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The Wisconsin Badgers recently came in at No. 15 in the preseason USA TODAY AFCA Coaches Poll. When the AP Poll comes out early next week, I suspect they’re around the same range.
But although polls seem to see the Badgers as a middle-of-the-pack top 25 team, there are metrics out there that project great things from this team.
One notable one is Bill Connelly’s SP+, a ranking that focuses on returning production, recent recruiting and recent history of every school.
Connelly’s latest ranking has the Badgers all the way up at No. 6 in the nation.
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— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) August 12, 2021
Diving further, the rankings see the Badgers having a solid offense (No. 32 in the country) but another elite defensive unit (No. 2 in the nation).
Here’s what the article has to say about Wisconsin’s Week 1 matchup with Penn State:
I have absolutely no idea what to make of Wisconsin heading into 2021. The Badgers’ defense will be outstanding once again, but the offense is a mystery. Wisconsin played seven games in 2020 and scored 40+ in three and single digits in three. Ranking them 36th on offense is a decent splitting of the difference, but any top-10 potential the Badgers have will require a more extended glimpse of the Graham Mertz we saw at the beginning of the 2020 season.
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