Wisconsin Football could have a promising season on its hands. With one of the better recruiting classes this cycle and some notable transfer portal gets, it looks to have the talent to beat most of the teams on its schedule. Luke Fickell now enters his second season with the Badgers after taking Cincinnati to the CFP, but things will not be easy.
Absorbing most of the Pac-12, the now certainly outdatedly named Big 10 becomes a much tougher conference in 2024. However, the Badgers have a pair of non-conference freebies (in theory) to open the year with Western Michigan on Aug 31 and a game against South Dakota a week later. They then match up against Alabama, a formidable team that recently just lost Nick Saban, but they are a good team with the talent, the leadership, and the coaching. However, they have holes, and the Badgers must exploit one of them: their rushing defense, which ranked 31st in the nation at 124.8 rush yards per game.
Going forward in the season, they match up against some big names: USC, Oregon, Penn State, Nebraska, and IoTeamRankings listed six of these teams in the top 15 of their rushing and pass defenses. Meanwhile, ESPN ranked the Badgers schedule as the 24th hardest in the FPI ranks. This schedule will test the Badgers team to the max. LB Darryl Peterson went on the BleavinBadgers podcast and said, “It adds a little more fuel to the fire.” referring to the 2024 Schedule.
Additionally, The Badgers have one of the best, if not the best offensive lines in CFB, which will only help incoming QB Tyler Van Dyke; and the depth at the skill spots is much better than a year ago. If Van Dyke can stay at his ceiling like he did his sophomore year with the Hurricanes, and if Chez Mellusi remains healthy, the backfield should tear up most of the defenses in the Big 10. Needless to say, there's a lot to be optimistic about.
Onto the other side of the ball, with the Badgers getting tons of weapons in the secondary, Defensive Coordinator Mike Tressel will have a lot to work with this season, including transfer linebackers John Puis out of William&Marry and Tackett Curtis from USC. The Badgers' defense is experienced and needs to stay on their A-game if they want a shot to stop Dillion Gabriel of Oregon or Jalen Milore of Alabama. Still, there is also lots of pressure on the Offense to keep up with the number of opportunities they will get, and they need to capitalize on them and show the rest of the Big 10 that they are a lethal team.
Van Dyke's expectations are going to be high. He will need to prove that he will exceed all of the seasons he has played and show that he's draft-worthy, and Mellussi must stay healthy for the backfield to get as much production as possible and destroy opposing rush defenses; full stop. Overall, the Badgers have a lot on their plate and will need to overcome the adversity and fear to make this season one of the best in program history. Can the Badgers surpass the six-win mark with all of these weapons? Only time will tell; just watch and wait to see what Luke Fickell and the squad can cook up.
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