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Wisconsin Football: 5 reasons why Badgers will win 2017 national title

By Trevor Jossart

ARLINGTON, TX - JANUARY 02: The Wisconsin Badgers celebrate with the trophy after the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Western Michigan Broncos 24-16 in the 81st Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT
ARLINGTON, TX - JANUARY 02: The Wisconsin Badgers celebrate with the trophy after the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Western Michigan Broncos 24-16 in the 81st Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT /
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ARLINGTON, TX – JANUARY 02: Alex Hornibrook #12 of the Wisconsin Badgers and Jazz Peavy #11 of the Wisconsin Badgers celebrate with the trophy after the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Western Michigan Broncos 24-16 in the 81st Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium on January 2, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX – JANUARY 02: Alex Hornibrook #12 of the Wisconsin Badgers and Jazz Peavy #11 of the Wisconsin Badgers celebrate with the trophy after the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Western Michigan Broncos 24-16 in the 81st Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium on January 2, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

4. Preseason recognition

With any championship-caliber team or season, there is going to be a bit of luck involved and other factors that need to fall a team’s way. For instance, look at Penn State last year. The Nittany Lions finished the year hot, won their conference and had a great resume, but still it was not enough.

Unfortunately for the Badgers, they started out the season unranked last year — which put them in a bad position CFP-wise due to the fact that they not only needed to win to claw their way up towards the top, but needed many teams in front of them to lose and lose often.

Whereas looking at eventual national champion Clemson, it started the season ranked No. 2 and hovered around the top-tier of teams, despite having a bad loss at home to Pittsburgh.

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This year, the Badgers are in much better shape when it comes to national respect leading up to the beginning of the season. While the official preseason rankings are not out, there are many sports media outlets that either predict the Badgers to be ranked or have them ranked high in their own personal lists.

For example, Athlon Sports has the Badgers ranked No. 12 in their preseason projections.

Safely projecting the Badgers’ preseason rank would say they would be somewhere in the 10-15 range, but could also likely be the third, even fourth, Big Ten team ranked. Many publications have Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan somewhere near the top ten or higher.

With the Badgers getting a higher preseason notice, it opens up for a larger margin for error and makes it possible for the team to get a playoff berth if it takes care of business in the regular season, for the most part.

Once you’re in the playoff, anything can happen.

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