In case you weren’t paying attention, the Wisconsin Badgers have the best defense in college football and here is the one stat to prove it for you.
Fact: The Wisconsin Badgers are a good team with a great defense. They just did unspeakable things at home versus the Michigan State Spartans, winning 38-0. While that Michigan State offense was so bad that it needed to hide behind a paywall to protect the innocence of America’s young, it was another reason Wisconsin has the best defense in college football.
This was the fourth shutout in six games this season for the Badgers. No, you are not reading that wrong. Wisconsin is preventing two out of every three teams it plays from scoring any points whatsoever. The four shutouts are the most by Wisconsin since 2000 and the season is only half over.
USF couldn’t muster a point at home in Tampa in Week 1. The Central Michigan Chippewas couldn’t do anything in Madison the following week. The Kent State Golden Flashes were worthless offensively in Camp Randall last week and now, even Mark Dantonio‘s Spartans couldn’t manage to even put a field goal through the uprights against the Badgers.
Four shutouts in six games!
That sounds like something you’d hear about a college football program back in the Roaring 20s, not in the pass-happy year of 2019. This Wisconsin defense has allowed only four touchdowns all season and has made just as many defensive trips to pay dirt, plus a safety. Outside of field goals, this is about as close to a net-zero defense as possible.
In one of the two games they allowed points, the Badgers slashed Jim Harbaugh‘s khakis Michigan Wolverines to the tune of 35-14. Only the Northwestern Wildcats managed to score more than 14 points on the Badgers this season. Wisconsin has allowed 29 points over six games. The Florida State Seminoles just gave up 28 points in the first half today to the Clemson Tigers.
Add in that they have a Heisman Trophy hopeful at running back in Jonathan Taylor and Wisconsin is every bit the contender in the Big Ten this year. Expect the Badgers to cakewalk past the Illinois Fighting Illini in Champaign next week before their biggest test of the year down in Columbus versus the Ohio State Buckeyes in The Horseshoe.
Ohio State will probably score points on the Badgers defense, but not as many as you’d expect. Are we even sure that Lovie Smith‘s Illini will be capable of doing more than punting and turnover the ball over seemingly at will against Paul Chryst‘s team and Jim Leonhard‘s ferocious Badgers defense? How much will that paywall cost when Illinois hosts Wisconsin? Too much for anyone.
On a weekend where at least two top-10 teams will have fallen, the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs at home versus South Carolina and the loser between the No. 7 Florida Gators and the No. 5 LSU Tigers, look for the Badgers to charge up the rankings and approach a spot in the top five. They may not get into the top four just yet, but a win in Columbus certainly guarantees that.
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