Wisconsin is one of the hottest teams in the country, fresh off a huge win over 11th ranked Michigan, where they totally dominated the game in every possible factor. The Badgers were led by Heisman candidate Jonathan Taylor, who had 203 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns.
Wisconsin is now ranked 8th in the country and looks to have an excellent chance to compete for the Big Ten title.
Northwestern comes in to the weekend following a loss to Michigan State, where many thought there was a very good chance for an upset. They now have a 1-2 record and a brutal 4 game stretch of tough opponents in front of them starting with Wisconsin this weekend.
Wisconsin Offense Balanced
Wisconsin is normally a run first team, but this season they are very balanced averaging 243 yards passing, to go along with 264 yards rushing.
Junior QB Jack Coan has been very efficient this season, with nearly 700 yards passing, 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, along with 2 rushing touchdowns. His go to target this season has been Quintez Cephus, who had a big week 2 against Central Michigan with 6 catches 130 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Northwestern’s offense is definitely a run first team, led by freshman running back Drake Anderson, who has 232 yards and 2 touchdowns in his last 2 games, after not playing much in week 1.
Hunter Johnson Needs to Step Up
Northwestern really needs their sophomore QB, Hunter Johnson, a former 5 star recruit who transferred from Clemson, to step up. He has really struggled this season, with 2 of the 3 games not even surpassing 100 yards in the air. Mistakes have also hurt Johnson, who has 4 interceptions with only 1 passing TD.
The real stars of Wisconsin this year have been on the defensive side of the ball, who didn’t allow a single point through the first 10 quarters of the season, before Michigan scored a garbage time TD last week.
Leading the way is linebacker Zach Baun, who has a sack in each of the first 3 games. While Northwestern allowed a normally meek Michigan State team score 31 points last week.
Wisconsin 3-0 ATS
Northwestern has normally played very well against Wisconsin 3 of the last 5 matchups, including last year’s 31-17 win, where they easily covered the -3.5 point spread.
This season Wisconsin is on a roll, easily covering the first 2 games of the season as heavy favorites and then last week easily covering the -3.5 point spread, winning by 21 points.
This is a classic Big Ten 11am central kickoff, where I expect Wisconsin to run, run and run some more and try to escape injury free as the Badgers look forward to their midseason showdown at Ohio State.
The spread is a massive 24 points, but the way Wisconsin is rolling I don’t see anything slowing them down this week.
There’s also a good chance Northwestern doesn’t score in this one which may keep thisgame under the total of 46, providing the Badgers don’t hang 46 or more themselves.
Our Picks – Wisconsin -24 and under 46