College
Football Preview: Wisconsin Badgers vs Alabama Crimson Tide
Written
By David Hess (Follow me on Twitter @DavidHess311)
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday,
September 5, 2015
Where: AT&T Stadium In Arlington, Texas
Televised: ABC
Where: AT&T Stadium In Arlington, Texas
Televised: ABC
Odds:
The Crimson Tide opened up at favorites of 10 and it has
been bet up slightly to 10.5. The OU line opened at 55.5 and has been bet down
to 50.5.
The Wisconsin Badgers made it
to the Big 10 Title game last year, but were then throttled 59-0 by Ohio State,
which went on to be national champs. The Badgers have just 11 starters back
this year, must replace a first round RB and have a new coach coming in, but
still they are the favorites to win the West. Defensively the Badgers were very
tough last year as they allowed just 20.8 ppg overall and just 17.9 ppg in Big
10 play, despite the fact that they returned just 3 starters. This year they
have 6 starters back and look to be very solid up front and in the LB corps,
while the secondary should be outstanding with 3 of 4 starters back and 3 of
the 4 in the secondary are seniors. That secondary rates as 2nd best
in the Big 10 and 14th in the nation. This will again be a very
solid defense and will have to carry the team till the offense comes around.
Joel Stave will be the QB and has really been inconsistent in his career so
far. The Badgers do lose RB Melvin Gordon, who ran for 2587 yards and 29 TDs
last year, but Wisconsin seems to have a plug and play system when it comes to
RBs and Corey Clement did run for 949 yards (6.5 ypc) and 9 TDs last year. Even
without Gordon this team still has the 2nd rated RB corps in the league and 11th
in the nation. Clement will be running behind the 3rd rated OL in the league as
the Badgers seem to always put a solid line on the field. Leading receiver Alex
Erickson is back, but not a lot of depth at that position. This will be a very
formidable team once again.
The Alabama Crimson Tide made
it to the playoffs last year and were pretty big favorites in their game vs
Ohio State, but their defense didn’t play well at all in that game and they
ended up losing a 42-35 thriller. The defense was one of the best in the nation
during the regular season last year and will again be one of the best in the
nation as Nick Saban has 27 lettermen, including 7 starters back on that side
of the ball. He also had good success in recruiting as he brought in the #4
& #% rated DB’s and the #9 rated DL that came out of HS last year. This is
a loaded team on defense and they will have to step up until their offense
catches up. That offense put up 36.9 ppg last year by returns just 3 starts
this year. At QB it looks as if Jake Coker will take over for the departed Blake
Sims. He is a senior and has had some experience in this offense, so the tide
are expecting big things from him. They do return their top RB in Derrick
Henry, but this RB corps isn’t as deep as in years past and the WR corps took
some hits as they lose their top 3 from last year, including Amari Cooper, who
grabbed 124 balls for1727 yards last year. They have some talent coming in in
Calvin Ridley, who is the #2 WR recruit, plus they also have the 15th best
recruit coming in as well. The WR corps
is down as well, but the OL is a strength and rates as one of the best in the
Nation. This team will again be a player in the hunt for the National Title,
but their offense needs to gel pretty quickly.
Let’s see. Both of these teams
lost a lot on offense from last year, while both teams will be fielding very
strong defenses. Hmmm, which way will I suggest you go? Yes the Under. Both
these teams will have to rely on their defenses this year, especially early in
the year until their offenses catch up. Also I really look for both teams to
run the ball a lot in this game. That is the way the Badgers operate anyway and
I look for Alabama to do the same. That will chew clock. This should be a tight
low scoring ballgame, so I will say to take the Under here.
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