Wisconsin Football: 2017 Badgers season preview, predictions

Wisconsin football went 11-3 and won the Big Ten West and the Cotton Bowl in 2016. Can the Badgers win the league for the first time in half a decade?

Another year yielded another Big Ten West title in 2016 for Wisconsin. The Badgers went 10-2 in the regular season, losing at Michigan and at home to Ohio State. They also fell against Penn State by a touchdown in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis. But they were nevertheless invited to the Cotton Bowl, where the Badgers knocked off Western Michigan, the Group of Five representative, in a 24-16 victory.

Though their offense sputtered at times, Wisconsin boasted one of the top defenses in the nation. Timely stops and a secondary that loved nothing more than robbing opponents of the football combined to help the Badgers get through a down year for their running attack and a largely ineffective passing game.

Several preseason injuries have impacted the Badgers leading up to the 2017 season, but they still remain the favorite in the West. It has now been five years since Wisconsin last won the Big Ten title, back when the conference was divided into Legends and Leaders. Since splitting into a more sensible East-West format, the Badgers have been to the Big Ten title game twice and lost both times.

Remember when Wisconsin was a Big Ten champ?

The last time the Badgers won the Big Ten championship was in 2012. That title was clouded by mitigating factors that allowed Wisconsin to slip into the bowl game in the first place. Both Ohio State and Penn State finished ahead of the Badgers in the short-lived Leaders division, but sanctions against both schools prevented them from playing in the championship game. Wisconsin crushed Nebraska 70-31, then went on to the Rose Bowl where they lost 20-14 to Stanford to finish off an 8-6 championship season.

After coming close to knocking off the Nittany Lions last year, Badgers fans hope to have another shot at ending the conference drought in early December. Will the favorites in the Big Ten West make another trip to Indianapolis and challenge for the league title?