Wisconsin Football: Early 2020 game-by-game predictions, Part 1
By James Bowers
The Hoosiers made noise in 2019. Tom Allen’s bunch stepped out from the shadow of the basketball program with an unprecedented 8-5 mark that ended with a near-upset of Tennessee in the Gator Bowl.
However, the sheen from the winning record quickly fades when you consider that they did not beat a single team with their own winning mark, and Michigan and Ohio State had zero trouble in easy wins over the Crimson and Cream.
Offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer made a repeat of their eight-win season a little harder when he took the role of Fresno State’s head coach. Quarterback Peyton Ramsey, who salvaged the rest of the season following a devastating injury to Michael Penix Jr., has also decided to bolt from Bloomington, entering the transfer portal in January. The Hoosier offense hopes a repaired Penix can keep the ball rolling in 2019.
Do-it-all running back Stevie Scott III will be a key assistant in the task of winning.
The defense returns eight of 11 starters but did not impress against quality opposition in 2019.
Wisconsin will look to make a statement in its opener. They will come after Penix heavily, and this is not good for a quarterback coming back to action after an injury. Scott and the run game will need to step up. Though the Hoosiers have been pesky in openers where they seem outmatched going in in recent years, Wisconsin needs only to play a solid game to handle Indiana.
Prediction: Wisconsin 42, Indiana 17 (1-0, 1-0 Big Ten)