David Hookstead | Smoke Room Editor-In-Chief
We’re about two and a half months away from the start of college football, and it’s time to start discussing what we should expect out of the Wisconsin Badgers this season.
Last season, my Badgers had an atrocious season that ended with an 8-5 record after beating Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl. It was horrible and fans everywhere were incredibly disappointed after we started the season with serious national title aspirations under Paul Chryst’s leadership. (RELATED: Will Jack Coan Or Graham Mertz
Going into 2019, let’s take a look at three possible outcomes for my squad. The first scenario is we go undefeated, win the Big 10 West, win the B1G title game and end up in the playoff. Obviously, this is the goal for every team, and it’s what Wisconsin fans expect.
The second scenario is probably the more likely one. We get wins over everybody except Michigan at home and Ohio State on the road. That would put Wisconsin at 10-2 and would almost certainly get us a spot in the B1G title game. From there, it’s the roll of the dice. At 10-2, we’d be setup for a great bowl game, but we’d also likely be out of playoff contention with two losses.
The third option is a doomsday scenario. It’s the kind of scenario that might have fans ready to riot in the streets. If the wheels fall off, we could be facing absolute disaster with losses to Michigan, Northwestern, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue and Minnesota. That’d mean we’d have a 4-8 record. I put the odds of this happening at around 1%.
If you asked me a year ago, I’d say such a scenario would be impossible. However, I also thought we were going to win the B1G last season and we lost five games during arguably the most disappointing season in Wisconsin football history. (RELATED: Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz Sends Message To His Critics, Says All His ‘Chips’ Are ‘In’)
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I’m not saying we’re going 4-8. It’s not going to happen and it has the same probability of me dating a Victoria’s Secret Angel by tomorrow morning. Hell, there’s a better chance Trump calls me up and offers me the nuclear codes than the Badgers finishing under .500.
I don’t even think losing four games is likely. I’d be very surprised if we only went 8-4. In my mind, 10-2 with losses to Michigan and Ohio State is really the only realistic option I see unfolding that isn’t us going undefeated.
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There are some serious question marks about this team. Will Graham Mertz live up to the hype of being the top quarterback recruit? Will Jack Coan do enough to hold him off at the start of the season when we play USF? Can we rebuild the offensive line?
How we answer these questions will ultimately determine whether or not we’re able to ride off into the sunset at the end of the year in a way that makes us satisfied.
It’s going to be a fun one when we open up the year August 30 against the USF Bulls. Sound off in the comments what you think will happen.
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