CBSSports’ Josh Pate labeled Wisconsin one of his ‘mystery teams’ entering 2024 on his podcast Sunday night.
The Badgers were included along with Texas A&M, Arizona and Syracuse — all three programs with new head coaches entering 2024 (Mike Elko, Jedd Fisch and Fran Brown respectively). The Badgers have more stability than the other programs but also have a high bar which the 2023 results fell well short of.
Related: Which Big Ten football team has the toughest conference schedule in 2024?
“Wisconsin is a big mystery team in 2024,” Pate said on his show. “They were 7-6 last year, it was a lot of internal transition, first-year staff going from Paul Chryst to Luke Fickell, that’s understandable. Their key offensive numbers were not good enough. They were in the 60s and 70s in terms of national rankings of key offensive metrics…So now they’ve brought in Tyler Van Dyke at quarterback, they’re 20th in returning production, they return 70% of a top-40 defense. It’s year two under Luke Fickell…I feel very, very comfortable in betting on a program in year two under that guy and under his staff.”
🚨LATE KICK LIVE ALERT🚨
🗣️No ❌ffseason Edition…📌 The biggest names in College Football
📌 2024's mystery teams
📌 FSU vs ACC
📌 The perfect 12-team CFP
Join LIVE ➡️ https://t.co/Z1irUbC7vO pic.twitter.com/z1BhtZDwp7
— Josh Pate (@LateKickJosh) February 19, 2024
Wisconsin’s season can certainly go one of a few ways. The gauntlet schedule may lead to struggles and a poor record, or that schedule could become a stellar resume if the Badgers pick off big wins.
Either way, it should tell us a lot about what the future holds under Fickell and his staff.
[lawrence-related id=70907,71313,70751,70937]
Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.