[lawrence-newsletter]In the first installment of our BadgersWire Round Table series, Site Editor Asher Low, and Staff Writer’s Ben Kenney and Wade Flavion pick Wisconsin’s most important game of the year. Join the conversation at BadgersWire either in the comments below, or on Facebook and Twitter.
What is Wisconsin football’s most important game in 2020?
Wade: The most important and arguably toughest game for the Badgers this season will be against a loaded Notre Dame team. Every year the Fighting Irish are consistently good and have built an elite program under Brian Kelly. Minnesota and Michigan may be tough games to win, but beating a class opponent like Notre Dame on a national broadcast at Lambeau Field will put the post-Jonathon Taylor Badgers back on the map of an elite team in college football.
This game and its publicity could have big sway for fans as well as poll voters and could do alot to help Wisconsin get an elite bowl bid if they can finish the season in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Ben: Many people are going to point to the September 26 matchup at Michigan, October 3 against Notre Dame and November 28 at Iowa to close the season when talking about the Badgers’ most important game this season. Those games are all important ones. But THE most important game by far on Wisconsin’s 2020 schedule is when Minnesota comes to Camp Randall on October 10.
The Badger-Gopher series has been a lopsided one recently with Wisconsin winning 15 of the last 16 matchups. The game this year though, as it did last year, will most likely decide the Big Ten West and be the catalyst for a trip to the Big Ten Championship. Last year the contest between the two teams was literally a play-in game for Indy. With the game scheduled for October this season it will leave time for movement to happen down the stretch, though if last year is any indication it will be Wisconsin and Minnesota battling it out come November.
But right now heading into the season the two teams are the clear frontrunners in the division, both have senior quarterbacks, both lost talent at the end of last season to graduation or the NFL , both have some of the best coaches in the conference and, finally, both have their sights on going to and winning the conference championship.
This all, obviously, not mentioning the fact that the Badgers currently hold a 61-60-8 lead in the all-time series between the two rivals and are set every year on closing the season with the Axe in Madison. When the 2020 season is finally in the rear view there will be many moments that people point to when discussing the season. But if we’re choosing one game as the most important, it will be the Minnesota game more than anything else that dictates whether or not the campaign was a successful one for Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badgers.
Asher: I’m looking towards an early matchup for my answer, and that game comes in week four when the Badgers will be tested in Ann Arbor against Michigan. Wisconsin needs to set the tone early, and both the Wolverines and the Badgers should march into that game undefeated barring home upsets.
The week four clash is the type of game that could dictate which direction the Badgers turn in this year. While Michigan has dominated the all-time series, Wisconsin delivered a 35-14 beatdown at Camp Randall last season, in a game where QB Jack Coan had one of his best outings of the year.
Michigan, like Wisconsin, is losing significant talent on the offensive side of the football, and will be looking for answers at QB from Dylan McCaffrey after he sat behind Shea Patterson for the past two seasons. On the road, the Badgers have had a particularly tough time with Michigan, including their most recent loss at The Big House in 2018.
Wisconsin’s new offense will be tested seriously for the first time in week four, although fans should not look past Indiana or App State. This game feels like it will decide just how seriously the college football world should take the 2020 Badgers.