Illinois State at Wisconsin 9/3/22 - College Football Picks & Predictions

The Illinois State Redbirds will open their season in Madison at Camp Randall Stadium when they take on the #18 Wisconsin Badgers. Wisconsin finished last season 9-4 with a win over Arizona State in the Las Vegas  Bowl, they had a chance to go to represent the Big Ten West but lost the final game of the year to Minnesota. Illinois State finished the season out with a home loss to Indiana State, dropping them to 4–7 and 2-6 in conference play.

Wisconsin brought in a new offensive coordinator Bobby Engram to lead the offense, and it should be improved this season. The second half of the season was much better for the Wisconsin offense that finished in the middle of the Big Ten scoring 25.4 points per game. Graham Mertz needs to step up and lead the offense in year three. 

The Wisconsin Badger defense should be excellent again, they finished last season as one of the best in the country. They led the nation in total defense and allowed just 4.1 yards per play. There are plenty of starters to replace, especially in the secondary, but for the better portion of the last decade, this has been one of the best defenses in the country.

Illinois State was unable to move the ball through the air last season and had one of the worst offenses in the MVFC. Jackson Wearing is executed to start his sophomore year, he completed 54.6% of his passes for 879 yards and six touchdowns last season. 

The Illinois State defense is going to have their hands full against the big offensive line of Wisconsin and hasn’t played any offense comparable in a number of years. This defense would be lucky to have any success stopping the run, and Wisconsin should be able to have a nice warm-up contest for its offense that needs to be better.