We are 17 Saturdays away from Wisconsin football’s season-opening contest against the Penn State Nittany Lions.
It’ll be a fast start to the 2021 season for the Wisconsin Badgers, as Penn State will be followed with bouts against Eastern Michigan, Notre Dame and Michigan before the Big Ten West schedule gets going.
But while there are some big-name schools on the Badgers’ slate, the schedule is actually a manageable one. Almost all of the big games are at home, Ohio State is nowhere to be seen and out-of-conference bouts against Army and Eastern Michigan will give the team valuable experience before the must-win games come up.
It’s a season that is lining up to be much better than 2020’s 4-3 finish. For that to happen, though, Paul Chryst will need some players on both sides of the football to emerge as difference makers.
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I’m here to outline who those players could be. This is not a rundown of the team’s best players—Graham Mertz, Jake Ferguson, Jalen Berger, Jack Sanborn and Leo Chenal aren’t listed.
It’s a list of the other guys. Players that could emerge as X-factors as the season goes on.