Miami/Wisconsin recap

It was a disappointing season for the Wisconsin Badgers, but they put together their best defensive effort of the season, dominating the Miami Hurricanes 35-3, Thursday in the Pinstripe Bowl. With the win, the Badgers became the first Big Ten team ever to win five straight bowl games. And it isn’t like Wisconsin is beating poor programs. Outside of Western Michigan, Wisconsin won twice against Miami and once each against Auburn and USC in that span. Star running back Jonathan Taylor ran for 205 yards on 27 carries against a defense that only allowed 127 yards on the ground per game. Wisconsin’s offensive line had its best game of the year, paving the way for the Badgers to run for 333 yards. Jack Coan, starting for the injured Alex Hornibrook, only completed six passes in the game, but completed a huge pass to Kendric Pryor for 35 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive to set the tone for the game. With the win, Wisconsin finished 8-5, its 10th consecutive season with at least eight victories. It was also the second consecutive bowl victory over Miami, following a 34-24 win in the Orange Bowl last season. In the last nine games, Wisconsin alternated wins and losses. The 35 points are the most number of points scored in a bowl game since the 2012 Rose Bowl (38), and the most number in a bowl victory since the 1999 Rose Bowl (38).

The Badgers outgained the Hurricanes 406-169, and Wisconsin really had a chance to win by more, but Rafael Gaglianone missed a pair of field goals in the first half. Bucky’s defense only allowed six first downs and of the 169 yards by Miami, 62 came on one play. The Badgers snatched Miami’s turnover chain and forced five Hurricanes turnovers and Wisconsin had a 2-to-1 edge in time of possession. This was the biggest margin of victory in Badgers bowl history. The game started out well for Wisconsin, as Coan led the Badgers down the field and he tossed a 35-yard touchdown to Pryor. That was followed by Eric Burrell picking off Malik Rosier on Miami’s first play, which set up Taylor’s touchdown. The game turned midway through the third. After a long punt return by DeeJay Dallas, Miami had a chance to cut it to 14-10, but T.J. Edwards picked off Rosier. After that, it was all Badgers. It was a disappointing season, especially after losing the axe in the regular season finale to Minnesota, but it ended on a major high note.

There were only highs in this one, and it starts with No. 23. Taylor ran for 205 yards and Wisconsin ran for 333 yards as a team. The Hurricanes only allowed 3.3 yards per carry going in, and they were only allowing 127 yards per game on the ground. Even without star defensive lineman Gerald Willis, Miami still had great defenders everywhere. Wisconsin shoved it down their throats, early and often. On the opening possession, Taylor ran it the first four plays, and gained 28 yards. His 2,194 yards is the second most rushing yards in a single season in Wisconsin history, only trailing Melvin Gordon’s 2,587 in 2014. Amazingly, he now has 4,171 total rushing yards in his first two years, which is already fifth in school history. He is just 2,235 yards shy of Donnel Pumphrey’s “record.” He just finished his sophomore season. His two year total is the third most in NCAA history in a two-year span. Taylor tied Brent Moss for the 10th most rushing touchdowns in a season with 16. He is remarkable.

Wisconsin’s offensive line took the challenge of playing a terrific Miami front and dominated the matchup....even without possible first round pick David Edwards. Wisconsin guards Beau Benzschawel and Michael Deiter left with a bang. Edwards and center Tyler Biadasz also may leave, but will take time to decide. It was nice to see Taiwan Deal and even Chris James get in the game and play well, each averaging five yards per carry. It was physical domination from the opening drive. Kudos to the offensive line.

It was easily the best performance by the defense this season. The three points allowed was the fewest allowed since surrendering three against Western Kentucky in the season opener. It was the fewest points allowed against a major conference opponent since shutting out Minnesota in the regular season finale last season. Freshman nose tackle Bryson Williams, playing for the injured Olive Sagapolu, is becoming a real good nose tackle. He will be starting alongside Garrett Rand and Isaiahh Loudermilk next year in what should be a much-improved defensive line.

The linebackers were all over the place. Senior T.J. Edwards led the Badgers with nine tackles, with one tackle for loss and his 10th career interception, which ties him with David Greenwood for seventh in school history. He also recovered a fumble. Fellow senior Andrew Van Ginkel had eight tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. Junior Chris Orr, playing in place of the injured Ryan Connelly, had eight tackles, a tackle for loss and an interception. The front seven also helped stymie a really good Miami ground attack. Travis Homer and DeeJay Dallas, who combined to rush for 1,578 yards and 10 touchdowns and averaging 6.1 yards per carry, were held to a combined 24 yards on 14 carries. The team stats don’t look that bad, rushing for 121 yards on 23 carries, but 90 of them were by quarterback Malik Rosier, including a 62-yard scamper. Outside of that 62-yarder, Miami was held to 59 yards on 22 carries, less than three yards per carry. Sensational performance by the front seven.

Miami does not exactly have Aaron Rodgers under center, but the secondary played well also. Playing without senior safety D’Cota Dixon, the secondary picked off two passes and held Miami to 48 yards passing on six completions. They set the tone on the first offensive snap for the Hurricanes, as safety Eric Burrell picked off a Rosier pass and returned it inside the 10, which set up the second Badgers touchdown. Cornerback Caesar Williams picked off a pass late that set up the knockout touchdown.

Finally, hats off to the seniors. With the exception of kicker Rafael Gaglianone, the senior class had a great send-off Thursday night. Gaglianone did tie Ron Dayne for second most points scored in school history. I mentioned both senior running backs (Deal and James) averaging more than five yards per carry, combining for 78 yards on 15 carries. I mentioned the great play of the linemen and linebackers, who also went out with a bang. Fullback Alec Ingold ran five times for 11 yards and scored a touchdown for the Badgers.

This was a much-needed performance after an underwhelming season. Wisconsin will be one of the leaders for the Big Ten West once again. This is a nice boost going into 2019. The Badgers will likely have a quarterback competition, and it will be interesting to see the improvement among the defenders and who Wisconsin will lose to the NFL. Onto 2019...

Packers Mock Draft 12.27

We have reached the final week of the regular season, and with the Green Bay Packers at 6-8-1, they have been eliminated from playoff contention and all they have to look forward to is the draft. The Packers have 10 draft picks, as of now, and plenty of cap space. Green Bay should be right back into the thick of things next season. It will be interesting to see what the Packers do in free agency.

1a. Noah Fant, TE, Iowa (previous: Josh Allen)

As much as I would like Josh Allen to fall to Green Bay, I have a hard time seeing him falling outside the top 10, and Green Bay is slated to pick in the middle of the first round at the moment. The Packers need to draft a tight end of the future this year, and Fant is an outstanding prospect. Jimmy Graham is 32, and last three seasons, Green Bay has signed who many thought was the best tight end in free agency: Jared Cook, Martellus Bennett and Graham. It is about time Green Bay drafted one to be a target for Aaron Rodgers moving forward. It can’t be easy on No. 12 when he has a different tight end every year. Noah Fant could be that guy. He is a good receiving tight end, catching 39 passes for 519 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns. In 2017, Fant led the Big Ten with 11 touchdown grabs. His size and athleticism are outstanding and he is a solid blocker. Green Bay sure does love drafting Iowa guys as well, having drafted Josh Jackson, Micah Hyde, Mike Daniels, Bryan Bulaga, among others in recent years.

1b. Jaylon Ferguson, EDGE, Louisiana Tech (previous: Fant)

Amazingly, Green Bay is sixth in the league in sacks with 43. Mike Pettine has done a tremendous job manufacturing pressure from what he has on the defense, but think what he could do with a premier pass rusher. In Ferguson's bowl game, he broke Terrell Suggs’ record for most sacks in a career, with 45 sacks, including 17 this season. Ferguson also had 26 tackles for loss this season and 67.5 in his Louisiana Tech career. The Packers have waited far too long to draft an edge rusher high, and they need to take one with one of their two first round picks. Clay Matthews was actually solid this year, but his days are gone as an elite pass rusher and he is a free agent following this season. Matthews would actually be better off moving to inside linebacker if retained. Nick Perry only played in nine games, and was ineffective even when on the field. Other than his game-sealing sack and forced fumble against Chicago week one, he was missing in action. Brian Gutekunst needs to rebuild the linebacking core, and this is a good start.

2. Bobby Evans, OT, Oklahoma (previous: Ferguson)

While Bryan Bulaga has played extremely well this season, he may be cut at the end of this season due to his tendency to get hurt. He has played 13 games so far this year, and could return for one more season until his contract ends at the conclusion of next season. Regardless if he is brought back for one more season or is cut this offseason, the team will need a tackle to replace him long-term. The Oklahoma product had an outstanding season in 2017 at right tackle and has followed that up with a nice 2018 season at left tackle. He has the length and athleticism to be a great offensive tackle. He could start day one or wait a year and fill in after Bulaga moves on.

3. Parris Campbell, WR, Ohio State (previous: Isaiah Prince)

Randall Cobb could be on his way out, which would mean the Packers would need a new wide receiver to work in the slot. In this mock, Aaron Rodgers would be excited about the first two days, gaining two more weapons at his disposal. Last year, they drafted big and fast receivers, Equanimeous St. Brown, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and J’Mon Moore. St. Brown and Valdes-Scantling and have played well as rookies and I think will make a big jump in their second year. Geronimo Allison will also return. Campbell dominated in the slot in 2017, averaging 11.4 yards per slot target, which was fifth in the country. He caught 79 passes for nearly 1,000 yards this year and 11 touchdowns. Against rival Michigan, he hauled in six passes for a whopping 192 yards and a touchdown in the blowout victory.

4a. Kenny Willekes, EDGE, Michigan State (previous: Jon’Vea Johnson)

With Matthews a free agent, Perry unable to stay healthy and most other pass rushers ineffective, it would be wise to use multiple picks on pass rushers. After using a first on Ferguson, Brian Gutekunst takes the Michigan State pass rusher in the fourth. The former walk-on has followed up a solid sophomore season with a tremendous junior season in which he led the Big Ten (seventh nationally) in tackles for loss with 20 and his nine sacks tied for fifth in the conference. For his efforts, Willekes was named the Smith-Brown Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year. Being just a redshirt junior, it is unclear if he will declare after Michigan State battles Oregon in the Redbox Bowl. He has a tremendous motor, and would be a great pick in the middle of the fourth round.

4b. Chris Johnson, S, North Alabama (previous: N/A)

The Packers need an overhaul at safety, especially after trading Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to Washington this season. Kentrell Brice has struggled, and I doubt Tramon Williams is back in 2019. I have no doubt the Packers will sign at least one starting safety in free agency, and possibly two. Even if they were to sign two, Green Bay could use depth, especially after what happened this season. This season, Johnson registered 47 tackles to go along with three break-ups and two interceptions.

5. Alex Bars, OT/OG, Notre Dame (previous: Corbin Kaufusi)

Green Bay’s guards have not had as good of a year as many Packers fans have hoped. In the mid-rounds, count on the Packers to take an offensive lineman. Cole Madison has not played one snap for the team and may not ever play for the Packers. Bars may help make up for that. He played great against Michigan, but then in late September was lost for the season with a torn ACL and MCL. That could knock him down a bit, but he hopefully will be good by camp next summer. Bars would be a great pick if that is who they select at this spot.

6a. David Montgomery, RB, Iowa State (previous: Karan Higdon)

Green Bay traded Ty Montgomery after his fumble on the kickoff return that may have cost the Packers a win in Los Angeles. After Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams, the Packers will have an open competition for the final running back spot. After a really nice sophomore campaign, he followed that up with an even better junior season. While not having as many yards as he did in 2017, he ran the ball fewer times and still had nearly 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns on 4.7 yards per carry. He has also caught 67 passes in his Iowa State career. Montgomery is only a junior, so he will likely return to school, though.

6b. Cole Tracy, K, LSU (previous: Kaden Smith)

Mason Crosby has been a great kicker for the Packers for 12 seasons, but we are at a point in time where he is being paid too much to be as inconsistent as he has been this season. This year, he is 30-for-37 (81 percent), but missed some makeable kicks, including four field goals against Detroit and the potential game-tying field goal against Arizona. The 81 percent is actually better than his career average, and he actually has made his last eight attempts, but he will 35 by the time next regular season begins and he will get paid nearly $5 million in 2019 if kept. Cutting him would save the organization $3.6 million. Tracy came to LSU from Division II Assumption College, where he was 27-of-29 as a junior. With the Tigers, he has gone 25-of-29 with three of his four misses coming from 50 and beyond.

7. Jazz Ferguson, WR, Northwestern State (previous: Calvin Throckmorton)

I have to homer it up here. I had him taking his brother with their second first round pick, so why not take the other Ferguson brother here? Ferguson is a big body like they drafted last year. If he can run in the 4.4s, he will go higher. After leaving LSU, the former 4* wide receiver went to Northwestern State. All he did there was shatter the school record for single-season receiving yards (1,117) and receiving touchdowns (13), not to mention finishing second in receptions (66). Having more weapons come in and compete the better. He’d likely fight with J’Mon Moore and perhaps Jake Kumerow for a roster spot.

Pinstripe Bowl Preview: Miami vs. Wisconsin

After limping their way to a 7-5 regular season, the Wisconsin Badgers will play a familiar foe in the Pinstripe Bowl: the Miami Hurricanes. It will be played at legendary Yankee Stadium on Thursday at 4:15 CST on ESPN. In case you have forgotten, the same two teams met last year during bowl season in a slightly more prestigious bowl game, as the Badgers went to Hard Rock Stadium and defeated the Hurricanes 34-24 in the Orange Bowl. This year, you could call it the ‘Disappointment Bowl,’ as the two teams started the year with great aspirations, only to each go 7-5. The teams started the year in the top 10, but went downhill after that.

Wisconsin started the year with two convincing wins over overmatched competition, Western Kentucky and New Mexico, before being upset by BYU 24-21. That was the start of not only a bad season for Wisconsin, but a poor one for kicker Rafael Gaglianone as well, as he missed a potential game-tying field goal in the closing seconds. Wisconsin found its footing with two straight wins, including a huge win at Iowa when Alex Hornibrook found A.J. Taylor over the middle for 17 yards with less than a minute to play. But the Badgers would alternate wins and losses the remainder of the season, including losing the axe for the first time since 2003 with a 37-15 loss to Minnesota. The Badgers were devastated by injuries/suspensions to key players, including their quarterback, No. 1 wide receiver, entire secondary and 2/3 of their defensive line. We never saw what the team was capable of after the losses before the season of starting defensive end Garrett Rand (out for season), No. 1 wide receiver Quintez Cephus (suspension, sexual assault trial) and Isaiahh Loudermilk (missed part of season, was never fully healthy). That does not even count the transfers of defensive backs Dontye Carriere-Williams and Patrick Johnson. During the season, Hornibrook, nose tackle Olive Sagapolu, outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, right tackle David Edwards and the entire opening night secondary missed at least a portion of the season. Against Miami, Sagapolu, Rand and Cephus are all out, as well as inside linebacker Ryan Connelly.

As for the Hurricanes, ‘the U’ started out with a blowout loss to LSU, but would rebound with five straight victories. That would be proceeded by four straight losses mid-season and Miami’s dreams of a second straight New Year’s 6 bowl appearances were dashed. But the Canes would end the season with two straight victories, including a dominant 24-3 win over ACC Coastal Division champion Pittsburgh.

This is the sixth meeting between the two schools, including the third in bowl season. Wisconsin has won three of the previous five matchups, including the last two, in the 2009 Champs Sports Bowl and last year’s Orange Bowl. Overall in postseason play, the Badgers have won their last four, including a pair of wins in New Year’s 6 bowls. Miami, on the other hand, has lost seven of its last eight bowls, with the only win coming in the Russell Athletic Bowl against West Virginia in 2016.

When Wisconsin runs...

Wisconsin is led by the Doak Walker Award winner Jonathan Taylor, who leads the nation in rushing with 1,989 yards on the ground. The last time we saw Taylor play, he had a solid, but a disappointing effort for him, as he ran for just 120 yards on 19 carries in the loss to Minnesota. But the week before that, he ran for 321 yards in a come-from-behind triple overtime win at Purdue. With 11 yards against Miami, he will become the third Badgers running back (fourth season) to reach the 2,000 yard mark. Taylor averages nearly 166 yards on the ground per game, and with 118, he would tie Ron Dayne’s 2,109 yards in his freshman year for the second most rushing yards in a season in Wisconsin history. Melvin Gordon’s program-record mark of 2,587 is out of reach, but second place would be a huge honor for No. 23. He is one shy of tying Brent Moss for the 10th most rushing touchdowns in a season in school history. Amazingly, Taylor is just 34 yards away from 4,000 in his career already, which is sixth in school history. I don’t expect him to stick around for all four years, but if he were to, he would shatter the NCAA record for most all-time career rushing yards.

Taylor is 49 yards away from James White for fifth in school history. and barring injury, he will cruise into second place next season. Enjoy him while he lasts. In last year’s game, he ran for 130 yards on 26 carries. As a team, Wisconsin averages 268.4 rushing yards per game, which is seventh nationally, and only behind Memphis and UCF in terms of teams that don’t run the triple option. The 6.3 yards per carry ranks fourth, only behind Clemson, Oklahoma and Memphis, and two of those teams made the College Football Playoff.

Defensively, Miami ranks 24th in the country, allowing 127.5 yards on the ground per game. The Hurricanes are the third best rush defense the Badgers have faced this year, after Iowa (8th) and Michigan (17th). In the two games against those two teams, Wisconsin ran for an average of 196.5 yards per game and 5.4 yards per carry. In wins this year, Miami has allowed just 632 yards and 2.5 yards per carry. In losses, the Canes defense allowed 898 yards and 4.1 yards per carry. One key may be getting to 120 yards on the ground. When giving up more than that mark, Miami is 1-5, but is 6-0 when allowing fewer than 120 rushing yards. The task became a bit more difficult with All-America defensive tackle Gerald Willis out with a hand injury. Without him, the Canes could have a tough time stopping the Taylor Express. Miami leads the country in tackles for loss per game with 10.5. Willis had 18 tackles for loss, which was top 15 in the country. Fellow defensive lineman Jonathan Garvin was not too far behind with 16. Four players on the Canes have at least 13 tackles for loss. The Badgers will have their hands full with the other three, but I believe Wisconsin will neutralize them and allow Taylor to have a nice game.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Wisconsin passes...

Many thought Hornibrook would carry the strong play from last year’s Orange Bowl into the 2018 season, but that hasn’t happened. In last year’s bowl meeting, the quarterback had arguably the strongest performance of his career, going 23-of-34 for 258 yards and a career-high four touchdowns in earning Orange Bowl MVP, leading the Badgers to the 10-point win. But it has been all downhill since for the junior quarterback. He has missed three and a half games with concussions, and after coming back to start in the regular season finale against Minnesota, he was not good. He threw for 189 yards with two touchdowns and three costly interceptions.

It remains to be seen if he’ll get a chance to break Bevell’s record since his poor play this year has made it likely that Paul Chryst will have a quarterback competition in 2019 between Hornibrook, Jack Coan, Chase Wolf and incoming freshman Graham Mertz. But days ago, it was announced that Coan would burn his redshirt and will be playing his fifth game (fourth start). The sophomore has completed 61 percent of his passes this season for 442 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He is 1-2 as the starter, with his only win coming in the triple-overtime thriller at Purdue. In that game, Coan threw two late touchdowns to force overtime. This season, he has not thrown for more than 160 yards in a game. He does have some solid receivers at his disposal, led by wide receiver A.J. Taylor, who caught 30 passes for 508 yards and three touchdowns. Mr. Reliable Jake Ferguson caught 34 passes for 441 yards and four touchdowns. Danny Davis, who is coming off a 10-catch performance against Minnesota, led the team with 40 catches, despite missing the first two games of the season. Five players caught at least 20 passes for the Badgers this season. A.J. Taylor had a big game in last year’s meeting with eight catches for 105 yards and a tremendous one-handed touchdown grab, while Davis had three touchdown catches.

Eight players have at least one interception for Miami, with three having three picks. Last year, Sheldrick Redwine was victimized quite a bit in the Orange Bowl, but he had three interceptions this year. Trajan Bandy has had a tremendous year for the Hurricanes. While in coverage, he has only allowed 45 percent of passes to be caught and just a 58.8 passer rating against him. His PFF rating of 88 is ranked 13th in the country for cornerbacks. Eleven Miami players have at least a half a sack this year, led by Joe Jackson’s 8.5. Their 37 sacks ranks 11th in the country. Overall in pass defense, they are No. 1 in fewest passing yards allowed per game and No. 3 in opponent’s quarterback rating. Miami has only allowed 10 touchdown passes and has picked off 15 passes. Coan will need to take care of the ball and make clutch throws to keep the chains moving. It will also be interesting to see how the Canes respond to the loss of defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, who took the head job at Temple earlier this month. He will coach in the game, but who knows if he will be all-in for it.

Edge: Miami

When Miami runs...

Miami has a two-headed monster at running back with Travis Homer and Deejay Dallas. Both running backs have at least 100 carries with both also averaging at least 5.8 yards per rush. They have combined to rush for 1,578 yards and 10 touchdowns and average 6.1 yards per carry. Both also have big play ability, as each have a touchdown of at least 70 yards. Wisconsin has not been good at stopping the run this year, so they will have their hands full with this rushing attack, especially without linebacker Ryan Connelly, who was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award. Quarterback N'Kosi Perry is also a runner, having rushed for 158 yards and a touchdown on the season.

The Badgers will once again be without starting defensive linemen Garrett Rand and Olive Sagapolu, along with Connelly. The rush defense has improved as the season has gone along, but it is still not great. They give up 158 yards on the ground per game, but is 72nd in the country in rush yards allowed per carry at 4.4. They were near the 100s in both categories a few months ago, but they still have a long ways to go. The defensive line and T.J. Edwards will need to play great in order to contain Homer and Dallas. This will be a defense similar to what we will see next year, as only three of the defensive starters will be seniors since Sagapolu and Connelly will be out.

Edge: Miami

When Miami passes...

Freshman N’Kosi Perry appears to have wrestled the starting job away from senior Malik Rosier. At the beginning of the season, the two played a similar number of snaps, but it seems as though Perry is the guy heading into the bowl game. Although, Perry did struggle in the win against Pittsburgh, completing 6 of 24 passes for 52 yards. Even with Perry, quarterback is a sore spot for the Hurricanes. Perry's quarterback rating of 118.5 ranks 104th. Miami’s quarterback has completed 51.6 percent of his passes this season, but has thrown as many touchdowns as Wisconsin’s signal caller without as many mistakes. His yards per attempt is even worse at 5.9, which ranks 116th. Leading receiver Jeff Thomas was dismissed from the Miami football team last month. He had 563 yards receiving and three touchdowns, and had one catch for 48 yards in the meeting last season. In the season-opening loss to LSU, Thomas had five grabs for 132 yards. Next up for Miami is junior Lawrence Cager, who caught 20 passes for 352 yards and a team-high six scores. although he does not have one since Oct. 6. He also has not had more than one catch in a game since Oct. 13. Last year, he had career-highs in catches (4) and receiving yards (76) against the Badgers. The security blanket is freshman tight end Brevin Jordan, who has 30 catches for 275 yards.

Defensively, Wisconsin has struggled. This unit is a far cry from what the Hurricanes had to face last season. Gone are the starting cornerbacks, starting defensive ends and starting outside linebackers. We knew it would be a bit of a rebuild on that side of the ball, but the unit has struggled more than people thought it would going in. The already young unit has been depleated with injury and departures this season. I already mentioned the transfers of Carriere-Williams and Johnson, but every starting defensive back from opening night has missed at least one game with each starting safety missing at least three. Freshman Rachad Wildgoose was pressed into duty, and has been inconsistent, like you might expect for a true freshman. The secondary has only picked off 10 passes on the season, and none in the final three games. What probably contributed to the lack of interceptions is that Wisconsin has only sacked opposing quarterbacks 18 times, which is good enough for 112th in the nation. Part of that is Andrew Van Ginkel playing banged up, but should be good to go for the bowl game, but Jim Leonhard has had a hard time generating pressure. Miami’s offensive line has allowed 26 sacks, which is middle of the pack in the country. This is an interesting matchup. This is valuable experience for a young secondary, which has three freshmen and one sophomore among their top five defensive backs.

Edge: Push

Special Teams

The special teams have not been so special to the Badgers this year. Even the usually reliable Rafael Gaglianone has struggled mightily this year, going 10 of 15 on the year, which matches his worst year by field goal percentage in his career. This is coming off a fantastic year in 2017, in which he made 16 of his 18 attempts. What is even more surprising is that he is having a down year despite only attempting three field goals from beyond 40 yards. His long this season is only 42. For Miami, Michael Badgley has moved on to the Los Angeles Chargers, so freshman Bubba Baxa has stepped in and done a decent job. After going 1-of-2 against LSU in the opener, he has made seven of his last nine, but is just 1-of-3 from 40+ on the season. Per usual, Wisconsin’s punting game is a disaster, ranking near the bottom of the conference. Zach Feagles in back at punter for Miami, and he is decent, better than Wisconsin’s punters at least. Miami has a better return game as well. Dallas returned a punt for a touchdown last game. Aron Cruickshank will eventually break one for Wisconsin as a kick returner, so it might as well be this game, right?

Edge: Miami

Overview

Miami has a great defense and a real good ground attack, but like many bowl games, who is more motivated to be there? Both of these teams started out the season ranked in the top 10, but they finished 7-5 and nowhere near the goals they set for themselves. In 2009, the teams met in the Champs Sports Bowl with the temperatures in the 40s. Miami did not look like it wanted any part of the cold weather. All people heard about was Miami’s speed before the game. As it turned out, the only time we saw that speed was when the Canes players were running to the heaters. The weather will favor the Badgers, and it could depend on if the Southern school wants any part of the 20 or 30-degree temps. It will be a slugfest, but I think there will be too much Jonathan Taylor, as he runs for 150 and multiple scores and the Badgers beat the Canes for the second year in a row.

Prediction: Wisconsin 24, Miami 20

Minnesota/Wisconsin preview

Wisconsin is coming off one of its most exciting games of the Paul Chryst era, coming back from a late 14-point deficit to force overtime and winning it in three overtimes 47-44 at Purdue. Not too long ago, the Boilermakers crushed Ohio State at that stadium by 29, so that is a nice win. Like Purdue, Minnesota is fighting for bowl eligibility when the Gophers come to Madison this weekend in the fight for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. Last year, Wisconsin clobbered Minnesota 31-0 in Minneapolis to win the axe for the 14th consecutive time against their rivals from across the Mississippi. With the win, the Badgers took the lead in head-to-head for the first time in the rivalry’s history, 60-59-8. It will be the last home game for a number of seniors, including linebackers T.J. Edwards, Ryan Connelly and Andrew Van Ginkel, and safety D’Cota Dixon. On offense, Michael Deiter will be making his 53rd career start, which is a school record. The seniors have been a part of a great run that has won 41 games the past nearly four years.

Two weeks ago, Minnesota crushed Purdue 41-10 in Minneapolis, but lost 24-14 at home to Northwestern. In the last meeting at Camp Randall, Wisconsin fell behind at halftime 17-7, but forced Mitch Leidner to throw four interceptions and the Badgers outscored the Gophers 24-0 in the second half to emerge with the 31-17 win. The last two games in Madison, Wisconsin fell behind by double digits and outscored Minnesota a combined 45-7 in the second half. The Gophers have struggled mightily on the road this year, losing all four road games by an average of 23.5 points per game, including losing by a combined 49 to Illinois and Nebraska, which have a combined record of 8-14. P.J. Fleck is looking for his first signature win and his first bowl game as Minnesota’s head coach. Wisconsin has won 10 straight trophy games with the last loss coming to Iowa in the 2015 Big Ten opener.

When Wisconsin runs...

Sophomore Jonathan Taylor is coming off the best day of his career and one of the best in school history, running 33 times for 321 yards and three scores in last week’s triple-overtime victory at Purdue. With that big win, Taylor has extended the lead for most rushing yards in the nation with 1,869, which is now 348 more than second place, Darrell Henderson of Memphis. He is simply put, a monster. In less than two years, he is just 154 yards shy of 4,000 in his career. Amazingly, he is just 2,559 yards behind former San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey’s 6,405 yards. Yes, we all know Ron Dayne still has the all-time rushing record, but the NCAA record book has not changed it to allow Dayne’s bowl games to count yet. He is also just 3,279 away from Dayne’s all-time record. Unreal. I know he won’t stick around all four years, but if he did, he would shatter every rushing record. Taylor’s 1,869 yards are sixth in a single season in Wisconsin history and is just 240 behind Dayne’s 2,109 for second place. He is also one rushing touchdown away from making his way into the top 10 for rushing scores in a season. Overall, the Badgers are fourth in the country in rushing at 277.4 yards per game, and the three teams ranked above them run the triple option. The Badgers average of 6.3 yards per carry only trails Oklahoma, Clemson and Memphis. Backup running back Taiwan Deal was injured against Penn State on a long carry early in the second half and missed last week’s win at Purdue, and is questionable for the battle for the axe. Defensively, Minnesota is 74th in rush yards allowed per game with 170.7 and has given up 19 scores on the ground. However, the Gophers have allowed an average of a whopping 5.2 yards per carry, which ranks 116th out of the 130 FBS teams. Minnesota has done a much better job since firing defensive coordinator Robb Smith after being crushed by Illinois. Minnesota has not faced a rushing offense anywhere near Wisconsin’s level in those two games. The Gophers defense has been especially bad on the road, where they have given up an average of 45 points per game in their four road contests (all losses). In those games, the defense has allowed an AVERAGE of 305 (!!!!) yards on the ground, with three of the four gaining at least 315 yards and two of a least 380. This should be a game where Taylor rushes for 200 again. Minnesota’s defense is improved, but I don’t see them slowing down the Taylor Express.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Wisconsin passes...

Unfortunately, we still do not know the status of starting quarterback Alex Hornibrook. Backup Jack Coan finally played well in the fourth quarter against Purdue, leading the Badgers back from a 14-point deficit to force overtime. Hornibrook was in pads, throwing with Danny Davis this week, but that doesn’t mean he has been cleared. Ideally, the Badgers would like Hornibrook to play the entire final two games and be able to use this as a redshirt year for Coan. But he’ll start again if No. 12 cannot go. Amazingly, Hornibrook’s 45 touchdown passes is just two shy of third in school history (47 by John Stocco) and three behind second (48 by Joel Stave). He is also just 22 behind Scott Tolzien for No. 5 on the all-time passing list at Wisconsin. In his four games (or three and a half), Coan has thrown for 442 yards with four touchdowns and two picks (both against Penn State) and has not thrown for more than 160 yards in a game. He has multiple weapons who can beat you. Davis only had four catches for 36 yards last game, but had two huge touchdown grabs in the fourth quarter to tie it up, including a one-handed snag that was SportsCenter’s top play of the day. After catching just six passes for 52 yards in the prior five games, A.J. Taylor had five receptions for 89 yards. He leads the team in yards with 495. Three players have at least 29 receptions, and Davis leads the team with 30 despite missing the first two games. After slowly getting back into things, he has hauled in at least four catches in four of the past five games. Five receivers have at least 20 grabs, so the ball gets spread around. Minnesota comes in allowing 226.8 yards through the air per game, which is 64th, but its yards per attempt checks in at No. 49. For comparison, the Badgers rank 55th in that same category. In the last two games, against two good quarterbacks (Clayton Thorsen and David Blough), the Gophers allowed just 187.5 passing yards per game and just a single touchdown.

Edge: Minnesota

When Minnesota runs...

The Gophers have been hit with the injury bug this season, as both Shannon Brooks and Rodney Smith are out for the season. Leading Goldy Gopher on the ground this season is Mohamed Ibrahim, a freshman from Maryland. Even with the top two backs out, Ibrahim has done terrific so far. Despite playing in just eight games, he has 815 yards rushing. In his last three games, he has rushed for an average of 117 yards and rushed for at least 98 in all three, and has scored three times.  In the three, against Illinois, Purdue and Northwestern, he has averaged 6.3 yards per attempt. Overall, the Gophers have averaged 160 yards on the ground per game, which is 77th in the FBS. Part of the reason their yards per carry is only 4.1 is they have given up 26 sacks. Without sacks included, it is at 4.4. Another freshman, Bryce Williams, is the backup, as he has run for 450 yards and a pair of scores. While the Badgers run defense has improved, it is still not great. The unit has moved up to 53rd in rushing yards allowed and 77th in opponents yards per carry after being close to 100th for awhile this season. Last week, Wisconsin held Purdue to just 76 yards on the ground and 2.5 yards per carry. Freshman nose tackle Bryson Williams and defensive end Isaiahh Loudermilk, along with the Badgers terrific group of linebackers will need to slow down Ibrahim and force the young Minnesota quarterbacks to beat them.

Edge: Minnesota

When Minnesota passes...

The Gophers started the season with walk-on freshman Zack Annexstad, and he struggled, completing just 52 percent of his passes, including 49 percent in conference play. As a starter, he led the Gophers to a 3-4 record and 0-4 n Big Ten play. During the team’s 53-28 loss at Nebraska, he was replaced by fellow freshman Tanner Morgan. The latter has led the Gophers to two wins in his four games as a starter, including a 41-10 demolition of Purdue at TCF Bank Stadium. In those games, Minnesota has averaged 31 points per game. Granted, only one of those defenses rank above 72nd in points allowed per game (Northwestern, scored 14), but still is a step in the right direction for them. Last week against Northwestern, Morgan threw two interceptions and fumbled three times (losing one). There will be growing pains for the young quarterback, but he has one of the best receivers in the conference to throw the ball to, Tyler Johnson. The junior wide receiver, who missed last year’s game against Wisconsin with injury, leads the Big Ten and is 11th nationally in receiving yards with 1,036. Despite missing the final two games last year, Johnson had 677 yards receiving and seven scores. This year, he has only had one game in which he was held under 50 yards and had a string of four consecutive 100-yard games. Johnson has also caught 10 of his team’s 18 touchdown passes on the season. To put his 1,000-yard season in perspective, Wisconsin has only had four seasons with 1,000-yard receivers in its history, and two of those were by Lee Evans back in the early 2000s. The Badgers cornerbacks will need to bring their A-game in order to slow him down. In addition to Johnson, Minnesota has two more with at least 380 receiving yards. Freshman Rashod Bateman has more receptions and yards than any Badger, catching 47 passes for 648 yards and six touchdowns. He has had just 70 yards combined the last two weeks, but had nearly 300 in the two before that. Another freshman, Chris Autman-Bell, has also had a nice freshman season, catching 24 passes for 382 yards. After seemingly having made strides in pass defense, Wisconsin has fallen back the past few weeks. Last week, Purdue’s David Blough threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns. The downswing started when Rutgers’ Artur Sitkowski, who has been atrocious this season, threw for 261 yards and a touchdown. That was the second most passing yards he has thrown for this season, and only the third game in which he did not turn the ball over. Wisconsin will be able to get after the Minnesota quarterbacks, though, as the Gophers offensive line has allowed 26 sacks this season. including 22 in conference play. Andrew Van Ginkel, playing in his final game in Madison on Saturday, is finally back near full health after battling injuries much of the early part of the season. At Purdue, he had two sacks, and he has had 2.5 in his last two games. A healthy Van Ginkel makes the Badgers pass rush more potent.

Edge: Push

Special Teams

Wisconsin’s Rafael Gaglianone is having his worst year since 2015. He has made just 10-of-14 field goals. Last year, Minnesota’s kicker Emmit Carpenter missed both field goal attempts against Wisconsin. This year, he is having a decent year, making 12-of-16, including 2-of-2 from beyond 50. Jacob Herbers is a terrific punter for Minnesota, ranking second in the Big Ten in net punting at 41.2, while Wisconsin ranks last. Bucky has a slight edge in kick returning.

Edge: Minnesota

Overview

Wisconsin has won 14 straight over Minnesota, and I think it will move to 15. The Gophers are fighting for bowl eligibility, but the game is at Camp Randall. Minnesota is a young team, and the school hasn’t won in Madison in football since 1994. I believe we’ll see Jonathan Taylor early and often. I expect him to get to 200 yards on the ground once again. Wisconsin is 5-1 at home this season, while Minnesota is winless on the road. My money is on the Badgers. I could see Minnesota keeping it close for a bit, but Wisconsin pulling away in the fourth.

Prediction: Wisconsin 34, Minnesota 20

Wisconsin/Purdue review

Just one word can be used to describe that win: wow. I apologize for not being able to write the preview. I was extremely busy this week and was unable to do it. But man, I would not have predicted a 47-44 triple overtime win. I admit, I did not think Bucky was going to pull this off. Without Alex Hornibrook and one of their best offensive linemen David Edwards, Jonathan Taylor put the team on his back, just like Greg Jennings. The sensational sophomore ran for a career-high 321 yards, which was the third best performance in school history, as well as three scores. Among those 321 yards was the game-winning 17-yard touchdown in overtime to win the longest game (in regulation time) in school history. With the win, the Badgers improve to 7-4 and 5-3 in conference play. Purdue falls to 5-5 with the loss, and 4-4 in Big Ten play. This win is also Wisconsin’s 13th straight win over the Boilermakers, and eighth straight in West Lafayette. The last loss in the series was a 26-23 Purdue win in Madison in 2003. The last Boilermakers win at Ross-Ade Stadium was in 1997. Bucky was down 27-13 with seven minutes to play, but scored two touchdowns on Jack Coan passes to Danny Davis and made two defensive stands to send the game into overtime. It was an incredible comeback and it gives the team some much-needed confidence as they head into their final game back at Camp Randall Stadium against their arch-rival Minnesota.

Jonathan. Taylor. Like always, I start out with the positives, and Taylor had one of the best games in Wisconsin history. He ran for a career-high 321 yards and three touchdowns, and the Badgers needed every last one of them. The 321 yards was the third most in school history, only trailing Ron Dayne’s 339 against Hawaii in 1996 and Melvin Gordon’s 408 against Nebraska in 2014. It is the most rushing yards in the FBS this season, and the third game of at least 300 rushing yards. In the first half, the sophomore ran for “just” 74 yards on 12 carries. After that, he carried the rock 21 times for 247 yards, an incredible 11.8-yard average. The big day moved him ahead of Billy Marek into seventh place in Wisconsin history with 3,846 yards. So, yes, he is just 154 yards shy of 4,000 in his career, which is just two years old. Barring injury, he will move into fifth place all-time in school history by the time the year is up, as he is just 169 yards behind James White. Taylor is now just 31 yards from 2,000 on the season. That is already sixth in school history for a single season. Gordon’s historic 2014 season is out of the question, but he is just 240 behind Ron Dayne’s 2,109 in 1996 for second place. I am running out of adjectives to describe the sophomore running back. He is just incredible. No. 23 started the second half with an 80-yard touchdown run to tie it up at 10-10. His 35-yard run also helped cap the fourth quarter comeback and tie it up at 27. What makes his day even that much more impressive was the fact that he was not stopped for a loss once. This was a performance for the ages.

A healthy Andrew Van Ginkel is a huge plus for the Badgers. He had 10 tackles on the game, with every single one being a solo stop. Not only did he have two sacks, he also made a huge play in the first half when he knocked the ball out of the hands of Purdue’s Isaac Zico and into the end zone for a touchback. T.J. Edwards also had 10 tackles, with nine of his being of the solo variety. Like Van Ginkel, Edwards also had two tackles for loss.

The run defense has improved drastically the past several weeks. D.J. Knox came in averaging 6.1 yards per carry and had nearly 800 yards on the ground this season, while Markell Jones averaged nearly five yards per tote. Knox ran for 128 in the upset of Ohio State last month. Against the Badgers, the duo combined for 21 carries for just 68 yards. As a team, Purdue ran the ball 31 times for 76 yards. Despite being 89th going into the game in rushing, the Boilermakers averaged 4.8 yards per carry. They don’t run it often, but are effective when doing it. Wisconsin had climbed to 64th in rushing yards allowed per game and 86th in yards per carry. That may not seem like much, but it is a vast improvement from a month ago. They made a few key run stops in the game to keep Wisconsin within striking distance. The first was a stop on third down to hold Purdue to a field goal late in the first half to keep it a one-score game. Wisconsin also made back-to-back stops on the 1 midway through the fourth when the score was 24-13. A touchdown would have likely sealed the game, but the defense came through with a pair of stops to keep it a two score game at 27-13.

The passing game was dormant for much of the day, but came through with some clutch plays to get the game to overtime. Jack Coan’s stat line is decent, but that is a significant improvement over his previous two starts. In the game, the sophomore signal caller was 16-of-24 for 160 yards and a pair of scores, and most importantly, no turnovers. In the final nine minutes of regulation and the overtimes, Coan was 7-for-7 for 70 yards and two touchdowns. He only threw one pass in the three overtimes combined, but it was enough to get the job done. Also, what great effort by Danny Davis on his two touchdown grabs. He only had four catches for 36 yards, but his two touchdown catches were tremendous, especially his one-handed grab to cut it 27-20. After a fast start to the season, A.J. Taylor had just six catches for 52 yards combined in his last five games, but came through today with five for 89 and four of his five grabs went for first downs. Coan’s really only blunder that stands out was his sack he took at the end of the first half. Instead of a 3rd-and-goal at the Purdue 2, it was third down at the 11 and Wisconsin had to settle for a field goal. It wasn’t a great performance by Coan, but it was an improvement and hopefully they won’t need him any more this season.

Finally, what resiliency by the Badgers. Most thought Wisconsin would not win this game without Hornibrook or David Edwards. And if you thought the Badgers would win the game after falling behind 27-13, you’re a liar. Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal tweeted “Hello, Pin Cushion Bowl” and one of the first responses was “How about the Toilet Bowl.” Both terrible attempts at humor, and somehow the Badgers got up off the mat and scored two late touchdowns to send the game into overtime. I mean, I don’t blame anyone for writing off the team with seven minutes to play. After scoring 10 points on their first two drives of the second half, the next two were both punts and the team gained a grand total of 18 yards on eight plays. This team was left for dead. Evan Flood of 247 Sports tweeted “Things I didn't think I'd be asking this season: Is the Badgers 14-year winning streak over Minnesota coming to an end next week?” What a difference an hour or so makes. The Badgers scored touchdowns on five of their final six drives (not counting the kneel down) and Wisconsin escaped with a monster comeback win it had no business even being in. The Badgers may be down, but they are certainly not out of it. That was a gritty win that will give them confidence moving forward into the final two games of the season.

There are two main negatives in this game. First, I will start out with the most frustrating: penalties. Wisconsin was penalized 13 times for 125 yards. Waaaaaaaaaaaay too many. And five of them were false starts. Too many, and the Badgers need to clean that up as they get ready for the Gophers. The 125 yards is the most Wisconsin has had this century. So, hopefully this was an anomaly, and the Badgers can play relatively penalty-free football the last few games. They came in averaging 5.4 penalties per game for 46.3 yards per game, so I’ll chalk it up to a bad game, but that was an uncharacteristic showing today.

The pass defense was not good Saturday. The secondary looked good for a few games in a row against solid quarterbacks, but ever since the Rutgers game in which Wisconsin’s secondary made Artur Sitkowski look competent, they have not looked sharp. David Blough is a very good quarterback, and was 16th in pass yards per game going into the matchup. He torched Wisconsin’s secondary for 386 yards and four touchdowns on 31-of-48 passing. The tackling was optional as the game went on too. I know Rondale Moore is a beast, but the effort to bring him down was not there for much of the day. The secondary is young, so hopefully their overall game improves. Rachad Wildgoose was on Moore much of the day and was picked on quite a bit. We’ll need better next week against Minnesota.

Overall, it was a great win. Yes, Purdue is only 5-5, but the Boilermakers beat Iowa and crushed Ohio State in their previous two home games. Man, 7-4 looks a lot better than 6-5. The Badgers have a chance to make it 8-4 next week when they return to Camp Randall to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the annual battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.

Wisconsin/Penn State review

Once again, it was an ugly performance by the Wisconsin Badgers, gaining only 269 yards of offense in a 22-10 loss at Penn State on Saturday. Jack Coan received his second start, and he did not play well to put it nicely. There were only a few bright spots. Jonathan Taylor started off the game with a 71-yard touchdown run, but the offense was shut down after that. This loss eliminated the Badgers from Big Ten West contention with Northwestern’s win over Iowa, and this is the first season where Wisconsin lost four games since 2012. Bucky went to the Rose Bowl that year, but that obviously isn’t happening this year. This is the worst year for them since 2008 when they struggled to a 7-6 record and was crushed by Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl. With the loss, Wisconsin drops to 6-4 and 4-3 in Big Ten play. Penn State improved to 7-3 and also 4-3 in conference play. Wisconsin falls to 1-3 on the road in conference action, the most road losses in Big Ten action since that 2008 season. This is also the first time they have lost by more than one score three times in a season since 08. They need Alex Hornibrook back soon.

Wisconsin’s biggest positive was Jonathan Taylor once again, as the sophomore ran for 185 yards on 20 carries. He started the Badgers off on the right track with a 71-yard touchdown to give Bucky an early 7-0 lead. Other than that, he had 114 yards on 19 carries for an even six yards per carry, so he played well all day and it wasn’t just one carry that made him look good. With his big performance, he catapulted himself into the top 10 in career rushing yards at Wisconsin. Taylor started in 12th, but would move past Heisman Trophy winner Alan Ameche, John Clay, Terrell Fletcher and Brent Moss. He is now just 184 behind Billy Marek for seventh and is 452 yards away from 2,000 for the season. In a year without consistent quarterback play, to get to 2,000 would be incredible, especially since the Badgers will not be going to Indianapolis this season. Taylor is just 61 yards from once again cracking the top 10 for single-season rushing yards. He finished fourth last season with 1,977 yards. Taylor is only the fourth Wisconsin running back to have back-to-back 1,500-yard rushing seasons. Right now, it is like when Adrian Peterson was dominating with Tarvaris Jackson as his quarterback. The sophomore is so great, he tears through defenses even when constantly facing eight and nine in the box.

They didn’t start out well, but Jim Leonhard’s crew kept fighting and gave Wisconsin a chance to win, constantly holding Penn State to field goal attempts, but the Badgers offense could not capitalize. In the first half, the Nittany Lions had 239 yards of offense and 16 points, and they went 4-of-8 on third down. In the second half, they were held to 104 yards and six points. Whenever the defense had its back to the wall, it came through and forced Penn State into a field goal attempt. The defense did everything it could to slow down the Nittany Lions and give the offense a chance, but the offense was brutal. The linebackers came to play. T.J. Edwards registered a career-high 14 tackles, while Butkus Award semifinalist Ryan Connelly added 10 tackles, including a sack and two tackles for loss. Andrew Van Ginkel and Zack Baun combined for 17 tackles with two sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss as well.

Unfortunately, the negatives far outweighed the positives. Outside of Taylor, the offense was abysmal. Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan, filling in for the injured Alex Hornibrook, was terrible in his second career start. The sophomore went 9-of-20 for 60 yards with two interceptions and two lost fumbles. Since 2000, only once has a Badgers quarterback had a worse passer rating than Coan’s 50.2 against Penn State. This was also only the fourth time this millennium that the Badgers had 60 or fewer passing yards in a game. Amazingly, they won two of those games, including the Melvin Gordon game against Nebraska in 2014. People seem to like moving the goal posts for Coan. When Hornibrook makes mistakes, it is on him. When Coan makes mistakes, it is on Paul Chryst. It is ridiculous. Simply put, you cannot turn the ball over four times and beat a good team on the road. He needs to be better.

The offensive line was hyped as a great unit coming into the season, but has not played up to par so far this season. While it is true the success of Jonathan Taylor has a lot to do with the line, but the pass blocking just has not been good. Wisconsin was sacked five times against Penn State and has been sacked 18 times overall in the 10 games so far. David Edwards has had a poor year this year, and was dominated on Saturday. This unit needs to be better to help out the quarterbacks.

The defense as a whole played solid, but the run defense did not do well.....again. Like against Northwestern, the yards per carry against was not terrible, as the Nittany Lions ran for just 3.9 yards per carry. However, Miles Sanders gained 159 yards and a touchdown, running for nearly seven yards per rush. Not good. After not rushing for more than 72 yards in his last two games, he had the third-most yards on the ground this season. With nose tackle Olive Sagapolu out for the rest of the season, backup Bryson Williams will need to step up.

This upcoming week, the Badgers hit the road to West Lafayette for their last road game of the year against the Purdue Boilermakers. Wisconsin is 1-3 in road games this season after losing just one in Chryst’s first three seasons in Madison combined. The game will be at 2:30 CST and will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

Wisconsin Badgers (6-3, 4-2) @ No. 21 Penn State Nittany Lions (6-3, 3-3)

We are entering the final stretch of the season, and both Wisconsin and Penn State have been underwhelming considering both teams were preseason top 10 heading into the season. Wisconsin struggled and lost to BYU in the third week of the season, while Penn State struggled against Appalachian State in week one. Both teams have had their struggles in conference play. Penn State blew a late lead and lost to Ohio State before falling at home against Michigan State and being trucked last week at Michigan. People thought Wisconsin was in perfect position to head back to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship after winning in Iowa City, but then Wisconsin was also blown out in Ann Arbor and then lost an ugly game at Northwestern two weeks ago. The Badgers have fallen out of the top 25, while the Nittany Lions plummeted to No. 21. However, a win here would move the Badgers back into the top 25. But Wisconsin has not beaten Penn State in Happy Valley since 2003. In that game, current defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard returned a punt for a touchdown, which proved to be the difference in a 30-23 Bucky victory.

Penn State won the last matchup between the two when it came back from a 28-7 second quarter deficit to defeat Wisconsin in the 2016 Big Ten Championship game. Overall, the series is tied 9-9 with Penn State having won the previous three meetings. The game will be televised on ABC at 11 a.m. CST. Coming into the season, it would have been considered a matchup between Heisman contenders Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley and Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor. While Penn State’s quarterback is one of the best around, one of the storylines will be if Wisconsin’s signal caller will play. This is a big game to see which team that was ranked preseason top 10 can try and salvage their season a bit.

When Wisconsin runs...

Jonathan Taylor bounced back from a poor game against Northwestern with a 208-yard, three touchdown performance against Rutgers. Penn State is coming off a game in which it allowed 259 yards on the ground and five yards per carry. Taylor is tops in the country in rushing yards (1,363) and rush yards per game (151.44). His 3,340 yards rushing rank 12th all-time in Wisconsin history, which is five yards behind Heisman Trophy winner Alan Ameche for 11th and 73 behind John Clay for 10th. He should once again crack the top 10 for most rushing yards in a single season in school history. As a team, Wisconsin ranks fourth in the country in rush yards per game (273) and its 6.2 yards per carry also ranks fourth. Uncharacteristically, Penn State is 79th in rush yards allowed per game (172.2) and its 4.1 yards per carry average allowed is 59th. Against Michigan, Penn State allowed 259 yards on the ground. Illinois gained 245 yards rushing against the Nittany Lions. However, they are better at home than on the road. In the five home games, they have allowed just 577 yards on the ground (115.4) and 3.12 yards per carry. Penn State sophomore defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos has 13.5 tackles for loss, and he will be a challenge for the Wisconsin offensive line. Six players have at least five tackles for loss for the Lions. It will be a good matchup between the Wisconsin offensive line and Penn State defensive line. The Badgers offensive line will need to play well in order to win, especially if Hornibrook is not able to go.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Wisconsin passes...

Hornibrook left Saturdays game at halftime with a head injury, and his status for this Saturdays game is in doubt. Jack Coan did not play very well against Northwestern, but played better against Rutgers. In his starting debut, he went 20-of-31 for 158 yards and a touchdown, but his awkward handoff with Taylor was a turnover and he also lost a fumble on a play in which he fumbled twice. Both turnovers gave the Wildcats great field position inside the red zone. Following Hornibrook’s departure against Rutgers, Coan did not throw a pass in the third quarter, but he did complete five of seven passes for 64 yards and a touchdown in the fourth. He made a few third down conversions as well. One thing people are wondering about is him not throwing it downfield at all. He won’t be able to do that against Penn State’s secondary if he is the starter. If Hornibrook does play, he is currently sixth on the all-time passing list at Wisconsin, but would move up. He is currently 22 yards behind Scott Tolzien for fifth place, and he would likely make it to fourth place by the end of the year as he is just 378 yards behind Brooks Bollinger for fourth. Danny Davis is getting more involved, as he has had 15 receptions the last three games and he had 60 yards receiving, the most he has had this season. Jake Ferguson and A.J. Taylor are also solid weapons for whoever the Wisconsin quarterback is. For Penn State, Gross-Matos has seven sacks on the season, which is tied for second in the Big Ten and 16th in the country. Penn State has picked off nine passes on the season with those being made by six different passes. Three are tied for the team lead with two. Eleven players for the Nittany Lions have at least one sack, with Penn State sacking opposing quarterbacks 29 times this season so far, which is tied for tops in the Big Ten and seventh in the country. The Wisconsin offensive line has its work cut out for it.

Edge: Penn State

When Penn State runs...

Gone is the do-everything back, Saquon Barkley, but Penn State still has Miles Sanders, who has 848 yards and eight touchdowns and nearly six yards per carry. But he did most of his damage early on. He has only had three 100-yard games, including a 200-yard performance against Illinois earlier this season. The last three games, he has carried the ball 39 times for 148 yards for an average of just 3.79 yards per carry. Sanders did do well, though, against a good Michigan State defense, gaining 162 yards on just 17 carries. In addition to Sanders, quarterback Trace McSorley is also a dangerous runner. Even with sacks included, the senior signal caller has run for 611 yards and five yards per carry with nine touchdowns. Freshman Ricky Slade has 155 yards this year, but has not had any attempts since the Michigan State game Oct. 13. Overall, Penn State is 34th in rushing the ball with 207.9 yards per game. Nose tackle Olive Sagapolu missed the Rutgers game, and he will be out again this week. Wisconsin did well last week, but Rutgers is not a running juggernaut. The Badgers have moved up to 61st in rushing yards allowed per game and is 97th in yards per carry allowed. Wisconsin has had trouble stopping quarterbacks who can run this year, and McSorley can hurt you with his arm and his legs. This will be a tough one.

Edge: Penn State

When Penn State passes the ball...

Going into the season, McSorley was looked at as a Heisman Trophy contender. He has not lived up to that this year. So far, he is just completing 52 percent of his passes and is averaging less than 200 yards passing per game. He has just thrown 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. The senior has a quarterback rating of 123.1, which is 92nd. In comparison, Hornibrook’s passer rating is 135.5, which is 61st. He has been sacked 19 times this season, which is tied for the second most in the Big Ten. Sophomore wide receiver KJ Hamler is his top target, having caught 28 passes for 517 yards and five touchdowns, including four catches for 138 and a electrifying 93-yard touchdown in the crushing loss to Ohio State. Senior Juwan Johnson, who has had a problem with drops this year, did not play in the loss to Michigan, but he does have 293 yards receiving on the year. Freshman tight end Pat Freiermuth only has 16 catches on the year, but four of them have been for touchdowns. He is coming off his best receiving day of his career, yardage-wise, with 51 yards. The freshman has caught a touchdown in four of his last six games. Running back Miles Sanders does have 16 catches on the year, and Rutgers’ running back Raheem Blackshear caught eight passes for 162 yards against Wisconsin last Saturday. For the Badgers they are a banged up unit in the secondary. They did get D’Cota Dixon back against Rutgers, but fellow starting safety Scott Nelson has been out the last two games with a leg injury. It is a tall order going against Penn State, even if McSorley hasn’t played like his normal self so far this season.

Edge: Penn State

Special Teams

Rafael Gaglianone is 7-for-10 on field goals this year, as he knocked home a 32-yarder to extend his record for most field goals made in Wisconsin history to 67. He also made four extra points to pull within three of Philip Welch for most in school history. He very well could break that record, or at least tie it, against the Nittany Lions on Saturday. Penn State kicker Jake Pinegar is 9-of-13 on the year, but is 3-for-6 from beyond 40 yards on the season. Once again, Conner Allen handled the punting duties, and his two punts were both in Rutgers territory and both landed inside the Scarlet Knights 10. Nice job, but I wish the Badgers were more aggressive on offense and going for it. Penn State’s Blake Gillikin can be a weapon, as he averages 43 yards per punt and has placed 13 inside the 20. He has had one blocked this year, though. Opponents have returned 18 of his punts for an average of seven yards per return, so there may be a chance for Jack Dunn. Hamler is a dangerous kickoff returner for the Lions, averaging 27 yards per return. DeAndre Thompkins is even more dangerous at punt returner, as he averages better than 12 yards per return and has brought one back to the house this season at Pittsburgh.

Edge: Penn State

Overview

This is a tough one. Penn State is a little down this year compared to the last few, but Beaver Stadium is still one of the toughest places to play in America. McSorley is still a terrific quarterback who can light it up at any moment. Wisconsin saw that firsthand two years ago in the Big Ten Championship. While Sanders is no Barkley, he is still a really good back and Wisconsin’s defense has struggled stopping the run this year. I fear another blowout if Coan starts again, but I’ll say Penn State scores a late touchdown to seal the game.

Prediction: Penn State 34, Wisconsin 24

Rutgers/Wisconsin review

Wisconsin once again did not play all that great, but was able to get the job done as the Badgers won 31-17. The win gets them bowl eligible for the 17th consecutive season, which is the longest streak in the Big Ten. With that victory, the Badgers improved to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, while Rutgers dropped to 1-8 overall and 0-6 in conference play. Wisconsin struggled on offense in the first half and the Badgers led 10-0 at half. Jack Coan replaced an injured Alex Hornibrook at halftime and Jonathan Taylor went to work. Taylor ran for 208 yards on the game and three touchdowns, with 111 yards and two touchdowns coming after halftime. In the first half, the defense showed up and the offense didn’t. In the second half, it was just the opposite. Wisconsin improved to 3-0 all-time against Rutgers and kept its slim Big Ten West hopes alive.

First positive would be the play of Taylor and the offensive line. In the first half, Taylor had 17 carries for 97 yards and a touchdown. He really got going in the second half. The sophomore only had 10 carries in the second half, but made the most of them, gaining 111 yards and scoring twice. With his 208 yards on the ground, Taylor comes to within five of Heisman Trophy Award winner Alan Ameche for 11th in the all-time rushing list at Wisconsin. He is also 73 away from passing John Clay and entering the top 10. Just an average day for him would move Taylor into eighth. The offensive line paved the way for 317 yards on the ground and nearly seven yards per carry. They also allowed just one sack. The bad thing is that it cost Wisconsin its starting quarterback.

I have hammered the run defense, and rightfully so, but they played well Saturday. I know, Rutgers’ rushing attack is one of the worst in the country, but so was Northwestern and Wisconsin allowed 182 yards. So it was nice to see the run defense allow just 72 yards and less than three yards a carry. It did what it needed to do, even without nose tackle Olive Sagapolu. The 72 yards rushing allowed was the fewest number of rushing yards allowed this season and the 2.8 yards per carry allowed is the second lowest this season, only ahead of New Mexico (2.6). The return of senior safety D’Cota Dixon certainly helped. Wisconsin will need to keep it going, as it plays Miles Sanders and Penn State next weekend.

Now, the quarterback play was not very good. Alex Hornibrook started and led them to a touchdown on their opening drive, and No. 12 looked good doing it. But then, everything went downhill. On the second drive, Hornibrook threw an ill-advised pass that was picked off by Saquan Hampton. He went 2-for-2 for 39 yards on the opening possession, but was just 5-for-14 for 53 yards and two picks his final six drives. Hornibrook would then get injured on the final play of the first half on a sack. The junior was out last week with a concussion, and this likely is the injury he suffered Saturday as well. Jack Coan came in and played decent. He didn’t throw one pass in the third quarter, and Wisconsin was leading 24-3 before he even threw his first pass. He did make some nice throws, especially on third down. Overall, he was 5-of-7 for 64 yards and a touchdown to Danny Davis. It will be interesting who will start next week at quarterback.

The pass defense has been solid recently, but not in this game. Going into the game, Rutgers only had passed the ball for 138.9 yards per game, which was 121st in the nation. In this game, Artur Sitkowski threw for 261 yards on 20-of-39 passes. It was only the fourth game Sitkowski passed for more than 100 yards, and it was the second most he has thrown for in a game. The quarterback rating of 116 is the most in his brief career. This was also the first game he ever has thrown for more touchdowns in a game than interceptions. It is disappointing that Wisconsin could not force one turnover against a team that was tied for the worst turnover differential in the nation. The defense as a whole played real well in the first half, The first seven drives, Rutgers was shut out and only gained 117 yards. The final four drives after the Badgers had a 17-0 lead, though, the Scarlet Knights gained 205 yards and scored 17 points. Eh, not great. Next week, the pass defense faces a huge test as the Badgers play Trace McSorley and Penn State.

Overall, it was another sloppy, underwhelming performance. The defense has gotten better, but the Badgers just have not clicked on offense for some reason. No chunk plays. Wisconsin will need to get some turnovers next weekend, especially if Hornibrook does not play, as Bucky travels to Happy Valley to take on a Penn State team that is licking its wounds after the Nittany Lions were smashed 42-7 in Ann Arbor. Wisconsin will need a win to keep its slim Big Ten West title hopes alive.

Rutgers (1-7, 0-5) @ Wisconsin (5-3, 3-2)

After flopping last Saturday in Evanston and falling 31-17, the Wisconsin Badgers’ chances of winning the Big Ten West are on life support. Wisconsin will return home to Camp Randall Stadium to take on the punching bag of the Big Ten, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. I know Rutgers brings in the New York market, but Rutgers has been an embarrassment in the Big Ten for football and men’s basketball, from scandals to terrible play. The Scarlet Knights are 1-7 with their only win coming against a 2-6 Texas State team. Of those losses, Rutgers lost to a bad Kansas team 55-14. Rutgers did almost defeat Northwestern two weeks ago in Piscataway. Rutgers has lost all five conference games so far, but two of those home losses came by one score. In the two road conference games, the Scarlet Knights have been outscored 86-10. The teams have not met since 2015, and Wisconsin has the series edge 2-0. Neither game has been close, as Wisconsin has outscored the Scarlet Knights 85-10 and has not given up an offensive touchdown. In the only other meeting at Camp Randall, the Badgers routed Rutgers 48-10 in 2015 behind Corey Clement’s three rushing touchdowns. Rutgers only gained 165 yards of offense in the 38-point Bucky victory.

When Wisconsin runs…

Jonathan Taylor struggled against Northwestern, being held to 46 yards, which is by far his fewest rushing output this season and the second lowest in his career to go along with a pair of fumbles. The two fumbles give him 10 total for his career. I would look for a bounce back this week against a Rutgers team that allows 224 yards on the ground per game. Even with his poor showing against Northwestern, he still leads the country in rushing yards with 1,155, and rushing yards per game (144.4). Wisconsin still ran for 165 yards and 5.2 yards per carry, but couldn’t consistently move the ball down the field due to turnovers and lack of ability to move the ball through the air. Sophomore running back Garrett Groshek led the way with 68 yards on just seven carries. As I mentioned above, to say Rutgers struggles stopping the run would be an understatement. The Scarlet Knights come in 13th in the conference in rushing yards allowed per game, ranking only ahead of Illinois’ 248.1. The Badgers ran for 357 yards in a 49-20 win over Illinois two weeks ago. Rutgers’ rush defense only allowed 128 yards against Northwestern, and allowed less than three yards per carry. But before that, Tyler Johnson ran for 132 yards on just nine carries, leading the Terrapins to nearly 300 yards on the ground against the Rutgers defense. Their run defense is much worse on the road than at home. Of course, they played Texas State, Indiana and Northwestern at home, which aren’t great running teams. I will say, they played Kansas in Lawrence, which ranks 95th in rush yards per game and the Jayhawks rushed for 405 against them. In the five home games, the Scarlet Knights have allowed 872 yards on the ground for an average of 174.4 per game and 4.4 yards per carry. On the road, they have allowed an average of 306.7 per game and 7.1 yards per carry. Statistically, Wisconsin is the best ground attack they have faced (or will face) this season. The Badgers rank fifth in rush yards per game with 267.5 per game. Maryland is No. 2 in the conference, and the Terps ran for 290 against the Scarlet Knights Oct. 13. I imagine Wisconsin will ran for around 300 yards. This may be a game to get Bradrick Shaw some reps in game action, as he has not played at all this year.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Wisconsin passes...

Wisconsin received some good injury news Thursday when Alex Hornibrook was taken off the injury report, so he is good to go for this week against Rutgers. He is sixth on the all-time school passing list with 5,157 yards. He is 114 behind Scott Tolzien for fifth on the passing list. Hornibrook also has 45 career touchdown passes, which is just two behind John Stocco for third in school history and is three behind Joel Stave for second in school history in touchdown passes. He is 85th in passing yards per game with 178.7 yards per game, but 47th in quarterback rating, above quarterbacks such as Nick Fitzgerald, Trace McSorley and possible first round pick Drew Lock. Rutgers is 19th in the country in passing yards allowed per game, but some of that is due to the fact that they can’t stop the run and are generally are behind by so much that they don’t have to face the pass much. Rutgers is 67th in opponents passer rating, which is below average. Hornibrook has solid weapons. A.J. Taylor and Jake Ferguson are reliable weapons, as is Danny Davis. They should have better weeks with No. 12 back. Rutgers’ four interceptions are 108th and its minus-12 turnover differential is tied for last in the country.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Rutgers runs…

Like Northwestern, Rutgers is not a good rushing team. But that didn’t stop Northwestern from running for 182 yards against the Badgers defense this past Saturday. Rutgers gains 131 yards on the ground per game, which is 104th in the country. They average 3.85 yards per carry. Wisconsin checks in at 76th in rush yards allowed per carry. How the mighty have fallen. The Badgers yards per carry against is 4.9, which ranks 102nd. Nose tackle Olive Sagapolu will be out, but defensive end Isaiahh Loudermilk may be back. For Rutgers, three running backs have at least 60 carries this season, led by the 5-9 Rasheem Blackshear, who has carried the ball 90 times for 399 yards. He has only received six carries each the past two games, though. Freshman Isaih Pacheco has received 33 carries the past two games for 183 yards and two scores. He had only carried the ball eight times in the previous three weeks combined. Wisconsin plays better at home, so I could see the Badgers being able to slow down Rutgers running the ball.

Edge: Push

When Rutgers passes…

For as bad as Rutgers is running the ball, the Scarlet Knights are even worse at passing it. In yards per game as a team, Rutgers is 121st with 138.9 yards. To say Rutgers freshman quarterback Artur Sitkowski is struggling would be an understatement. Among qualified players, Sitkowski has the worst quarterback rating in the country, and by a wide margin. His quarterback rating is 73.7 and the second worst is 88.1. The freshman’s yards per attempt is just 4.0, which is embarrassing. For the year, he has completed just 49.5 percent of his 208 pass attempts with three touchdowns and an incredible 15 interceptions, which is easily the most in college football. He has only cracked 100 passing yards three times in his eight games, and had a game against Maryland this year where he completed two of 16 passes for eight yards and threw four interceptions. That might be the worst game I have ever seen a quarterback play. Starting safeties D’Cota Dixon and Scott Nelson are both questionable. Expect to see freshmen cornerbacks Rachad Wildgoose and Faion Hicks get the start. Three freshmen will likely start in the secondary. It is good to get them experience moving forward. Loudermilk would help with the secondary, but he was not on the initial depth chart for this week. The depth chart has three freshmen starting along the defensive line. Any team would take lumps if it started six freshmen on defense. But the young secondary has played well recently. Wisconsin’s secondary did well against Clayton Thorson last week, only allowing 167 yards and one touchdown, while picking him off three times. In the last three games, which includes games against Thorson and Michigan’s Shea Patterson, the Badgers have allowed fewer than 130 yards passing per game and have allowed just one touchdown and have intercepted six passes. This secondary will only improve.

Edge: Wisconsin

Special Teams

Rafael Gaglianone has had a down year so far, connecting on just six of his nine field goal attempts, including just one of his last three. Still, he is one of the most reliable kickers in the country and in the history of Wisconsin football. With his field goal make against Northwestern, he passed Todd Gregoire for the most field goals in school history with 66. His two extra points made moved him to within seven of tying Philip Welch for the most all-time. He could reach that Saturday with as poor as Rutgers is. With Anthony Lotti struggling, Wisconsin turned to Conner Allen…..who struggled as well. His average was less than 37 yards per punt. Sophomore kicker Justin Davidovicz has been a bright spot for the Golden Knights, making seven of his eight field goal attempts and all 12 of his extra points. Adam Korsak has a 43-yard average as a punter, which is fifth in the conference, and his net average is fourth. Neither return game is much to speak of.

Edge: Rutgers

Overview

Wisconsin should win this one going away. The Badgers are around a 30-point favorite. Rutgers can’t defend the run or pass and can’t run or pass on offense. Other than that, the Scarlet Knights are really good. Hopefully this is a ‘get right’ game before the Badgers head to State College and West Lafayette for two straight road games. It isn’t panic time for Wisconsin, but if it struggles to win, or loses to this team, it will be panic time in Madison.

Prediction: Wisconsin 41, Rutgers 13

Wisconsin/Northwestern review

This is the worst I have seen the Badgers look since the 2014 Big Ten Championship. Yes, some people will say the Michigan game two weeks ago, but the Wolverines are one of the best teams in the nation, while Northwestern is average. Jack Coan, starting for Alex Hornibrook, was not good, and the Badgers fell 31-17. The defense played well, but the offense and special teams put them in tough spots time after time. This is the first lost against a Big Ten West team since Northwestern on Senior Day in 2015 and this is the first road loss against a Big Ten West team since against Northwestern as well in the Big Ten opener in 2014. Just an ugly performance.

Wisconsin’s defense played pretty well overall, but especially the pass defense. Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson came in 18th in the country in passing yards per game. The Wildcats have a good number of weapons at his disposal. The patched-up Wisconsin secondary held its own against Thorson, allowing just 167 yards passing and one touchdown, while picking him off three times. In the last three games, the Badgers have allowed just one touchdown pass and have intercepted six passes. A major positive is that of the three games, two have come against some of the best in the conference, Thorson and Michigan’s Shea Patterson. It shows what the pass defense is capable of, and it will be needed when the Badgers travel to Penn State and Purdue for showdowns with Trace McSorley and David Blough. Thorson’s 56.7 percent completion percentage and his quarterback rating of 94.4 were both the second lowest of the season. His three interceptions were the most he has thrown in a game in his entire college career. Even with the rush defense struggling mightily, the pass defense has turned it up a notch, even without most of the starting defensive backfield.

There were a number of negatives, unfortunately. Firstly, the run defense allowed 182 yards to Northwestern, which was one of the worst rushing offenses in the country. The Wildcats gained 32 yards on the ground against a bad Nebraska team and had eight against Michigan State. Yes, eight! And before that, the Windy City Kitties rushed for just 28 yards against Michigan. This is not acceptable. Isaiah Bowser rushed for his second consecutive 100-yard game, gaining 117 yards on 34 carries. Northwestern actually only gained 3.7 yards per carry, but was able to run when needed.

I realize it was his first start, but do people still think Jack Coan is better than Alex Hornibrook? I mean, there was a play in the second half where he fumbled twice, giving Northwestern the lead by three touchdowns. He didn’t show accuracy beyond seven yards. Hornibrook is just the better option. Hopefully he is back for Rutgers this week.

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. In addition to Coan’s fumble, Jonathan Taylor lost two fumbles. This has been a theme for him. He has fumbled 10 times in his career. All three turnovers happened in Wisconsin territory, and two were inside its own 20. The defense played well, all things considered. It was just a bad game all around Taylor. He had run for at least 100 yards in every single game this season, but he was held to 46 yards on 11 carries. This was the second fewest number of yards he has gained in a game, only ahead of his 41-yard performance in last year’s Big Ten Championship game. I don’t know why he only carried the ball 11 times, but I would guess it was due to his fumbling issues. Taylor has been held to below 100 yards five times in his Wisconsin career, and two of them have come against Northwestern. In the two games against the Wildcats, Taylor has run for 126 yards on 30 carries (4.2 ypc). He will need to be back to himself, carrying the load on Saturday, especially if Coan has to start once again.

Wisconsin will try to pick itself up off the mat as the Badgers return home to face a Rutgers team that is the only Big Ten team yet to have a conference win, but Chris Ash and company are coming off a bye. The game is at 11 a.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Wisconsin should win, but it can’t be caught looking ahead to the Nov. 10 game against Penn State.

Mid-Season Packers Mock Draft

We are seven weeks into the season and the Packers sit at 3-2-1 and are heading into a gauntlet where they play four of five away from Lambeau Field. Those four road games are at Los Angeles (Rams), New England, Seattle and Minnesota. Green Bay is slated to pick 23rd in the 2019 draft, and I have decided to write my first Packers mock draft of the season...

1a. Josh Allen, LB, Kentucky

The Packers have waited far too long to draft an edge rusher high, and they need to take one with one of their two first round picks. The ‘other’ Josh Allen has been a terror this season. His 1.8 tackles for loss per game ranks ninth in the FBS, while his 1.14 sacks per game ranks seventh. Allen is coming off a game in which he had two sacks against Vanderbilt. Earlier this year, he had three sacks against South Carolina. He is a monster, and he can play either on the inside or as an outside linebacker. Green Bay is sixth in the league in percentage of dropbacks where the defense applies pressure to the opposing quarterback. Mike Pettine is doing wonders with the defense already. Now, just think what he can do with some weapons at rushing the passer. Clay Matthews has actually been solid this year, but his days are gone as an elite pass rusher and he is a free agent following this season. Matthews would actually be better off moving to inside linebacker if retained. Nick Perry has actually played all six games so far, but he has not been heard from much. Other than his game-sealing sack and forced fumble against Chicago week one, he has been missing in action. Brian Gutekunst needs to rebuild the linebacking core, and this is a good start.

1b. Taylor Rapp, SS, Washington

Kentrell Brice has struggled mightily at the strong safety position and it has cost the Packers dearly. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is a free agent and doesn’t seem to think he’ll be back in Green Bay next season. Clinton-Dix has had a nice bounce back season so far, with three interceptions and earning an 87.7 grade on Pro Football Focus so far, which is third among all safeties. Even if the Packers retain Clinton-Dix, strong safety is a major concern after Josh Jones has not panned out the way they wanted him to. Rapp has been a three-year starter for the Huskies, earning first team All-Pac 12 honors for the Huskies last season. He is both a good run defender and has had success covering man-to-man in the slot. Both are huge pluses. Not only has he had success covering slot wide receivers, but he is tremendous at blitzing. Pettine could use him many different ways. Rapp leads the Washington defense in both sacks and tackles for loss......as a safety. He has four sacks and five tackles for loss in his eight games so far. Should the junior come out, he would be a great pick toward the end of the first round for the Packers.

2. Jaylon Ferguson, EDGE, Louisiana Tech

Yes, I currently attend Northwestern State and Jaylon’s brother is a star wide receiver for us, so it would be cool to see him put on the Green & Gold. I think it would be better to use Matthews (if retained) as an inside linebacker like I mentioned above and you can never count on Perry playing a full 16 games, so it might be wise to use a few high draft picks on edge rushers. Adding Ferguson and Allen to Perry, Reggie Gilbert and possibly Matthews, you finally may have something. These two could produce big time numbers under Pettine. The Green Bay defensive coordinator is generating a pass rush from not much talent at linebacker. Bringing in major talent would do wonders for the Packers defense. They have drafted defensive backs early recently, and may have finally found some players. Pair them with a vaunted pass rusher, and there could be gold. Ferguson is having a monster season so far for the Bulldogs, leading the country with 9.5 sacks. I will say that he has had 7.5 of his 9.5 sacks in two games, though. He had 3.5 in his last game, a win over winless UTEP. Ferguson did have four against a good North Texas team that is 6-2 and slaughtered Arkansas 44-17 in Fayetteville.

3. Isaiah Prince, OT, Ohio State

Bryan Bulaga will be 30 by the time the next season rolls around, and has only played a full season once since his rookie year and has missed at least four games four times. He has played all six games so far, but is still working his way back from a torn ACL he suffered nearly a calendar year ago. The Iowa product is good when on the field, but he has not been on the field enough. Bulaga could be a prime cap casualty, as his contract expires at the end of next season and there won’t be much of a penalty if he is cut this offseason. Jason Spriggs has been a major bust, so they will need to look to the draft once again to try to find Bulaga’s replacement. He is a three-year starter at right tackle for the Buckeyes, and might slide right into that position as the day one starter.

4. Jon’Vea Johnson, WR, Toledo

Randall Cobb is a free agent, so Green Bay could use a slot receiver to replace him. Although, wide receiver could be further down the draft if they are big believers in Marques Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown, and Geronimo Allison is having a real nice so far. Cobb has not played a full 16 games since 2015, and he’ll be paid handsomely in the open market, and I can’t see the Packers getting into a bidding war to retain his services. The speedy Johnson has 351 yards receiving so far, and an impressive 20.6 yards per catch for the Rockets.

5. Corbin Kaufusi, DE, BYU

One of the bigger signings in free agency for the Packers was defensive Muhammad Wilkerson, but he had a season-ending ankle injury in the week three loss to Washington. His status is in limbo, but I would not be surprised to see him brought back on a one-year “prove it” deal once again. Still, the Packers need depth along the defensive line. Dean Lowry is a solid backup, but he is not a starting caliber player. Kaufusi has been strong so far this season, including dominating his matchup against probable first round pick David Edwards of Wisconsin. Kaufusi has six sacks on the year and has at least one in five of the seven BYU games. He is a gigantic man at 6-9 and could disrupt and deflect many passes just due to his height.

6a. Karan Higdon, RB, Michigan

Ty Montgomery is a free agent, and with him falling to the No. 3 running back spot, I see him leaving for a place where he could get more playing time. Higdon has played in six of Michigan’s seven games and has rushed for at least 100 games in all but one of the games he has played in. The 5-10 running back could be a late round steal, but his small stature could be worrisome.

6b. Kaden Smith, TE, Stanford

Green Bay could put this position higher on the list, to be honest. The last three years, the Packers have gone out in free agency and signed arguably the best tight end on the market. It is about time the team has went out and drafted one. The last time they have drafted a tight end and he panned out was Jermichael Finley in 2009. Stanford has had a number of tight ends who have been productive in the NFL in recent years from Zach Ertz to Colby Fleener to Austin Hooper. He is only a junior, so he very easily could go back to school. Smith is raw, but the size and athleticism are there for him to be an impact tight end at the next level.

7. Calvin Throckmorton, OT/OG, Oregon

Green Bay has struggled with its depth along the offensive line in recent years and drafting a guy in the seventh round is always a dart throw anyway. He is a junior as well, so he could go back to Oregon for his senior season. Throckmorton is a tackle at Oregon, but will likely move inside to guard in the NFL.