College Football 2019: Top 5 games with playoff implications in Week 5
3. Northwestern at No. 8 Wisconsin (Sept. 28 at Noon ET – ABC)
Wisconsin is fresh off a drubbing over Michigan last weekend in Camp Randall and is flying as high as ever in the top ten this week. Northwestern, who won the Big Ten West last season, is off to a woeful start. It doesn’t look great for the Wildcats right now. But that’s not what this is about.
The Wisconsin Badgers, in a conference with the Ohio State Buckeyes, are strong contenders for the title of top contender to the Buckeyes in the Big Ten.
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As of today, it’s not Michigan. You can’t argue that it’s Michigan State or Penn State by their lack of domination, and the next best hope is perhaps Iowa, who also hasn’t shown much domination. Much like Cal, the greater college football fanbase will now be focusing in on Wisconsin to see how they handle this prosperity.
Wisconsin is a team that is very infrequently upset due to the style of play Paul Chryst implements. The Badgers run heavy, hard, and often. It’s pretty hard to screw that up. Especially when the Badger defense is as good as it is at backing up that offense. I don’t expect Wisconsin to have much of an issue with Northwestern, especially at home this weekend, but this is also the first time all year where the expectations really jump up a step.
Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan backed up his great game against Central Michigan with another one against Michigan. If anybody is going to be confident in their play, it’s him. Even though it’s a tired trope at this point, if Wisconsin has a quarterback, you have to be aware of this team. The running attack is lethal enough by itself. With a competent passing attack, the Badgers are playoff contenders.
We should be watching Coan and the Badgers very closely this weekend, especially in the sweet throwbacks they will be wearing. Northwestern will have their own throwbacks as well thanks to Under Armour.