Wisconsin Badgers preview and Big Ten predictions

Purdue quarterback Joey Elliott (14) is sacked by Wisconsin defensive tackle
Patrick Butrym, center, and Louis Nzegwu during the first half of Saturday's
game. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

The Wisconisn Badger football team will travel to Indiana Saturday to take on an offensive-minded Hoosiers team that nearly knocked off Big Ten leading Iowa last week.

Indiana led Iowa going into the fourth quarter and had punched holes the Hawkeye defense all game long.

“They run every offense,” coach Bret Bielema told the media at his Monday press conference. “They run the pistol, and that’s probably their meat and potatoes, but they have a couple formations in every game that they come out and try to run at you and vary gadgets and formations.”

Leading the Hoosiers on the offensive side of the ball is quarterback Ben Chappell, who has completed 62 percent of his passes this season putting him fourth in the conference in that category.

He also has thrown for more than 2000 yards and 10 touchdowns. Good news for Wisconsin is that he has also thrown for 10 interceptions.

On the ground, Indiana will throw a variety of players at Wisconsin’s league best rush defense which has given up just 73.8 yards per game on the ground in conference play.

Bielema said the key to the Badger defense has been tackling and players knowing their assignments.

“Better tackling time, support has been there. I think the edges of our defense have been there primarily,” the coach said. “You haven’t seen the big runs.”

In order to get to some of the bigger plays, the Hoosiers may turn to their version of the Wildcat offense.

“The first team that really did that to us, that we went into the game knowing we were going to see, was Minnesota, and it was a nonfactor because our kids identified it and recognized it,” Bielema said of the Wildcat. “But you just have to be sound.”

Last week against Purdue, the Wisconsin defensive line was sound and two players on the line were named as the team’s defensive players of the week along with cornerback Devon Smith.

“We gave it to three guys that probably played their best game to this point, did really good, took advantage of maybe some teams starting to pay attention to [O’Brien Schofield],” Bielema said. “Dan Moore and J.J. Watt, we gave those guys co-MVP, as well as Devin Smith. Those three guys we thought really played well.”

Those players will need to step up again against Indiana as the Hoosiers for Wisconsin to avoid the upset.

Badgers Need to Establish Ground Game

Wisconsin comes into the game with the conference’s best rushing offense and the conference’s leading rusher in John Clay. Clay has amassed 104.9 yards per game and also leads the conference with 10 touchdowns.

Last week against Purdue, Wisconsin established the ground game early taking the opening kickoff and driving the ball down the field for the score with every play a running play.

“In this league, if you can run the ball and you can stop the run, you got a chance, especially in the month of November when things get a little colder and a little windier and people are going to get beat up a little bit,” Bielema said.

Back in the Rankings

The Badgers once again found themselves in all four of the national polls. Wisconsin, who was ranked in the debut of the BCS poll three weeks ago, dropped out the second week but reappeared this week in the poll at No. 21.

Wisconsin also broke back into the Examiner.com College Football Poll, ranked No. 24. The Badgers also are ranked in the 24 in the AP Poll, 22 in the Coaches Poll and 24 in the Harris Poll.

The Big Ten This Week

The marquee match up for the Big Ten will be Penn State hosts Ohio State. This match up has national implications as both teams have a shot to make a BCS game, or grab a share of the Big Ten title if Iowa falters down the stretch.

The key in the contest will be the play of Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Pryor has played well the last two weeks after starting the season being interception prone. He will have another big test facing Penn State.

Here are the scores and predictions for this week in the Big Ten Conference:

Big Ten Week 10 Predictions
Winner	Pts.	Not the Winner	Pts.
No. 4 Iowa	35	Northwestern	21
Illinois	42	Minnesota	35
Michigan	48	Purdue	21
No. 24 Wisconsin	35	Indiana	17
No. 11 Penn State	31	No. 15 Ohio State	24
Michigan State	35	Western Michigan	21