The Wisconsin Badgers will open the college football season on Friday night at home against the Western Michigan Broncos. The game is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. CT at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. For this college football contest, the game will be televised on FS1.
Western Michigan will be underdogs in this matchup against Wisconsin. Hopefully, this game will be a fun night for the Badgers faithful. After finishing with a 7-6 record a season ago, head coach Luke Fickell is looking for more success in his second season with the program.
Sports Illustrated’s Tony Libert Predicts That Chez Mellusi Will Set a Career High in Rushing Yards For the Wisconsin Badgers Against the Western Michigan Broncos
Sports Illustrated’s Tony Libert wrote three bold predictions for the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday night against the Western Michigan Broncos. One of the bold predictions for the game this weekend is that he thinks senior running back Chez Mellusi will set a career-high in rushing yards. Libert said:
“Last season, Western Michigan allowed 158.8 rushing yards per game, which ranked 82nd best in college football last season. The Badgers will enter Friday night with a new quarterback under center, but Phil Longo has proved that he still wants to establish the run. Chez Mellusi is about as healthy as he has been in his Wisconsin career and could be in line for a breakout game.
The Badgers have reportedly been “trying to limit” Mellusi’s workload in practice this preseason, but I think they could be waiting to break him out under the lights. His current career high is 157 yards, set last season against Buffalo in Week 1. There’s a good chance we could see him get close to that Friday night.”
Chez Mellusi only rushed for 307 yards on 51 carries and four touchdowns last season with the Wisconsin Badgers, along with averaging 6.0 yards per carry. He will be splitting carries potentially with former Oklahoma Sooners running back Tawee Walker. This bold prediction for Mellusi is crazy.
Replacing Braelon Allen
It will be hard for the Wisconsin Badgers to replace Braelon Allen in the backfield from a season ago. He did not rush for 1,000 yards, but he was close to it with 984 yards rushing. Allen was a fourth-round pick by the New York Jets in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Chez Mellusi is going to have to be productive in the backfield this season for the Badgers. Wisconsin’s offense is effective when the running game is going. If Mellusi does rush for a lot of yardage against the Western Michigan Broncos on Friday night, this would be a good start for him.
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