College Football

2024 Wisconsin football predictions: Ranked No. 27 by RJ Young

Updated Aug. 12, 2024 10:39 a.m. ET

FOX Sports National College Football Analyst

[Check out RJ Young's ultimate 134 college football rankings here]

Conference ranking: 7th in Big Ten (+6500 to win conference)
Teams ahead of them: Miami (26), Iowa State (25), Iowa (24), Arizona (23), Texas A&M (22)
Teams behind them: Kentucky (28), Arkansas (29), North Carolina State (30), Nebraska (31), SMU (32)

[Wisconsin 2024 schedule]

RJ's take: The good news for Luke Fickell fans in Madison is Wisconsin returns 14 starters off a team that finished 7-5, even with a loss in their bowl game against LSU. The bad news is none of those players is Braelon Allen, and offensive coordinator Phil Longo will be breaking in a brand-new starter at QB in Tyler Van Dyke or Braedyn Locke.

Van Dyke figures to be the frontrunner, as he is an experienced starter who has passed for 2,700 yards and 19 TDs in two out of the last three years. When he’s on, he’s one of the best in the sport, with 11 300-yard passing performances in 30 games, including one for 497 and a string of six-straight to finish 2021. He’s also got seven games with multiple picks. If the wheels look like falling off at any time during the Van Dyke Rollercoaster, I would not at all be shocked to see Evers get his shot.

Defensively, Hunter Wohler is the best box safety in the sport. Last year he posted 120 tackles — the most by a Big Ten DB — and became the first Big Ten DB with 110 or more tackles, two or more INTs and a sack since safety Jordan Kovacs notched 116, a sack and two INTs at Michigan in 2010. He's the first Badger to perform that feat since Reggie Holt in 1991.

Wisconsin Badgers' Win Total Odds: Over 7 (+115) Under 7 (-135)

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