Wisconsin Football: Way-too-early 2020 game-by-game predictions, Part 3
By James Bowers
Pat Fitzgerald has done a bang-up job of heading up the Northwestern football program over the past 14 seasons. After capturing the Big Ten West title and winning the Holiday Bowl in 2018, he hoped he could make the same trip to Pasadena he once made as an (injured) Wildcat linebacker in 1995. The 2019 season was a cold reminder that it can be hard for an elite academic school to keep abreast with its peers on the gridiron.
Northwestern ground to a 3-9 record, with UMass, UNLV and strangely Illinois their only victories in a season that served as a cruel flashback to the program’s woeful 1970s through early 1990s stretch. The irony is, they actually gave Wisconsin a pretty good fight, scoring the most points on the Badgers until the October Illinois game. Pat Fitzgerald will remember this in 2020.
Wrigley Field has become a trendy college football venue in the past decade, hosting several games involving the likes of Chicagoland’s Northwestern and Notre Dame. The neutral site adds a mystique that could see the Wildcats playing up.
Northwestern quarterback T.J. Green was knocked out of the 2019 season with an injury, giving way to the Aidan Smith and Hunter Johnson, both of whom struggled to completion percentages of 50 and 46, respectively. The defense managed to keep Wisconsin at bay as Jonathan Taylor and Jack Coan managed only 119 yards rushing and 114 yards passing, respectively.
The Wildcat defense doesn’t bring back many starters, so this game lies largely in Wisconsin’s favor. Green could be a difference if he can stay healthy and utilize a couple of offensive weapons.
Final Score: Wisconsin 49, Northwestern 14 (8-1)
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And so in closing…
The Wisconsin Badgers hope to be 9-0 (but will likely be 8-1) ahead of their closing three games, given that the games are played at all. The fourth quarter of the UW schedule boasts a struggling Nebraska program far removed from its glory days in the closing decades of the 20th century, a Purdue team that has not threatened in over a decade but could upset a team that isn’t prepared, and Iowa, who always seems to be Wisconsin’s closest peer in the Big Ten West race. We’ll look at how the Badgers could put together a perfect season.