The No. 18 Wisconsin Badgers (0-1) are coming off their first season opening loss since 2015’s opener against Alabama. UW will look to rebound against Eastern Michigan (1-0) Saturday night inside Camp Randall Stadium.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 PM (Central Time) and will be nationally televised on FS1.
There’s a lot of season left. Last week’s loss to Penn State snapped Wisconsin’s 25-game winning streak in home openers. Eastern Michigan took care of business last week with a 35-13 win over St. Francis (PA).
UW leads the all-time series against Eastern Michigan, 3-0. The last meeting was in 1996 and UW won 24-3.
Wisconsin is currently a 26-point favorite, per Bovada, as I write this.
Chez Mellusi and Isaac Guerendo were the only two running backs that saw action last week. Will we see Jalen Berger tomorrow?
For what it’s worth, Berger was not made available to the media by UW this week.
“There is not a side show going on,” UW head coach Paul Chryst said on Thursday. “He’s a guy that had success before as a true freshman. As long as he continues to approach it the right way and work, which he has been doing, he had a good week of practice, his opportunities will come.”
Can Graham Mertz and the offense get going?
The Wisconsin offense, especially Mertz, took a beating from the media and fan base for the performance on Saturday.
UW will need to give Mertz some confidence early in the game and get Danny Davis involved much earlier than they did a week ago.
Eastern Michigan will use two quarterbacks this week, just like they did a week ago.
Ben Bryant, a one time Wisconsin commit, went 8-for-10 passing for 126 yards. Preston Hutchinson completed 7-of-12 passes for 63 yards and an interception. The two can also use their legs as they combined to rush 15 times.
To my knowledge, EMU has not named a starting quarterback publicly yet.
My Prediction:
Wisconsin 38, Eastern Michigan 10.
Nick Obot 