4 keys to victory for Wisconsin Badgers in Week 1 against Miami (OH)

The 2025 Wisconsin Badgers will sprint out of the tunnel at Camp Randall for the first time Thursday night against the Miami (OH) Redhawks.

The Badgers are heavy favorites to secure a Week 1 victory, but Luke Fickell and his team know they can't afford to overlook any opponents.

Here are the four biggest keys to Wisconsin starting the season hot with a non-conference win at home.

Contain Dequan Finn

If Wisconsin's defense is going to focus on one thing Thursday night, it should be keeping Finn inside the pocket.

The seventh-year quarterback is electric with the ball in his hands, capable of evading sacks and taking off down field, where he looks more like a running back with his ability to make defenders miss.

Finn has a career average of over 40 rushing yards per game. He's accumulated at least 500 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground in each of his last three full seasons.

And after struggling to contain mobile quarterbacks in 2024, notably Jalen Milroe and Brendan Sullivan, the Badgers should place a larger emphasis on keeping Finn in the pocket.

Pound the rock

Under Jeff Grimes, Wisconsin is looking to turn back the clock and physically dominate their opponents in the trenches.

A matchup against a Miami (OH) team that lost three of its top four top PFF graded run defenders from the front seven last season makes for a great opportunity to do so.

Wisconsin should lean on Dilin Jones and the ground game and find great success.

Take care of the football

Throughout training camp, Billy Edwards operated in a cautious manner. He rarely put the ball in places where a defender could make a play on it and seemed content to hit a checkdown instead of forcing a throw into tight coverage.

Edwards threw nine interceptions with Maryland a season ago, but four of those came in the fourth quarter while the Terrapins trailed by double-digits. Those are occasions that call for some risk-taking.

He shouldn't have any reason to take chances on offense Thursday night. Miami (OH) returns none of its 2024 offensive starters, while the Badgers defense looked elite at times a season ago.

Wisconsin needs to make the Redhawks offense drive the length of the field if they're going to score, rather than of gifting field position and scoring opportunities through turnovers.

Start fast

The Badgers struggled in the first half of their season openers under Luke Fickell, leading Western Michigan 10-7 at halftime last year and taking a 14-10 lead over Buffalo into the break in 2023.

For a program trying to prove it has taken a stride forward this offseason after putting up the worst win-loss record across a full season in nearly a quarter century, controlling a game against MIami (OH) from the opening kickoff would be a positive step.

Past that, the easiest way to counter the energy brought by an opponent with nothing to lose is to never let them feel like they have a chance.

Grabbing a multi-score lead in the first half or even getting a stop and a score to open the game would do the trick.

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