indiana Synopsis: Fortunately for the Hoosiers, they have a new coach in Kevin Wilson (pictured above) who had no part in the lopsided loss last year. However, at the same time, the team has already had it’s fair share of struggles this season under Wilson.
Their biggest problem has been opposing running backs who have racked up 210 rushing yards per game (109th ranked rush defense). That does not bode well for the Hoosiers because the Badgers backs Montee Ball and James White are both completely healthy and ready to continue an already successful season.
Just for the sake of a little optimism, IU’s defense has looked decent at times, most notably in a 16-10 loss to Penn State where they were able to prevent the Nittany Lions from scoring (two turnovers in the red zone). Other than that, I’m not really sure what to say here because the Badgers offense is nothing like Penn State’s offense.
For the full Indiana season preview go here.
Wisconsin Synopsis: The Badgers are fresh off a much-needed bye week and a very emotional and decisive win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. While critics believe beating a team by 60+ points is “running up the score,” isn’t it really a necessity in the BCS system these days? Beating Indiana by over 60 for the second year in a row will only help the Badgers catch the LSUs, Alabamas and Oklahomas of the world.
Padding the statistics for Russell Wilson would also be in the benefit of the Badgers because Wilson is not only a candidate for the Heisman, but considered by many to be right up there with Stanford’s Andrew Luck as the frontrunners for the award. Yeah, he probably won’t play the entire game, but while he is in there, let him zip it around and add a few touchdowns to his already large tally in 2011.
What I’m personally looking forward to in this game is finding out if the Badgers back-ups can stick with this Indiana team. Whether that happens in the third quarter or fourth quarter is the real mystery.
For the full Wisconsin season preview go here.
Prediction: Everything points towards a Badgers blowout on Saturday morning and it doesn’t help that the Badgers have won each of their last nine regular-season games by 20 or more points. UW’s offense is the only squad in the country to average 240 yards receiving and rushing which is just way too much balance for the Hoosiers to deal with. I think we also learned that the Badgers defense is legit when they locked down on the Nebraska offense, so I don’t expect the Hoosiers to score too many points their-selves.
Wisconsin 64 Indiana 6
How many points do you think the Badgers will score against Indiana? 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.