Very few people expect Western Michigan to go into Camp Randall and shock the world on Friday night, but can the Badgers really cover over a 3-TD spread in the season opener? We’re fairly used to seeing blowout victories in week 1 in the past, but in this age of the transfer portal and reduced practices teams have a lot of adjusting to do early in a season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This should be a grind it out game as both teams aim to run the ball. Western Michigan will feature sophomore RB Jalen Buckley<\/strong>, who was the MAC Freshman of the Year in 2023 after a 1,003 yard season on the ground. Wisconsin had been known for their defense in recent years, but they had a downturn in 2023 giving up 134.8 ypg rushing – which isn’t bad, but isn’t the Badger standard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lance Taylor enters his second year with the Broncos and he’s going to need his defense to be better after ranking 83rd in the nation in total yards\/game allowed (393.3) in 2023. WMU did lose a defensive lineman to the 2nd round of the NFL draft (Marshawn Kneeland<\/strong> – Cowboys<\/a>) but they brought in some Power 5 replacements in Popeye Williams<\/strong> and Rodney McGraw<\/strong> as well as Anterio Thompson<\/strong> who is familiar with Wisconsin from his time at Iowa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n