Greg McElroy details how Wisconsin could play spoiler in the Big Ten

ESPN’s Greg McElroy implied Wisconsin could be a bit of a spoiler in the Big Ten this year since the Badgers are set to go back to basics. Luke Fickell saw the writing on the wall and decided to go back to what worked in the past, particularly on offense.

Going from Phil Longo to Jeff Grimes is quite the scheme change. But if it gets Wisconsin back to basics and competing for the Big Ten, it’s worth the investment!

“We’ll go next to the Wisconsin Badgers and (they’re) trying to reset who they are after trying to kind of go in a different direction offensively,” McElroy said on Always College Football. “It just never worked. Last year, they started 5-2 and they had their first five game losing streak in nearly 25 years. So if you look at the 5-7 record, that 22 straight years without losing regular season, 22 straight bowl appearances, now it’s time to kind of get back to who it is they want to be, and it starts really with the offensive side of the football. Phil Longo was hired a couple years back and never worked out. 

“He was fired in November. Jeff Grimes has now been hired … He’s going to run the football, which I know will be a welcomed aspect of this offense that has kind of been missing the last couple of years … He did go out and pick Billy Edwards from Maryland to be his starting quarterback this year. I’m really, really curious to see exactly how it’s going to work out.” 

Greg McElroy details how Wisconsin could play spoiler

Defensively, Wisconsin wasn’t exactly where they should’ve been either. Overall, a lot of things can go wrong when you lose five in a row. But 2025 promises to give Badger fans hope.

“The (defensive) performance has been a little bit overshadowed, because the offense just hasn’t been very good whatsoever,” McElroy said. “But this is a group that traditionally has been very, very good and was not what we’ve come to expect these last couple years. Here’s hoping that they get back on track and figure out, all right, can we get back to playing a high level, high, high level defensive football, especially in the front seven? 

They go out and get a ton of transfers along the front seven that should be really helpful. The linebackers need to play a little bit better. Last year, they did not play anywhere near as well as we’ve come to expect. They should be really strong at corner, but they do have a couple things to iron out there in the back end.” 

As far as the schedule is concerned, that’s the biggest issue. Wisconsin accumulated, arguably, more talent than last year’s squad, but things could be daunting.

“This is a really difficult schedule for Wisconsin this year, maybe the toughest in all of the Big Ten,” McElroy said. “At Alabama, at Michigan, Ohio State’s at home, at Oregon. Pretty tough place to start with three of those four games against top tier competition. Those are on the road. You also have Washington at home. You have Iowa at home. You’re at Minnesota, very difficult. You also get Illinois at home on November 22 … That’s probably the toughest October in all of college football and if they can get through that it should be in a pretty good spot.”