Wisconsin football appears to have found their footing. After dominating back to back weeks in which the Badgers out-scored Purdue and Rutgers 94-13, they head to Evanston to take on the Northwestern Wildcats. They hare coming off a 37-10 win at Maryland last Friday. With a prime time game next weekend against #3 Penn State, Wisconsin football can’t look past this game. Here are the keys to a victory against the Wildcats Saturday.
Wisconsin Football Needs to Continue Having Success Running the Ball
The Wisconsin football run game has been really good the last two games and pretty good this whole season. The Badgers have a veteran offensive line where all five have a good shot to play in the NFL at some point. They have been dominating the line of scrimmage and it’s been allowing players like Tawee Walker to record eight touchdowns in the last three games.
The Wildcats are giving up 129 rushing yards a game. Rutgers was allowing a similar number going into last weeks game and the Badgers ran all over them. I love the momentum this Wisconsin football offense has right now. I expect this team to try and establish the run game early and often. If they can continue to have success running the ball, they will win this game.
Win Turnovers and Time of Possession
Anytime you play Northwestern, possessions will be limited and your defense will stay on the field all game if you can’t get off the field on third down., It’s ugly football, but Northwestern loves ugly football and they are good at it.
Brayden Locke will have a tough task against this Wildcats defense. The talent isn’t there compared to a few years ago, but Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald has had a ton of success against this team in his Northwestern tenure. He knows this Wisconsin football team as well as any coach in the country. Whoever can stay on the field longer and generate their run game quicker will have the advantage.
Create Your Own Energy
The crowd and energy in Evanston has been mediocre at best over the years. It is not a good environment and product on the TV screen. To add to that, Northwestern is in the process of renovating Ryan Field. As a result, they are not playing games at Ryan Field this year and have a temporary home field.
This is a small venue this Wisconsin football team will be playing on. I would not be surprised if the crowd attendance was only 5,000-10,000 people. Why does that matter? It can be so hard to generate your own momentum and energy on the road, especially in a small crowd.
I don’t think this will be an issue for one reason. This Wisconsin football team got their asses kicked by this Northwestern team in Madison last year. Luke Fickell was the head coach so he is well aware of it. In my opinion, it looked like some Wisconsin football players quit during that game. For coaches, players, and fans, it was embarrassing, and humiliating. I’m sure they still have a sour taste in their mouth from that. I think that is enough to have their own momentum and energy.
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