On Saturday, the #9 ranked Wisconsin Badgers travel to Bloomington, IA, to take on the Hoosiers. The Badgers are slowly closing in on an undefeated season and a surprising trip to the CFP. Will Wisconsin cruise into Bloomington and steamroll Indiana, or will the Hoosiers pull off the upset? Kickoff inside The Rock is at 12 PM ET and the game will be televised on ABC.
Since 2002, the Wisconsin Badgers are 9-1 against the Indiana Hoosiers. Wisconsin has also won 4 straight times in Bloomington. Over the last 4 games, the Badgers have outscored the Hoosiers 255 to 44. However, these two teams have not played since 2013.
Wisconsin (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) is the only overall undefeated team in the conference. They are tied with Ohio State at 5-0 for conference play, but OSU has lost one game on the season and the Badgers have not. In fact, there’s only Michigan standing in the way of Wisconsin going undefeated on the season and playing in the Big-10 title game, which could possibly be against Ohio State.
The Hoosiers (3-5, 0-5 Big 10) are coming off a disappointing loss at Maryland. Indiana has lost 3 straight games and are desperately looking for some kind of hope against Wisconsin. Unfortunately, things most likely will turn out bad for Indiana this weekend as Wisconsin is just running over their opponents each week.
The spread opened at 10 points for Indiana and it currently sits at 12.5 for the Hoosiers. The Over/Under opened at 49.5 points, but has come down to 48.5 total points.
Wisconsin has had a few games where they played down to their level of competition. A good example of this was last weekend against Illinois, who is the worst team in the Big 10. Wisconsin only beat the Fighting Illini 24-10 and it was an uninspired performance. This weekend, some media outlets have put Wisconsin on upset alert. I disagree with this 100%. In fact, I think Wisconsin will get back on track this weekend and blow out Indiana by nearly 3 touchdowns.
Wisconsin has outscored Big 10 opponents 150 to 73. Indiana has been outscored 180 to 103. Additionally, Wisconsin has the #5 ranked defense in college football, allowing only 268 total yards per game. They are 15th against the pass at 174.3 ypg, 5th against the run at 93.8 ypg, and 5th in scoring as they allow just 12.9 points per game. In other words, Indiana is in serious trouble.
The most points Wisconsin has given up in a game was 24 to Northwestern and that was due to a late touchdown play. Indiana averages 27 ppg overall, but just 20.6 ppg in conference play. I don’t see Indiana crossing the 20 point threshold this weekend and I see Wisconsin reaching 38-40 points.
The Hoosiers give up 162 rushing yards per game, which is Wisconsin’s bread and butter on offense. The Badgers average 245 rushing yards per game and they are led by Jonathan Taylor who has 1,185 yards and 11 rushing TD’s on the season. Expect a heavy dose of Taylor this weekend.
Indiana tends to throw the ball more at 258 yards per game, but they will have a tough time this weekend against a Badgers defense that dominates the line of scrimmage and gets after the quarterback. Although IU’s Peyton Ramsey is having a respectable season, he’s going to get hit a lot and pressured all game long. He has only 5 interceptions on the season, but I expect him to throw at least 1 this weekend.
Wisconsin is 8-2 ATS in their last 10 road games, 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games against Indiana, and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 trips to Bloomington. The Hoosiers are 0-4-1 ATS in their last 5 games, 1-4-1 ATS in their last 6 home games, and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 Big 10 games.
Look for Wisconsin to rack up nearly 250 rushing yards in this game as they blow out Indiana 38-20.