Tag: record prediction

Wisconsin football omitted from ESPN’s way-too-early top 25

Is Wisconsin a top-25 team entering 2024?

Wisconsin football is not a top-25 team entering the 2024 season, according to ESPN’s recent ranking.

The Badgers are fresh off back-to-back 7-6 seasons and are without a 10-win season since 2019. Head coach Luke Fickell was hired to turn that trend around, though it may be a slower build than some thought.

Not only does Wisconsin no longer get the benefit of playing in the Big Ten West, but the Badgers face a gauntlet schedule in 2024 and have a projected win total of only 6.5.

Related: Way-too-early record predictions for every Big Ten football team in 2024 

Wisconsin has not entered a football season unranked since 2016, when the program went from unranked to finishing No. 5 in the nation. The last time before that was 2009. In short: the Badgers, traditionally, are always ranked entering the season.

Nearly 200 days still separate us from Wisconsin’s first game of the season. But where things stand at the moment, the industry does not view the Badgers as a top-25 team.

Related: Where Wisconsin football stands in 2024 transfer portal team class rankings

Predicting every Big Ten team’s 2023 wins and losses, final record and the conference champ

Official predictions for every Big Ten team in 2023:

Welcome to the 2023 college football season.

Week 0 games took place this weekend with top teams including No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 6 USC picking up win No. 1 on the season.

Wisconsin and the rest of the Big Ten get underway this weekend as out-of-conference play leads into the conference schedule later in the month. For the Badgers and the rest of their Big Ten West counterparts, the season represents a golden opportunity for a trip to Indianapolis before USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington join the conference and divisions are eliminated.

Related: Ranking the toughest road environments to play in after the Big Ten’s new additions

There is a pile of work to come here at BadgersWire leading up to Wisconsin vs Buffalo next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. central. Before we get to that, it’s time to predict wins and losses for every Big Ten team in 2023, plus a pick for the conference championship:

Big 12 record predictions ahead of the 2023 college football season

Predicting each Big 12 teams record for the 2023 college football season. Could Red River foes face off in the title game?

The 2023 college football season will be a landmark season for the Big 12. It’ll be its first at 14 season, but also marks the end of an era with the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns heading to the SEC in 2024.

But in 2023, the Big 12 has a chance to be as wild as any conference in America. The additions of UCF, BYU, and Cincinnati add teams that have garnered national recognition for their success in the past decade. Houston brings a familiar face back to the conference in Dana Holgorsen.

Meanwhile, there are a number of teams at the top of the conference that could legitimately contend for a Big 12 title and several more that will be in the conversation if a few things go right. With less than a week before week zero and the start of the 2023 season, we take a shot at predicting each record in the Big 12.

247Sports predicts the Oklahoma Sooners 2023 record

The Sooners have to show improvement in year two under head coach Brent Venables and 247Sports thinks they will in 2023.

The [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] are fresh off a 6-7 season in year one of the Brent Venables era. Safe to say things didn’t go how many expected but there is a lot of optimism for year two.

The Sooners received one of the easier schedules on paper for their last season in the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag]. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy. No one in the country thought the [autotag]TCU Horned Frogs[/autotag] would be as good as they were a year ago.

The Frogs would make the national championship game and be the first Big 12 team to win a playoff game.

Given the schedule, the Sooners have a chance to have significant improvement from their 6-7 a year ago and contend for the Big 12 title.

247Sports’ Cody Nagel gave his record prediction for every team in the Big 12 in 2023 and has the Sooners going 9-3.

Now it’s unclear who he has Oklahoma losing to. He doesn’t break down the games to let us know who the losses are against, but he has three of Oklahoma’s opponents losing three or fewer games. Those three teams are Texas, TCU, and Oklahoma State.

While 9-3 will show progress, some will still feel it’s not good enough. The standard is different at the University of Oklahoma. The place that invented winning seven national titles and 50 conference championships.

However, 9-3 would show the program is heading in the right direction in year two of the Brent Venables era.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

USA TODAY predicts 4-win season for Colts

USA TODAY predicts a four-win season for the Colts, the third-worst record in the NFL.

There is a breath of fresh air for the Indianapolis Colts with the arrival of training camp as they look to turn the page from a disastrous 2022 season. However, in USA TODAY’s latest record predictions, they aren’t as bullish things will get turned around immediately.

USA TODAY’s Nate Davis went through projecting the regular-season record for every team and then going down through the playoffs to predict the Super Bowl LVIII winner.

The Colts were projected to win four games, which came in as the third-worst record in the league behind only the Arizona Cardinals (2-15) and Las Vegas Raiders (3-14).

Indianapolis Colts (4-13): They’ve finally made a long-term investment under center with promising first-round QB Anthony Richardson, though he doesn’t come with nearly the amount of big-time college experience as Young or Stroud. Pessimism should morph into optimism in Indy in 2023 even if the standings don’t reflect much change. But expect the Colts to become tougher to deal with the more reps Richardson gets. And he should benefit from being paired with rookie HC Shane Steichen, who helped Hurts blossom into a superstar in 2022.

Throughout the division, the Jacksonville Jaguars (10-7) led the way followed by the Tennessee Titans (8-9) and Houston Texans (6-11).

There’s an understanding that the Colts will be dealing with some extreme growing pains due to the youthfulness of the roster, but there also is some room for the team to provide some surprise above expectations.

If there ever was a season the Colts could exceed those expectations, it’s this one considering how low the majority of predictions have the team ranked.

ESPN analysts predicts Colts win more than six games

ESPN analyst Erin Dolan believes the Colts have enough to surpass a six-win projection.

The Indianapolis Colts are a difficult team to project going into the 2023 regular season considering the amount of unknown factors and big changes at key positions.

While Vegas has the Colts sitting with an over/under win total of 6.5 following the release of the 2023 schedule this week, ESPN analyst Erin Dolan believes they have enough to hit the over on that projection.

Over/under: 6.5

Mike Clay’s projection: 6.4

Prediction: Over 6.5 wins (-125). The Colts had an underwhelming four-win season after Indy had a win total set at 10.5 before the 2022 campaign. The biggest plus is the Colts hiring Shane Steichen as their new head coach. Steichen was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator in 2022 and was the playcaller for one of the best offenses. The Colts have enough to get over 6.5 wins with Steichen expected to fix the offensive issues and the defense continuing to be middle of the pack.

The Colts have one of the softer schedules in the NFL for the 2023 season and even though that’s a somewhat flawed process, they should be competitive in the majority of their games.

Unsurprisingly, the fate of the season will come down to the quarterback position and how Anthony Richardson develops. If Richardson is ahead of schedule, the Colts could be a team who surprises. But we won’t really know until the preseason arrives.

After a four-win season in 2022, the Colts will be hungry to improve well on that total in 2023.

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What will LSU’s record be in 2022, 247Sports predicts every SEC school

Are the LSU Tigers a nine-win team in 2022?

We haven’t quite reached signing day but the 2022 season is already a topic of conversation. The LSU Tigers are eager to get back on the field and start working towards erasing the sting of the last two seasons in Baton Rouge. This time around they have an entirely new staff led by head coach Brian Kelly.

Last year many anticipated a bounceback season but perhaps we were a year too early for that. There are plenty of questions with this team but the staff has addressed plenty of issues through the transfer portal. They likely aren’t done just yet with spots still available on the 2022 roster.

Brad Crawford of 247Sports released his early predictions for the SEC. The Tigers are among the top teams in the SEC West. Just how good can they be in the first year of the Brian Kelly era?

What 247Sports Says…

Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Record in 2022: 9-3 (5-3)

What are expectations for Brian Kelly in Year 1 at LSU? We can tell you what’s expected inside that program will be equal — if not higher — than predictions surrounding the Tigers from a national angle. The obvious barometer matchups against Alabama and Texas A&M stick out, but there are a couple 50-50 games on LSU’s schedule that could make the 2022 campaign go from good to great.

Predicted Losses: Alabama, at Arkansas, at Texas A&M

The 9-3 record would put the LSU Tigers at No. 3 in the SEC West behind Alabama (12-0, 8-0) and Texas A&M (10-2, 6-2). A nine-win season under Brian Kelly would certainly feel like a win after managing just 11 wins over the last two seasons combined.

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Comment below with your record prediction

Predicting Texas football’s 2022 record with game-by-game predictions

How will Texas do in 2022?

The first year under Steve Sarkisian was anything but a movie, as the Longhorns had a historic six-game losing streak and had their major flaws exposed.

There were some things such as the amount of turnover from Tom Herman’s previous classes that were out of Sarkisian’s control, but in-game adjustments and multiple blown double-digit leads can definitely fall on the shoulders of the head coach.

This offseason, the staff has done a great job addressing the needs at offensive line, defensive line, and at the quarterback position. They also brought in some additional talent at the defensive back position that should greatly help their chances to contend in the Big 12 for 2022.

I don’t foresee Texas turning it all the way around and making the College Football Playoff, but it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility to be one of the top teams in the Big 12 and fight for a New Year’s Six bowl game appearance. If the Longhorns are to take the next step, they will have to escape multiple gauntlet periods in 2022, as their schedule can shape up to be pretty challenging.

However, Sarkisian is getting paid to win those games, and new additions such as Quinn Ewers will need to be as advertised in order to help Texas succeed.

I am predicting Texas to finish the regular season with three losses, and a chance to make it to the Big 12 Championship if other top teams drop a few games. A New Year’s Six bowl game could be in play, or it may be another Alamo Bowl appearance.

This team will be fairly young all over the field, and will certainly have some growing pains to overcome. However, teams like Oklahoma and Iowa State might be down next year due to all the turnover, which could really work in the favor of Texas who has consistently struggled against them.

Texas also has a very friendly schedule in terms of home field advantage, which could bode well in avoiding hostile environments for the young team. Here are my week-by-week predictions of how Texas will do in 2022.

USA TODAY predicts Colts miss playoffs in 2021

USA TODAY’s Nate Davis predicts the Colts will narrowly miss the playoffs in 2021.

The Indianapolis Colts were predicted to finish the 2021 season with a 9-8 record and in second place in the AFC South by Nate Davis of USA TODAY.

“Indianapolis Colts (9-8): Plenty of talent permeates a roster that’s been good enough to make two playoff trips in the past three seasons – which have all featured different starting quarterbacks. But hardly ideal to initiate new QB1 Carson Wentz’s reboot with the schedule spitting the Seahawks, Rams, Titans, Dolphins and Ravens right out of the chute. That opening gauntlet may not include new LT Eric Fisher, either, as he continues recovering from January’s Achilles injury.”

Davis has the Colts just missing the playoffs in his prediction. Seven AFC teams are predicted to have a better record than the Colts while they are tied with the New England Patriots at 9-8.

Here’s how the division shook out in USA TODAY’s prediction:

  1. Tennessee Titans (12-5)
  2. Indianapolis Colts (9-8)
  3. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-13)
  4. Houston Texans (1-16)

Davis has the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the Cleveland Browns in the Super Bowl.

The Colts are likely to have a solid season thanks to their roster construction. How high they go will depend on the improvements of Carson Wentz. He could vault them to be a playoff team or keep them as a middle-of-the-pack squad.

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Colts predicted 11-6 record, AFC South crown in 2021

The List Wire predicts an 11-6 season and an AFC South title for the Colts.

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Our friends over at The List Wire gave their early predictions for the 2021 season, which includes the Indianapolis Colts finishing the campaign with an 11-6 record and the top spot in the AFC South.

“The AFC South is a division with two levels: The Colts and Tennessee Titans up top, and in the basement, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans. Frank Reich needs to find the magic that existed in Philadelphia with Carson Wentz. If he does, the Colts should win the division comfortably. Record: 11-6”

For reference, here is how the division shakes out in the prediction for the 2021 season:

  • Indianapolis Colts (11-6)
  • Tennessee Titans (10-7)
  • Jacksonville Jaguars (3-14)
  • Houston Texans (2-15)

Most would probably agree that’s how the division is going to shake out. The Colts and Titans are battling for the top spot in the division after some big offseason moves. The Jaguars could surprise people with a better record than 3-14 if Trevor Lawrence is the next Andrew Luck, but that roster still has plenty of holes.

The Texans are an afterthought regardless of what happens with the Deshaun Watson situation.

It should be a fun competition in the AFC South even if it isn’t one of the deeper divisions in the NFL. The Titans and Colts are primed for a battle at the top and with one week to go until training camp, the season can’t get here soon enough.

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