Badgers will win 2015 Big Ten West title, Athlon Sports predicts
Despite losing Heisman Trophy finalist Melvin Gordon, three offensive line starters and its top two middle linebackers, Wisconsin remains the football team to beat in the Big Ten West for 2015. At least, that's the word according to Steven Lassan, college football editor for Athlon Sports.
Lassan recently released his predictions for the upcoming Big Ten season. And while Ohio State was his easy pick to sweep through the East division undefeated, Lassan may have surprised some with his choice of Wisconsin winning the West at 6-2, ahead of both Nebraska (5-3) and Minnesota (5-3). Rounding out the West division was Iowa (4-4), Northwestern (4-4), Illinois (3-5) and Purdue (1-7).
"When you look at the West, I think it's really Wisconsin and Nebraska right now as the two teams to beat," Lassan said. "Right now with Nebraska, they've been consistently there at nine wins, but they need to take that next step. Wisconsin has been able to take that next step and be able to challenge for the Big Ten championship.
"Nebraska from a program hierarchy should be the team to beat in the Big Ten West. But I think Wisconsin has passed them right now."
It should be noted that Lassan predicts Nebraska will beat Wisconsin when the teams meet in Lincoln on Oct. 10. If that is indeed the case, it would seem difficult to find three games in which the Cornhuskers could lose. Nebraska must play at Minnesota and takes on Big Ten power Michigan State at home. Beyond that, the Cornhuskers' league slate doesn't look all that menacing, with remaining home games against Northwestern and Iowa and road contests against Illinois, Purdue and Rutgers.
Minnesota seems more likely to falter given the team's schedule, which includes a home game against Michigan and a road game at Ohio State.
Lassan noted he and his staff tried to be more general in their predictions rather than offer game-by-game projections. Last year, for example, Lassan had Wisconsin at 7-1 in the Big Ten West. And though it came to fruition, no one foresaw that loss would be to Northwestern. So while Wisconsin seems most likely to lose at Nebraska and at Minnesota, Lassan said, it's quite possible the Badgers could stumble elsewhere and still wind up with the same predicted league record. Likewise with Nebraska and Minnesota.
Lassan's other predicted regular-season loss for Wisconsin comes in the season opener against Alabama, which has been listed as an early 13-point favorite over the Badgers.
If Lassan's predictions hold true, it would set up yet another Big Ten championship game between Wisconsin and Ohio State -- the Badgers' fourth such appearance in the past five seasons. Last year, the Buckeyes crushed the Badgers 59-0 on the way to winning a national title. This year, Lassan expects the same result, albeit by a closer margin.
"It's tough to see Wisconsin being able to push Ohio State," Lassan said. "They're just loaded top to bottom, offense to defense. The question mark for Wisconsin, if they have any shot of beating Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game, it has to be improvement from the quarterback position.
"I think Joel Stave will benefit from having Paul Chryst around. I think with Chryst's track record of quarterbacks and offenses, I think he'll make a difference there and I think you'll see a better Wisconsin passing attack. But they still need more receivers outside of Alex Erickson. I just think when you look at Wisconsin, they're just too far behind Ohio State in terms of pure power ranking. Point spread-wise, I would probably say Ohio State is at least a two- to three-touchdown favorite right now over Wisconsin if the Big Ten championship game was played tomorrow."
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