The Wisconsin Badgers are hosting the Northwestern Wildcats in Big Ten College Football action on Saturday. If the Wildcats win, they’re a legitimate 9-2, and a win over IL away from being a legitimate 10-2.
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No one was really prepared for just how good the Northwestern Wildcats would be in 2015. Wisconsin fans at Camp Randall will have one last chance to see the like of Michael Caputo, Joe Schobert, Alex Erickson, Tyler Marz, Joel Stave, and many more seniors. He’s played in just two games because of sports hernia surgery. Northwestern is in Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers in a game that will not only be huge for bowl game purposes, but could go a long way to determining how Northwestern’s season is viewed in retrospect.
CLOSING TIME: Fitzgerald likes the way his team has played late in contests during a three-game winning streak. He’s also one of the most successful quarterbacks in the program’s history.
Corey Clement is expected to miss this game again for Wisconsin. Last year, Wisconsin’s dream of a ideal Big Ten regular season was thwarted in early October by the Wildcats, who pulled out a 20-14 victory behind three interceptions from safety Godwin Igwebuike and 162 yards rushing from Justin Jackson. It also provides Stave with another weapon through the air as Clement has become more adept at catching passes out of the backfield and turning them into net gains. This old school style will be the key to victory for either team Saturday.
“Don’t turn the ball over”. Win and the Badgers’ slim hopes for an outright Big Ten West division title stay alive. “He’s had to shoulder a lot”, Fitzgerald said.
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His steady if unspectacular play from the quarterback position has not been lost on Pat Fitzgerald, who knows he’ll have to game plan for Stave just as much as Clement and Ogunbowale. The only other team on Wisconsin’s schedule who is now ranked, Iowa, was unranked when the two teams met in week five. “But Joel has been the one consistent, really impressive aspect of what they’re doing offensively”. The home team has won eight straight in this series, covering the spread in all eight victories.
