Wisconsin football finished 2022 with a subpar 7-6 record last year, firing head coach Paul Chryst midseason. The Badgers lost to Washington State, Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State, Iowa and Minnesota. Three of those games did come down to single digits, but the Badgers also had some ugly wins. They only defeated Nebraska 15-14, so overall it was not a pretty season for the Badgers.
This year, FanDuel Sportsbook has opened the bidding on Wisconsin’s win total at 8.5, with the over juiced to -128. The Badgers sit at +800 to win the Big Ten, which ranks only behind Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Let’s get into Wisconsin football predictions with a season preview and roster overview.
2023 Wisconsin Football Predictions & Season Preview
2023 Wisconsin Football Season Preview: Coaching Staff
Wisconsin enters Year 1 of the Luke Fickell era. The previous coach of Cincinnati, Fickell brought the Bearcats to a College Football Playoff appearance in 2021. Fickell also has a reputation as an elite recruiter, which is already coming to fruition in Madison.
On his staff, he brings in air raid offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who most recently held the same position at North Carolina. On defense, Fickell hired Mike Tressel, who coordinated his defenses at Cincinnati for the last two years. All in all, this is an impressive staff.
2023 Wisconsin Football Season Preview: Offense
Quarterback
After undergoing a complete overhaul at the quarterback position, Wisconsin landed transfers Tanner Mordecai (SMU), Nick Evers (Oklahoma) and Braedyn Locke (Mississippi State).
Mordecai is 6-foot-2, 211 pounds, and completed 65% of his passes for 8.0 yards per attempt last year. These stats were almost identical to his 2021 season with SMU as well. Mordecai has some rushing chops with 202 and 100 rushing yards over the last two years. Last year, he was the ninth-highest-graded quarterback in the AAC and the sixth-highest-graded passer, per Pro Football Focus.
Evers is a former 4-star recruit from the 2022 cycle. He was the ninth quarterback and the 172nd-ranked prospect in the class. Locke is also a former 4-star recruit from the 2022 cycle. He was the 22nd-ranked quarterback and the 383rd-ranked prospect in the class. This is a loaded quarterback room, the likes of which Wisconsin has never seen.
Running Back
Wisconsin returns its top two rushers in Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi. Allen is 6-foot-2, 235 pounds, and rushed for 1,242 yards and 11 touchdowns on 230 carries last year. He averaged 2.92 yards after contact and a forced missed tackle on 22.2% of carries. Interestingly, every single number just mentioned was worse than his freshman season. He did improve his pass catching, reeling in 13 of 18 targets for 104 receiving yards. Still, he should be regarded among the top rushers in this conference.
Behind him, former Clemson transfer Mellusi is 5-foot-11, 210 pounds. He rushed 112 times for 473 yards after rushing 174 times for 820 yards in 2021. He averaged 2.32 yards after contact per attempt and a forced missed tackle on 12.5% of his carries. Both of which were worse than his 2021 numbers. However, he provides a strong change of pace to Allen. Julius Davis also returns after 13 carries for 90 yards, giving the Badgers excellent depth in their running back room.
Wide Receiver
The wide receiver position received an influx of talent similar to quarterback. Starting with the returners, Wisconsin retained Chimere Dike, Skyler Bell and Keontez Lewis. Dike is 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, and led the team with 47 catches for 689 yards and six touchdowns in his third season. Dike finished seventh in the Big Ten with 2.28 yards per route, while operating in the slot 78.9% of the time.
Bell is 6-foot-0, 190 pounds, and finished as the second-leading receiver with 30 catches for 444 yards in his second season with the Badgers. Bell registered 1.44 yards per route, which ranked 36th. He only played in the slot 5.5% of the time. Lewis is 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, and caught 20 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns last year after transferring in from UCLA. He is viewed as a burner and ranked 44th in the Big Ten with 1.30 yards per route last year.
Right now, it looks like Dike and Lewis have the best chance to start among this group. However, Fickell routinely used five or six receivers at Cincinnati. From there, Wisconsin brought in Will Pauling (Cincinnati), C.J. Williams (USC), Bryson Green (Oklahoma State) and Quincy Burroughs (Cincinnati). Green is 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, and was the most productive of this bunch with 36 receptions for 584 yards and five touchdowns in his second college season. His 1.35 yards per route ranked 34th in the Big 12. He played in the slot only 5.2% of the time, but he has been injured this spring.
Will Pauling has been the star of spring camp so far. He is 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, and caught 12 passes for 117 yards in his second season with Cincinnati last year. He played in the slot on 89.9% of his routes and earned 1.52 yards per route. Williams enters his second season after spending Year 1 parked on the USC bench. He is 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, and a former 4-star recruit. Williams was the 10th-ranked receiver and the 73rd overall player in last year’s class. Burroughs was a 3-star recruit and the 995th player in last year’s class. Compared to last year, this receiver room is loaded with talent.
Tight End
At tight end Dean Engram changed positions and transferred out of Wisconsin. He was still just a rotational guy anyway. The team also lost Jack Eschenbach, who led the position in snaps. However, Hayden Rucci and Clay Cundiff are back after 331 snaps and 159 snaps at the position.
Rucci is 6-foot-4, 256 pounds, and caught six passes for 75 yards last year. He only ran 48 routes on 331 snaps, mainly functioning as a blocker. Cundiff only appeared in four games before injury. He is 6-foot-3, 236 pounds, and caught nine passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns. He should be the favorite for pass catching work as he enters his fourth year.
Offensive Line
On the offensive line Wisconsin lost left guard Tyler Beach and Center Joe Tippmann. Jack Nelson (73.2) returns at left tackle for his third year as a starter. Left guard looks like it will be manned by transfer Joe Huber. Huber played right tackle for Cincinnati last year, notching 854 snaps. He has been inside so far this spring, but he brings flexibility to the offensive line.
Wisconsin also brought in former Cincinnati center Jake Renfro, who missed all of last year due to injury. However, he played 722 snaps in 2021 and should bolster the pass blocking unit here. That should allow Tanor Bortolini to slide back to his more natural position of right guard, although he played some center last year. This will be Bortolini’s second year as a full-time starter.
Right tackle should be Trey Wedig after 566 snaps last year in his first season as starter. However, Wisconsin now has some incredible depth and could shake up its starters at some point. Michael Furtney is back after 516 snaps at guard. Riley Mahlman also returns after 397 snaps at tackle. Former 2021 5-star recruit Nolan Rucci is also on the roster. He was the 16th overall player in the 2021 class. Needless to say, this unit is loaded.
2023 Wisconsin Football Season Preview: Defense
Wisconsin ranked 22nd on defense in 2022. This included the 42nd-ranked run defense, 36th-ranked pass rush and 21st-ranked secondary. The Badgers biggest loss could be their defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard after he elected to spend 2023 away from football. They also lose a few defensive stalwarts in John Torchio, Nick Herbig and Keeanu Benton. The team did add three strong defensive transfers and a pair of 4-star recruits, which should help ease the losses.
Defensive Line
On the edge, Herbig is the biggest departure after getting drafted this spring. The team returns linebacker/edge hybrid C.J. Goetz after 590 snaps last year. He ranked third on the team with eight tackles for loss. Darryl Peterson plays a similar position and logged 33 1snaps last year. The team also added Michigan State transfer Jeff Pietrowski, who played 483 snaps back in 2021. Last year, he was limited to three games due to injury. Overall, the depth is solid for Wisconsin along the edges.
On the interior, Wisconsin lost Benton to the NFL Draft, as well as James Thompson. Rodas Johnson returns at this position after playing 492 snaps last year and recording 6.0 tackles for loss. The team also nabbed Temple transfer Darian Varner as a plug and play defensive tackle. He played 532 snaps, while logging 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks last year. Depth could be a slight issue here, but Isaiah Mullens and Gio Paez both played over 100 snaps last year as rotational pieces.
Linebacker
As for the off-ball linebackers, both Maema Njongmeta and Jordan Turner return. The pair played 587 and 663 snaps for the Badgers last year. Njongmeta was particularly impressive. He led the team with 95 tackles and logged an additional 12.5 tackles for loss. Turner ranked second with 65 tackles, giving the Badgers strong returning production at the linebacker position. For depth, Jake Chaney returns another 269 snaps.
Defensive Back
The secondary lost a couple of corners in Jay Shaw and Cedrick Dort from last year’s team. However, Alexander Smith and Ricardo Hallman both played over 300 snaps at corner last year. Smith graded out particularly well in coverage with two pass defenses on his limited snaps. The Badgers also grabbed Boston College transfer Jason Maitre out of the portal. He defended six passes and logged 42 tackles last year. Depth is a little iffy here and probably presents the biggest question to this defense.
Despite losing safety Torchio, Wisconsin should be set up well at safety. Kamo’i Latu played 504 snaps last year. He defended three passes, logged two interceptions and recorded 55 tackles. Wisconsin also returns Hunter Wohler after playing just 213 snaps due to injury. Wohler missed Weeks 2-9 last year, but he played starters snaps in the six games he appeared in. This position also lacks depth, similar to cornerback.
2023 Wisconsin Football Win Toal Predictions & Schedule
2023 Wisconsin Football Schedule
Wisconsin plays a non-conference schedule consisting of Buffalo, Washington State and Georgia Southern, which should all be winnable games. The Washington State game is on the road, which could be the only trouble spot. From the Big Ten East, Wisconsin faces Rutgers, Ohio State and Indiana. Luckily, Ohio State comes to Madison and the other two teams are among the worst in the conference. From there, the Badgers face the usual suspects in the West, where they should be favored in every game.
2023 Wisconsin Football Win Total Predictions
There is a very real chance that Wisconsin is favored in 11 games this year with Ohio State being the lone exception. Drawing Iowa at home is another feature in the cap of the Badgers as they look to play for another Big Ten title. With that said, the Wisconsin roster still trails the big three from the Big Ten East. For that reason, taking a stand on Wisconsin over 8.5 wins makes the most sense despite the juice.
Best Wisconsin Football Win Totals Bet: Over 8.5 Wins -128 at FanDuel
You can read the rest of Matt Gajewski’s 2023 college football season previews and predictions below!
- Alabama Season Preview & Predictions
- Arkansas Season Preview & Predictions
- Auburn Season Preview & Predictions
- Baylor Season Preview & Predictions
- Florida Season Preview & Predictions
- Georgia Season Preview & Predictions
- Iowa Season Preview & Predictions
- Iowa State Season Preview & Predictions
- Kansas Season Preview & Predictions
- Kansas State Season Preview & Predictions
- Kentucky Season Preview & Predictions
- LSU Season Preview & Predictions
- Michigan Season Preview & Predictions
- Mississippi State Season Preview & Predictions
- Missouri Season Preview & Predictions
- Oklahoma Season Preview & Predictions
- Oklahoma State Season Preview & Predictions
- Ole Miss Season Preview & Predictions
- South Carolina Season Preview & Predictions
- TCU Season Preview & Predictions
- Tennessee Season Preview & Predictions
- Texas Season Preview & Predictions
- Texas A&M Season Preview & Predictions
- Texas Tech Season Preview & Predictions
- Vanderbilt Season Preview & Predictions
- West Virginia Season Preview & Predictions
