Wisconsin will try to improve to 2-0 on the season as it welcomes the Florida Atlantic Owls, led by new coach Lane Kiffin, previously the offensive coordinator at Alabama. The Badgers shook off an early slow start against Utah State to rout the Aggies 59-10, while the Owls were thumped at home by Navy 42-19. On a serious note, it is nice that this game will be played and the Owls will be in Madison as Hurricane Irma is going to hit Florida sometime this weekend. In a nice gesture, if Florida Atlantic cannot return afterward, the UW will pay for the extra night(s), meals and let them use their facilities.
When Wisconsin runs...
The running game, like the Badgers as a whole, started slow last week against Utah State. In the second half, they turned it on. For the game, Wisconsin rushed for 234 yards, which is 44th in the country after the first week. Florida Atlantic, on the other hand, allowed 416 yards rushing to Navy. That is good enough for 121st. Granted, that does not matter much since it is just after one week. However, I do not see it improving much for the Owls. Navy is a difficult offense to face, and many teams need more than a week to recover after playing them. That is not a good recipe for coming in facing the Badgers. Wisconsin has a big offensive line, and it will wear down teams as the game goes along. Freshman Jonathan Taylor has earned more playing time after gaining 87 yards on nine carries in the opener. Sophomore Bradrick Shaw was steady, gaining 84 yards and averaging nearly five yards per carry. However, he may not play tomorrow. Chris James needs a better game, and I think he will get it. In the opener, James gained just 15 yards on five carries and a fumble. The underrated tough part for Florida Atlantic is playing the Badgers right after playing Navy. Granted, they would not be able to stop Wisconsin anyway, but this makes it virtually unstoppable. Bucky has an enormous edge this week, and they could rush for nearly 400 yards this week.
Edge: Wisconsin
When Wisconsin passes...
Sophomore quarterback Alex Hornibrook showed tremendous progress over last year. He already threw for three touchdowns, and he did not have one game last year where he threw more than one. He had more zip on his passes, and his accuracy on deep balls has improved, but his receivers need to catch the football. I expect Hornibrook to spread the ball around to his young receivers this week once again. Wisconsin knows what it has in both Troy Fumagalli and Jazz Peavy. The Badgers need one more pass catcher to emerge in order to have a chance to win the Big Ten and possibly earn a berth in the College Football Playoff. Navy only attempted 10 passes, completing three of them for 110 yards. Since the Midshipmen only attempted 10 passes, it is hard to tell how good the pass defense is for the Owls.
Edge: Wisconsin
When Florida Atlantic runs...
The Owls had just 40 yards rushing on 24 attempts. However, if you take out the quarterback runs and losses attributed to “team" rush yards lost, FAU actually rushed for 101 yards on 17 carries. I don’t expect them to be able to do much better against the strong defensive front of the Badgers, though. Even though Wisconsin will be without Chikwe Obasih, the defensive line is still strong. Alec James will slide in at starter and redshirt freshman Isaiahh Loudermilk will play plenty. In week one, Utah State rushed for just 85 yards on 27 carries. I see Wisconsin shutting down the Florida Atlantic ground attack.
Edge: Wisconsin
When Florida Atlantic passes the ball...
Kiffin has not announced who will start at quarterback this week. Against Navy, it was sophomore Daniel Parr (no relation to John) who started. His stats were not terrible, as he completed 19-of-30 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. His two touchdown passes were of the long distance variety, a 95-yarder to Willie Wright and a 62-yard pass to DeAndre McNeal, a transfer from Texas. After being booted from Florida State for punching a woman, De’Andre Johnson transferred to Florida Atlantic and he is in the mix as well. He played a little bit against Navy and went 2-of-3 for five yards and rushed for 31 yards as well. Jason Driskel is also in the mix. Perhaps we see two of the three quarterbacks tomorrow. Still, regardless of who the quarterback is, Wisconsin will have the edge here. The Badgers have arguably one of the top secondaries in the country. After a bit of a slow start, the pass defense settled down. Kent Myers went 25-of-41 for 219 yards and threw three interceptions. That is just a 5.3 yards per attempt avergage. Dink and dunk passes won’t get it done against Wisconsin. I am challenging the pass rush, though. After registering only one sack against Utah State, I challenged the pass rush to sack the Florida Atlantic quarterback(s) at least four times.
Edge: Wisconsin
Special Teams
There is no clear cut favorite here. Both teams had similar showings in week one. I would like to see the Badgers score a touchdown on every drive, but I would not be disappointed if Rafael Gaglianone gets a few chances for long field goals. It would be nice to see if he is fully back from the back injury that forced him to miss the last 11 games of last season. He made his one attempt last Friday, but that was a short one. Anthony Lotti is getting better and better every week. I would like to see the kick returns be a little bit better, though, for Wisconsin.
Edge: Push
Overview
This one should be over quickly, unless Wisconsin sleepwalks like it did against Georgia State last season. Bucky has a much better offense and defense. Regardless if Shaw plays or not, the Badgers have the horses to be able to run for a ton of yardage. More of Jonathan Taylor is never a bad thing. I would obviously like to see the Badgers start faster. I think they will and coast to an easy victory.
Prediction: Wisconsin 51, Florida Atlantic 13
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