Why we will beat Wisconsin

[Ratt Mhule]

The only way we win is if we score more points than Wisconsin.

 

Well said, sir, well said

[Caven]

The only way we win is if we score more points than Wisconsin.

 

Are you sure that you can't win by scoring less? Where do ref points count? (Just asking in case it is relevant for the game)

[Bdgrfan]

I feel that we are very capable of winning this game, but anything can happen. Our offense is very fast...too fast for the Wisconsin D in my opinion. And we will definetely give up some points, but I think if we score at least 30 (and thats a big if), we win this game. Its gonna be a battle for sure.

 

Two cents from someone whos watched all UW's games and two Nebraska games:

 

Key matchups:

 

Dennard vs. Toon: 5'10 corner vs. 6'3 receiver. Toon has been having the kind of season UW fans have been hoping for since he got here. Can Dennard shut him down or does Toon win the jump balls? On the other side, Corey Cooper had some problems last week.

 

UW OLBs/DEs vs. Martinez: The Badgers don't have great speed here, although DEs Nzegwu and Gilbert are good athletes and OLBs Taylor and Claxton are solid. Can they consistently turn Martinez in or can he regularly get to the corner and gash UW like UNLV did? Martinez is a hell of a weapon and has the ability to make it a long night for UW's defenders.

 

Crick and Co. vs. Wilson: Wilson has been amazing, No. 2 in the nation in completion percentage, throwing extremely well on the run, avoiding pressure and turning in some nice runs. Can Nebraska's D-line 1) get some kind of consistent pressure on him, while 2) holding their rushing lanes so he can't escape and hurt the Huskers with his legs?

 

Special teams: UW kicker Alec Lerner has booted 3 kickoffs OB -- this plus Ameer Abdullah give Nebraska a decided advantage here. Can UW avoid a big breakdown?

 

It's true UW has faced poor competition to this point, but they've done exactly what an outstanding team should do to inferior opponents. Both teams have gotten better as the season has gone along. Both teams have kept things pretty vanilla thus far but will pull out the stops Saturday.

 

I think in the end, UW just has too many offensive weapons and Wilson has been so good in making use of them. The Badgers can run inside and out, stretch the field, their O-line are brutes who make a living grinding down a defense through the course of a game, but they can also get out and pull. And if the defense focuses too much on stopping the run, the play-action pass becomes devastating. Not sure 30 is gonna do it, as the previous poster suggested.

Offensively, Nebraska is gonna score but I think they're gonna have to work harder for it, ie., put together longer drives as opposed to living off big plays. Nebraska can not let UW get ahead by much because I don't think Martinez can pass the Huskers back in the game. I think their best hope is to win the turnover battle and maybe get a kick/punt return TD. But if the Badgers don't shoot themselves in the foot too often, I see something along the lines of UW 38, Nebraska 27.

 

Can't wait to see it play out.

[bshirt]

As bad as I hate to say it and as much as I love our speed on O.. We wont score more then 17 against them. I hope I am wrong but I dont see it.

 

Well, I sure do. Doesn't mean I'm right (at all). But I expect a shoot-out.

[zoogs]

Great post Bdgrfan. I do not think Corey Cooper will start for us but I guess we can only hope they do the right thing and keep him at safety.

 

Ciante Evans, Andrew Green, Josh Mitchell...one of those guys, please!

[Hercules]

I feel that we are very capable of winning this game, but anything can happen. Our offense is very fast...too fast for the Wisconsin D in my opinion. And we will definetely give up some points, but I think if we score at least 30 (and thats a big if), we win this game. Its gonna be a battle for sure.

 

Two cents from someone whos watched all UW's games and two Nebraska games:

 

Key matchups:

 

Dennard vs. Toon: 5'10 corner vs. 6'3 receiver. Toon has been having the kind of season UW fans have been hoping for since he got here. Can Dennard shut him down or does Toon win the jump balls? On the other side, Corey Cooper had some problems last week.

 

UW OLBs/DEs vs. Martinez: The Badgers don't have great speed here, although DEs Nzegwu and Gilbert are good athletes and OLBs Taylor and Claxton are solid. Can they consistently turn Martinez in or can he regularly get to the corner and gash UW like UNLV did? Martinez is a hell of a weapon and has the ability to make it a long night for UW's defenders.

 

Crick and Co. vs. Wilson: Wilson has been amazing, No. 2 in the nation in completion percentage, throwing extremely well on the run, avoiding pressure and turning in some nice runs. Can Nebraska's D-line 1) get some kind of consistent pressure on him, while 2) holding their rushing lanes so he can't escape and hurt the Huskers with his legs?

 

Special teams: UW kicker Alec Lerner has booted 3 kickoffs OB -- this plus Ameer Abdullah give Nebraska a decided advantage here. Can UW avoid a big breakdown?

 

It's true UW has faced poor competition to this point, but they've done exactly what an outstanding team should do to inferior opponents. Both teams have gotten better as the season has gone along. Both teams have kept things pretty vanilla thus far but will pull out the stops Saturday.

 

I think in the end, UW just has too many offensive weapons and Wilson has been so good in making use of them. The Badgers can run inside and out, stretch the field, their O-line are brutes who make a living grinding down a defense through the course of a game, but they can also get out and pull. And if the defense focuses too much on stopping the run, the play-action pass becomes devastating. Not sure 30 is gonna do it, as the previous poster suggested.

Offensively, Nebraska is gonna score but I think they're gonna have to work harder for it, ie., put together longer drives as opposed to living off big plays. Nebraska can not let UW get ahead by much because I don't think Martinez can pass the Huskers back in the game. I think their best hope is to win the turnover battle and maybe get a kick/punt return TD. But if the Badgers don't shoot themselves in the foot too often, I see something along the lines of UW 38, Nebraska 27.

 

Can't wait to see it play out.

 

1. If Dennard is 100%, I'd take him in a matchup over Toon. After 1st rounder Prince Amukumara got burnt by Justin Blackmon (probably the best WR in college football), Dennard shut him down in the second half. Dennard is a beast.

 

2. Martinez could hurt Wisconsin, but I don't think they'll let him. They're going to go with the Wyoming defensive gameplan, and force Nebraska's offense to beat them with our running backs and Martinez's arm.

 

3. Our D-line hasn't been great so far this year... If they play like they have, Russell Wilson might have a big night. However, over the past several years, they've come up big against very good dual threat QBs (most notably, Tyrod Taylor). I don't know who's going to win this battle.

 

It'll be interesting to see what happens. If Nebraska and Wisconsin play like they have so far this year, I'd take Wisconsin by about 10. I do think there's a decent chance that Nebraska comes out with its hair on fire, and I think that Nebraska's speed advantage might prove to be too much for Wisconsin to handle. Pretty tough to tell at this point though. Should be a great game.

[bshirt]

With Dennard back, yes the Huskers will be able to play with them. Wis does have a soft 4 game schedule to start the season, but it gave their QB time to settle in. The Huskers can win this game if they can pressure their QB. This guy can flat throw a football and is elusive enough to get out of trouble with his feet. The worry I have is, can the rest of the defensive back field do their part. We lost some great players last year and it really shows this year. Bo has said each year that the defense is better than last years, since Suh left. Lets be honest here. It has dropped a notch each year since. This year hasn't played out yet, but I think we can all see that this one is down from last year already. Was last years d-line that good or was the pass coverage so good, that it made it seem that way. With Dennard coming back, and many here thinking this is all we need to be the defense we have been the last few years, there are going to be a lot of disappointed fans. I think the defense can play good enough to keep us in any game, as long as the offense keeps improving and putting up their share of points. It was time for the offense to do their share, and it looks like maybe just maybe they are getting close to being consistent. Martinez seems able to throw those short routes a lot better than he did last year, and Burkhead seems to be running with that toughness, he showed last year. We don't have a defense like Okl or Fla St showed yesterday, but I am starting to like the way our offense is looking, problems and all. Our defense is decent and our offense looks to be getting better, and we have a good bunch of freshmen ready to shine.

Bring on the B1G

 

GBR!!!

 

Agreed, good post.

 

I just wanted to start a optimistic post for once, instead of all the doom and gloom. We are going to be a good team, we may drop a game or 2, but this season will build the foundation on offense for the next few years. With all the talent we have, all we need to have is the offense and defense peak in the same year. Young secondary this year, we NEED a good class of linebackers this year, and it all could come together in the next couple of years. We have a very young team, and young guys are inconsistent. Thats just how its going to be. We seem to have fixed a few problems on the line as far as penalites go, Tmagic is growing into a game manager, and we are starting to see the attitude of one Mr Bo Pelini on the offensive side of the ball. It might not happen this year but the future looks promising.

 

 

Thank you sir. It is indeed nice to see a thread here that doesn't rip apart our own player & coaches.

[Bromontana]

I feel that we are very capable of winning this game, but anything can happen. Our offense is very fast...too fast for the Wisconsin D in my opinion. And we will definetely give up some points, but I think if we score at least 30 (and thats a big if), we win this game. Its gonna be a battle for sure.

 

Two cents from someone whos watched all UW's games and two Nebraska games:

 

Key matchups:

 

Dennard vs. Toon: 5'10 corner vs. 6'3 receiver. Toon has been having the kind of season UW fans have been hoping for since he got here. Can Dennard shut him down or does Toon win the jump balls? On the other side, Corey Cooper had some problems last week.

 

UW OLBs/DEs vs. Martinez: The Badgers don't have great speed here, although DEs Nzegwu and Gilbert are good athletes and OLBs Taylor and Claxton are solid. Can they consistently turn Martinez in or can he regularly get to the corner and gash UW like UNLV did? Martinez is a hell of a weapon and has the ability to make it a long night for UW's defenders.

 

Crick and Co. vs. Wilson: Wilson has been amazing, No. 2 in the nation in completion percentage, throwing extremely well on the run, avoiding pressure and turning in some nice runs. Can Nebraska's D-line 1) get some kind of consistent pressure on him, while 2) holding their rushing lanes so he can't escape and hurt the Huskers with his legs?

 

Special teams: UW kicker Alec Lerner has booted 3 kickoffs OB -- this plus Ameer Abdullah give Nebraska a decided advantage here. Can UW avoid a big breakdown?

 

It's true UW has faced poor competition to this point, but they've done exactly what an outstanding team should do to inferior opponents. Both teams have gotten better as the season has gone along. Both teams have kept things pretty vanilla thus far but will pull out the stops Saturday.

 

I think in the end, UW just has too many offensive weapons and Wilson has been so good in making use of them. The Badgers can run inside and out, stretch the field, their O-line are brutes who make a living grinding down a defense through the course of a game, but they can also get out and pull. And if the defense focuses too much on stopping the run, the play-action pass becomes devastating. Not sure 30 is gonna do it, as the previous poster suggested.

Offensively, Nebraska is gonna score but I think they're gonna have to work harder for it, ie., put together longer drives as opposed to living off big plays. Nebraska can not let UW get ahead by much because I don't think Martinez can pass the Huskers back in the game. I think their best hope is to win the turnover battle and maybe get a kick/punt return TD. But if the Badgers don't shoot themselves in the foot too often, I see something along the lines of UW 38, Nebraska 27.

 

Can't wait to see it play out.

This is a good post but I really think that when Wisconsin has the ball, the outcome of the game will be decided by two individual matchups.

 

LG Travis Frederick vs DT Jared Crick:

 

I am dying to see how this battle is gonna go down. Crick's power and success goes without saying, but Frederick is probably the best lineman behind center Peter Konz. The dude benches 500 lbs. and squats 770 lbs. and started as a true freshman before redshirting last year because of all the talent on the line (i.e. Bill Nagy was the 6th lineman last year and he starts for the Cowboys as a rookie.)

 

Honestly I think with the combination of Wagner and Frederick on the left side and Konz and Zeitler in the middle, Nebraska's best shot at getting to Wilson will be through the right tackle, which will either be Josh Oglesby, who sprained his ACL against Northern Illinois or Rob Havenstein, whose only start came last week. Nebraska needs to get pressure off that edge and shoot their LBs through those gaps to the right.

 

TE Jacob Pedersen vs LB Lavonte David

 

While the Dennard/Toon matchup has a lot of people buzzing, Pedersen/David is where the play action is going to play out. UW loves to use jumbo packages with two tight ends and a FB that can make the play action straight deadly. In the first four games, Pedersen has been the go-to-guy with the play action in the red zone, while FB Brady Eweing has racked up a lot of yards kicking out to the edges when the ball is in the middle of the field. With the NU LB corps intent on stopping the run, it could be a career day for Pedersen.

 

As far as when NU has the ball I think its really simple. UW is going to sell out to stop the run/contain Taylor Martinez similar to what they did against Denard Robinson last year. Denard ran for 121 yards, but it mostly came in bunches averaging 5.5 yards a carry. Wisconsin is going to dare T-Magic to throw deep, which as a Badger fan, I gladly welcome. For T-Magic to have success through the air, he's going to have to get it out quick and short. Andy Dalton torched us in the first half of the Rose Bowl last year that way, and the Badger secondary is still very susceptible to that by playing soft coverage, three yards off the man at the line of scrimmage.

 

That's what I see it coming down to anyway. Saturday can't get here quick enough.

[The Dude]

If Dennard is close to 100%, he makes Toon a non-factor. Period.

[krc1995]

If Dennard is close to 100%, he makes Toon a non-factor. Period.

Help me out, but I thought I read somewhere that Dennard did not think he was healthy. I didn't know what that meant for playing his playing this week.

[HuskerFowler]

If Dennard is close to 100%, he makes Toon a non-factor. Period.

Help me out, but I thought I read somewhere that Dennard did not think he was healthy. I didn't know what that meant for playing his playing this week.

 

In the paper this morning Dennard said he was surpirsed how good he felt after the Wyoming game and he was not very sore at all. Sounds like hes good to go and will be ready to play. First time all season we will have all three potential all americans in the line up.

 

As far as the matchup with Toon goes, most people dont know (wisconsin fans mostly) that Dennard has a 46" vertical (insane) and could dunk when he was in seveth grade. I will take Dennard on jump balls over anybody, lets hope he gets tested.

[HuskerFowler]

I feel that we are very capable of winning this game, but anything can happen. Our offense is very fast...too fast for the Wisconsin D in my opinion. And we will definetely give up some points, but I think if we score at least 30 (and thats a big if), we win this game. Its gonna be a battle for sure.

 

Two cents from someone whos watched all UW's games and two Nebraska games:

 

Key matchups:

 

Dennard vs. Toon: 5'10 corner vs. 6'3 receiver. Toon has been having the kind of season UW fans have been hoping for since he got here. Can Dennard shut him down or does Toon win the jump balls? On the other side, Corey Cooper had some problems last week.

 

UW OLBs/DEs vs. Martinez: The Badgers don't have great speed here, although DEs Nzegwu and Gilbert are good athletes and OLBs Taylor and Claxton are solid. Can they consistently turn Martinez in or can he regularly get to the corner and gash UW like UNLV did? Martinez is a hell of a weapon and has the ability to make it a long night for UW's defenders.

 

Crick and Co. vs. Wilson: Wilson has been amazing, No. 2 in the nation in completion percentage, throwing extremely well on the run, avoiding pressure and turning in some nice runs. Can Nebraska's D-line 1) get some kind of consistent pressure on him, while 2) holding their rushing lanes so he can't escape and hurt the Huskers with his legs?

 

Special teams: UW kicker Alec Lerner has booted 3 kickoffs OB -- this plus Ameer Abdullah give Nebraska a decided advantage here. Can UW avoid a big breakdown?

 

It's true UW has faced poor competition to this point, but they've done exactly what an outstanding team should do to inferior opponents. Both teams have gotten better as the season has gone along. Both teams have kept things pretty vanilla thus far but will pull out the stops Saturday.

 

I think in the end, UW just has too many offensive weapons and Wilson has been so good in making use of them. The Badgers can run inside and out, stretch the field, their O-line are brutes who make a living grinding down a defense through the course of a game, but they can also get out and pull. And if the defense focuses too much on stopping the run, the play-action pass becomes devastating. Not sure 30 is gonna do it, as the previous poster suggested.

Offensively, Nebraska is gonna score but I think they're gonna have to work harder for it, ie., put together longer drives as opposed to living off big plays. Nebraska can not let UW get ahead by much because I don't think Martinez can pass the Huskers back in the game. I think their best hope is to win the turnover battle and maybe get a kick/punt return TD. But if the Badgers don't shoot themselves in the foot too often, I see something along the lines of UW 38, Nebraska 27.

 

Can't wait to see it play out.

This is a good post but I really think that when Wisconsin has the ball, the outcome of the game will be decided by two individual matchups.

 

LG Travis Frederick vs DT Jared Crick:

 

I am dying to see how this battle is gonna go down. Crick's power and success goes without saying, but Frederick is probably the best lineman behind center Peter Konz. The dude benches 500 lbs. and squats 770 lbs. and started as a true freshman before redshirting last year because of all the talent on the line (i.e. Bill Nagy was the 6th lineman last year and he starts for the Cowboys as a rookie.)

 

Honestly I think with the combination of Wagner and Frederick on the left side and Konz and Zeitler in the middle, Nebraska's best shot at getting to Wilson will be through the right tackle, which will either be Josh Oglesby, who sprained his ACL against Northern Illinois or Rob Havenstein, whose only start came last week. Nebraska needs to get pressure off that edge and shoot their LBs through those gaps to the right.

 

TE Jacob Pedersen vs LB Lavonte David

 

While the Dennard/Toon matchup has a lot of people buzzing, Pedersen/David is where the play action is going to play out. UW loves to use jumbo packages with two tight ends and a FB that can make the play action straight deadly. In the first four games, Pedersen has been the go-to-guy with the play action in the red zone, while FB Brady Eweing has racked up a lot of yards kicking out to the edges when the ball is in the middle of the field. With the NU LB corps intent on stopping the run, it could be a career day for Pedersen.

 

As far as when NU has the ball I think its really simple. UW is going to sell out to stop the run/contain Taylor Martinez similar to what they did against Denard Robinson last year. Denard ran for 121 yards, but it mostly came in bunches averaging 5.5 yards a carry. Wisconsin is going to dare T-Magic to throw deep, which as a Badger fan, I gladly welcome. For T-Magic to have success through the air, he's going to have to get it out quick and short. Andy Dalton torched us in the first half of the Rose Bowl last year that way, and the Badger secondary is still very susceptible to that by playing soft coverage, three yards off the man at the line of scrimmage.

 

That's what I see it coming down to anyway. Saturday can't get here quick enough.

 

Thats a pretty good breakdown. I have alot of confidence in David to win that battle. He was covering Demarco Murray in the Big 12 championship game out of the backfield and pretty much kept him locked down. David is very fast, fast enough to be a saftey and could probably cover most recievers. Lets hope he has a big game and regonizes the plays quickly. He is fast enough however to recover from a missed step or two cheating on the run and your fullbacks wont be fast enough to make him pay. He will have to be way out of position, which can, and has happened already this season. If we play like we can, and have been the last few years on defense, it should be a very interesting game. NU 48 UW 27 is my official score prediction with NU wearing down the D and scoring 17 in the 4th to pull away.

[bbeerma2]

Their two tight-end package is going to annihilate us. It has very little to do with Dennard/Toon. Their TEs will open up the run game and their run game will keep the TEs open. They have had one of the best string of TE performances in the last five years. A few of theirs are now in the Pros I believe.

[GoBigRed66]

Bromontana: Wis 38 Neb 27 Real risky pediction considering thats vegas's line and over under. Wisconsin +10.5 and O/U 66.5.

[WhatDoIKnow]

Actually not worried about this game. Remember what we all thought of the Big Ten before we joined? "Big and Slow". Is Wisconsin a "good" team? Yep. Are they "world-beaters"? Nope. They are a "nice" top ten team, but so are we. We have faced Big Ten competition before. Even Callahan beat a Big Ten team in a bowl, and they actually has some play-makers.

 

Does our DL need to shore some things up? Yep. Do you think they might be more pumped for this game than they have all year? Yep. We are road warriors.

 

Lots of fear being shown for big-bad Wisonsin. Other years, we wouldn't have given them much of a thought.