Well if you’re anything like me, you’ve already bought a few pounds of brats and wings, and checked the keg levels for tomorrow’s best match-ups! If you do not yet own a kegerator, it better be because you are either drinking at the actual sporting events, or because you are still in college, in which case a large plastic tub containing a keg will suffice. If you don’t fall into either of those categories, I will remind you that you live in Wisconsin, where we not only encourage the drinking of beer, but also the fact that you should own the proper materials such as large mugs or steins as well.
Get with the program… because it’s another football Saturday!!! I don’t know about you, but these are the games I will be focused on:
11am: Minnesota at Ohio State (14). I know we can all probably predict who will win, but this is a scouting game for us since they’ll be playing the Badgers next Saturday night.
2:30pm: Wisconsin (8) is at Michigan.
6:45pm: Alabama (13) at Georgia (3).
7pm: Illinois (23) at Penn State (15). Go Penn State! We want you to succeed now so it will be that much sweeter when WI beats you on Oct 11th.
I know there are other good games, but these are the ones which involve either WI or 2 top 25 teams against each other.
Let’s talk WI vs. Michigan.
Tomorrow, the 3-0 Badgers face the 1-2 Wolverines for the 62nd time in the schools’ histories. Although the overall series record is 48-12-1 Michigan, with WI winning only 6 of 32 games at Michigan, the Badgers are still favored in this one. Not only does Michigan have new head coach Rich Rodriguez, but they have lost a lot of their 2007 starters, including 4 Heisman candidates (QB Chad Henne, TB Mike Hart, WR Mario Manningham, and OT Jake Long).
I believe it will be a closer game than most people are anticipating. The Badgers need to keep their “1 game at a time” attitude and not think about the big Ohio State and Penn State match-ups ahead. Allan Evridge also needs to be ready to pass the ball again and not rely too much on PJ Hill. Don’t get me wrong, he is a fantastic RB, but Michigan claims to be ready for him. They have used stand-ins Kevin Grady, a 5-9, 228-pounder, and Mike Cox, a 6-foot, 208-pound freshman this week during practice to help the defense prepare to tackle someone of that size.
While the camera guys are busy watching out for the unavoidable WI student shirts that read “Ann Arbor is a *hore,” the WI defense will be keeping an eye on maintaining Michigan’s spread offense. They have had some difficulty with it in the past, but after adding some lateral speed, if linebackers Jaevery McFadden, DeAndre Levy, and Jonathan Casillas can contain the run, the Badgers look to be in a great position to walk away with a victory.
