Wisconsin football: Three questions for Week 1 vs. Illinois State
The Wisconsin Badgers are just days away from their home opener against Illinois State on Saturday evening.
The Badgers are heavy favorites heading into the contest, but that does not diminish the importance of the game. Wisconsin is breaking in a new offensive scheme and will have several players making their first collegiate starts on Saturday.
With that in mind, there are still some unanswered questions for the team. Here is a look at three key questions for the opener.
Will the Badgers rotate at inside linebacker?
Throughout fall camp, the competition at inside linebacker seemed to be the most wide-open of the battles. The Badgers mixed, and matched, a slew of different combinations in the practices open to media members, with five players involved in the competition.
On Monday, the team released their post-camp depth chart, revealing the two starters and the two primary backups heading into the Illinois State game.
Jordan Turner and Maema Njongmeta will earn the start, while Jake Chaney and Tate Grass are the next two up based on the depth chart shared by UW.
The starting pairing of Turner and Njongmeta provides the defense with some explosiveness and speed, but I still wonder if the team will use a rotation this year, considering how close the battle was from all indications.
A season ago, Wisconsin rarely took Leo Chenal and Jack Sanborn off the field. However, that was because there was a visible drop-off between the two stars and the group behind them. This year I am not sure there is as wide of a gap.
The Badgers felt strong enough about the initial pairing of Turner and Njongmeta to not include an OR distinction on the depth chart. But it will be interesting to see if they dominate the snaps on Saturday or if a rotation emerges.
How will the Wisconsin offense look?
The biggest question for this year's team still centers around the passing game under the direction of a new offensive coordinator in Bobby Engram.
Wisconsin was statistically one of the worst passing teams in the Big Ten and the entire FBS a season ago, so it will be fascinating to see what kind of difference the new offensive approach brings.
In fall camp, I felt like Graham Mertz took strides to improve. However, that was practice, and it is now about translating that to the field on Saturdays this season.
With Illinois State having less talent, there is a chance that the Badgers focus on the ground game and hold back a lot of their significant changes for Washington State in Week 2. However, this game still presents the first opportunity to see the offense in action against different competition.
Even if the Badgers keep the game plan fairly vanilla, it will still be interesting to see how the running game and protections look under new offensive line coach Bob Bostad as well.
After a busy off-season with a nearly complete overhaul of the offensive staff and a fresh group of receiving threats, how the offense does on Saturday is one of the more exciting components of the game.
Will everyone play for Wisconsin?
This question cuts in two different directions.
First, the Badgers shared their injury report on Monday, and some notable players were absent. Starting cornerback Alexander Smith, who had been battling a hamstring injury throughout camp, was on the depth chart and not listed on the injury report. However, Jim Leonhard told reporters that Smith is a game-time decision and could still be out on Saturday.
The same could be said for other players who are banged up, like kicker Vito Calvaruso. Wisconsin will probably be conservative with injuries heading into this game, so there is a chance that a couple of players who are not on the injury report do not participate.
Secondly, there are usually only a few games a year where the Badgers can play some of the young players on the team. If Wisconsin can establish early control over Illinois State, I would expect a lot of the second and third-team players to see the field inside Camp Randall stadium.
This is especially important at quarterback, where Wisconsin has given second-team reps to both Deacon Hill and Myles Burkett since Chase Wolf's injury. I could envision a scenario where both freshmen see playing time on Saturday as the team looks for a backup quarterback.
It is always interesting to see which true freshmen earn early snaps as well. Joe Brunner is the only player on the two-deep at left guard, but a couple of other players saw reps in practice. Safety Austin Brown and wide receiver Vinny Anthony each come to mind as two other true freshmen who could see the field on Saturday.
Related links:
- Three former Wisconsin players make the NFL Top 100 for 2022
- Paul Chryst press conference recap from Monday, August 29
- 26 former Wisconsin Badgers make NFL rosters
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