Let’s play a game.
I am thinking of a team that is eighth in the nation in total offense, 10th in the nation in total defense, third in scoring offense and tied for second in scoring defense. If you were to rank this team, where would you put it?
Remember this is a team with a top 10 offense and a top 10 defense by all traditional measures. This is a team that has explosive athletes, highlight-reel plays and multiple Heisman candidates. Not to mention, this is a team that won its conference and went to a BCS bowl game last year.
Where would you say this team is ranked? One? Two? Three? Four? Lower?
Believe it or not, those numbers do not describe the Oklahoma Sooners. Nor do they describe SEC behemoths Alabama or LSU.
These are the statistics and rankings for the Wisconsin Badgers. And eventually the shaking at Camp Randall Stadium figures to shake the BCS and the college football world.
But right now, the Badgers are not getting any of the notoriety. LSU and Alabama have already been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated this year and Oklahoma was the nation’s consensus preseason No. 1.
Last week, the Badgers hosted the GameDay crew and trounced a game Nebraska team. Not even really trouncing the Cornhuskers; they outright blew them out.
And that is how these Badgers work. They blow teams out and don’t let up. Few teams put up the kind of numbers that impress just by reading one line in the box score like the Badgers.
Some would accuse them of running up the score. The real problem: Right now, nobody can stop them.
This was a team that last year came four yards short of having three players rush for 1,000 yards. The one guy that did not make it is the Badger’s leading rusher this year, Montee Ball. And Ball is halfway to that 1,000 yard mark with 511 rushing yards on 93 attempts. Ball has also added 13 touchdowns this year.
At 210 pounds and the feature back of a traditional running program – you can find good Wisconsin running backs dating back from from Ron Dayne’s Heisman career to James Clay last year – Ball wears down defenses and can keep pushing the pile and opposing defensive lines.
Running has always been Wisconsin’s game and it will continue to be the team’s calling card, but the difference with this team, and why it has finally ascended to national prominence, is Russell Wilson.
“Russell Mania 16” has officially hit Madison as the transfer from North Carolina State has hit the ground running. Wilson has torn up Wisconsin’s schedule so far to the tune of 1,391 yards and 13 touchdowns, completing 74.8 percent of his passes.
It is not that game-manager Scott Tolzien was a bad quarterback, he just did not make the same kind of impact Wilson has with his ability to extend plays.
Wideout Nick Toon has also stepped up his play as well. The son of the great NFL receiver Al Toon averaged 51.0 receiving yards per game last year as he struggled through injuries. Toon averages 89.4 yards per game and with 447 yards in five games, he has nearly eclipsed the 459 receiving yards he garnered last year in nine games.
This is not the Wisconsin team that always seemed to fall short of the Big Ten title and struggled to gain national recognition. Yet, because of the Big Ten’s general mediocrity, the Badgers still have a mountain to climb to have a shot at the national championship
The Badgers have played their marquee game in the weakened Leaders Division of the Big Ten. The trouncing of Nebraska 48-17 last week on a national stage marks the only top 15 team on Wisconsin’s schedule. The trip to East Lansing, Mich., next week will test Wisconsin’s new offense as Michigan State is ranked near the top in many defensive categories. The game at Columbus against Ohio State has lost its luster. And who really knows how good Illinois will be when Wisconsin travels to Champaign.
Lacking a national stage like LSU and Alabama have, especially when they play each other in early November, Wisconsin is going to be on the sideline for much of the national championship discussion. At least until the teams ahead of the Badgers start falling off the undefeated pace.
In the meantime, the Badgers will be relying on blowing teams out and putting up crazy stats – much like last year when they scored at least 70 points three times. And with players such as Wilson, Toon and Ball in tow, the Badgers can certainly do that.
