SEC Football: Five Most Anticipated Games of 2015 Season

Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

September 5: Alabama vs. Wisconsin

This game has been mentioned a number of times on Saturday Blitz and elsewhere. ESPN College Gameday picked this neutral site game in Jerry’s World to kick-off the season. There are a number of different storylines that are intriguing about this matchup. The obvious one is the pairing of the SEC versus Big Ten. The Big Ten has heard for years how much of an inferior conference they are.

Their friends in the South gloat about how hard it is to get through the SEC schedule. Games like this provide the opportunity for Wisconsin and the Big Ten to prove they belong in the national picture just as much as the SEC does. Despite producing the National Champion last year, many view the Big Ten as a conference with one great team rather than a great conference.

Alabama has not shied away from opening the season against a quality non-conference opponent. The past three years they have played Michigan, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. The games against Michigan and Virginia Tech were blowouts. Last season’s opener against West Virginia was the only real competition of the three opening games.

It is easy to envision this game getting ugly, but we do not fully know what we have with Alabama this season. The quarterback position is still unsettled with the season less than a month away.

Wisconsin’s new head coach Paul Chryst gets a welcome gift of Nick Saban wearing the headset on the opposing sideline. The Badgers have senior Joel Stave returning at quarterback. Wisconsin will need immediate production in this game out of running back Corey Clement, who replaces Melvin Gordon.

Wisconsin was minutes away from defeating LSU in last season’s opener before allowing the Bayou Bengals to mount a massive comeback. Badger fans hope to find themselves in a similar position against Alabama, with one exception. They want to leave Dallas with a victory.

Next: Auburn vs Louisville