Alabama at Wisconsin Primer

Alabama’s 2024 season so far has been…fine. Despite the results (63-0 over Western Kentucky and 42-16 over South Florida), neither game was convincing, especially against the Bulls, who gave the Tide all they could handle at home. This week, they march into Camp Randall Stadium in Madison to face the Wisconsin Badgers (Noon ET, FOX). It’s a game of high stakes and even higher expectations; as Carter Bahns says on 247Sports: “this remains a clash between two teams in the upper halves of the SEC and Big Ten, so one power conference will earn a key bragging-rights win over the other, and one team will build momentum in the race to the College Football Playoff.”

The game will be the first time Wisconsin has faced an SEC opponent in the regular season since they beat LSU in 2016, and only the second time they’ve ever hosted one, going back to a loss to LSU in 1971. These two teams have little history with one another. They’ve faced each other twice, in 1928 and 2015. The Badgers won the first matchup 15-0, while the Tide prevailed 35-17 in the second.

Both teams enter the game in unsatisfactory form. Alabama was taken down to the wire by South Florida last week; they entered the 4th quarter with a thin 14-13 lead in a sloppy game with three Tide turnovers. A 28-point 4th made the final score more respectable, but the game film cannot be denied. On the other side of the ball, Wisconsin had its own fair share of struggles. They pulled out a 28-14 victory against Western Michigan in week 1, but trailed 13-14 early in fourth. Last week they won again, this time against South Dakota, but only by a score of 27-13. That game included a 3rd quarter in which the Coyotes stormed back from 14 down to make the lead only 17-13. The Badgers struggled to find explosion on either side of the ball, and that was an FCS team. Now they get Alabama.

The Tide, as usual, will be led by Heisman-hopeful QB Jalen Milroe who, though he fumbled three times, still ended up with 4 total touchdowns against USF. Alabama’s ground game of RBs Justice Haynes and Jam Miller will likely have to carry the load; the Badgers defense has given up 120+ rushing yards in both of their first matchups, and their strongest defensive players come in their secondary, in the form of CB Ricardo Hallman and S Hunter Wohler. Even with the addition of the electrically talented Ryan Williams, the wide receiver position is still somewhat in flux for Alabama, who will need someone to step up tomorrow.

Wisconsin will also likely base their offense on their ground duo of Chez Mellusi and Tawee Walker, who provide a thunder-and-lightning-like diversity to the Badger backfield. Alabama gave up 206 yards on the ground against South Florida, further encouraging Luke Fickell to run the ball. They will also require more from former Miami (FL) QB Tyler Van Dyke, who has been serviceable this year, but little more. The two-time 2700+ yard passer has 406 passing yards this season, and sits on only 1 TD. With Alabama’s defensive focus on the run game, watch out for WRs Will Pauling and Trech Kekahuna to make an impact.

Alabama is a team with realistic Playoff hopes, but have a test early in the season tomorrow in Madison.