Five things to know about the Wisconsin Badgers heading into ReliaQuest Bowl
There’s less than a week to go until LSU’s ReliaQuest Bowl meeting with Wisconsin kicks off.
The Tigers will be looking to make it back-to-back 10-win seasons to start the Brian Kelly era while Wisconsin is hoping to make the most of a 7-5 season.
LSU’s met Wisconsin a couple of times in the last decade, splitting the series at 1-1, but a lot has changed for both schools since they last met.
The game will kick at 11 a.m. CT on New Year’s’ Day.
Here are five things to know about the Wisconsin Badgers.
How did Wisconsin get here?
Wisconsin made a splash hiring Luke Fickell away from Cincinnati after moving on from Paul Chryst. Fickell’s first year in Madison was a mixed bag, largely due to a inconsistent offense.
The Badgers rank 82nd in OF+, despite having a defense that ranks 15th.
Wisconsin started 4-1, averaging nearly 34 points a game in the four wins. But then the schedule got tougher, and Wisconsin didn’t cross the 30 mark again.
Wisconsin finished the season 3-4, averaging just 10 points a game in those four losses.
The schedule wasn’t brutal, with Ohio State being the lone ranked opponent, a game in which Wisconsin put up a respectable performance and lost 24-10.
There are some bad losses, though. Wisconsin dropped games to Washington State and Indiana. Neither finished the season bowl-eligible.
Wisconsin availability report
It’s almost impossible to keep track of bowl availability these days thanks to the transfer portal and draft opt outs. The teams you see in these games look a lot different than what you saw during the year.
For Wisconsin, it’s no different. The Badgers will be without some key players on Monday, including:
RB Chez Mellusi
WR Skyler Bell
WR Chimere Dike
DL Rodas Johnson
OL Trey Wedig
EDGE Darian Varner
The most notable loss is running back Braelon Allen, who was the focal point of the Badgers offense the last three years. Its made worse due the absence of Chezz Mellusi, a senior back with 2,022 career yards and 17 touchdowns.
The Badgers receiver room took a hit too with Chimere Dike and Skyler Bell entering the portal. The two combined for 47 catches and were Wisconsin’s third and fourth leading receivers.
In the front seven, Wisconsin will be without defensive tackle Rodas Johnson. That’s significant given he led all Badger DTs in defensive snaps and PFF run defense grade.
Staying on the defensive side, Wisconsin’s third leading tackler Jordan Turner hit the portal, meaning the Badgers need someone to step up at LB.
It could be worse for Wisconsin, and it’s not an egregious amount of opt outs, but there are some significant losses here. Despite Jayden Daniels not playing, LSU probably wins the opt out battle.
Who is playing for Wisconsin?
We know who’s out, but here are the notable players who expect to play.
According to PFF, Wohler was Wisconsin’s top-graded defender this year. He can do it all. He’s racked up nine pressures and 87 tackles, while only allowing a 68.4 passer rating when targeted to go along with two picks.
DEs C.J. Goetz and Darryl Peterson
Peterson and Goetz led Wisconsin in pressures with 30 and 25, respectively. Goetz’s six sacks put him seventh among Big Ten edge defenders.
The Badgers are without Jordan Turner, but Njongmeta is one of the most versatile LBs in the Big Ten. He sat top 10 among Big Ten linebackers in run stop rate, pass rush win rate, and PFF coverage grade. He was the only Big Ten backer to do so.
WR Will Pauling
Pauling ranked eighth among Big Ten receivers in yards while hauling in 65 catches. He began his career with Fickell at Cincinnati and followed him to Wisconsin. The Badgers don’t have depth at WR, but Pauling is a guy who can take advantage of LSU’s struggling secondary.
The quarterback
Both teams don’t know what to expect from the QB spot in this game. LSU will be rolling with Garrett Nussmeier after the departure of Daniels and Wisconsin is sticking with Tanner Mordecai, who was wildly inconsistent this year.
Mordecai doesn’t lack experience. He’ll be playing his 46th game and Wisconsin is his third school. LSU won’t throw anything at him that he hasn’t seen, but he struggled to create explosive plays this year.
After averaging over eight yards per attempt at Oklahoma and SMU, he averaged just 6.2 this year.
Wisconsin ranks near the bottom of the sport, 120th, in 15+ yard passing rate.
This LSU secondary has its issues, so maybe Wisconsin finally finds those big plays here, but this looks like a decent matchup for LSU.
Wisconsin's recent history against the SEC
This will be Wisconsin’s first contest against a SEC school since its last meeting with LSU in 2016. The Badgers won that one 16-14.
Wisconsin is 5-11-1 all time against SEC programs, but its fared better lately, posting a .500 record since 2005.
But again, this isn’t the same Wisconsin team the sport has grown accustomed to seeing. Fickell is doing it his way, going away from the historical ground and pound and hiring Phil Longo at OC, a guy more known for his air raid history than what his teams do in the run game.
All that’s to say be weary of reading into anything that’s happened in past meetings, but still, Wisconsin is a program that’s proven it can beat ranked SEC teams like the ones it facing in LSU.
