The Irish have been walking a tight rope three games into the season with a narrow win over Florida State (who's proven to be a dumpster fire) another narrow win over Toledo (a good team granted, but still MAC caliber, and that loss to CSU is a bad look) and a win over a middling B1G team in Purdue that was able to hang around the whole game despite Notre Dame creating some distance at the end.
Now Notre Dame did find ways to win every game and that's a credit to Brian Kelly and his players, but at the same time, they are not same team in the trenches they've been in recent years. Their pass protection is sketchy and they aren't opening holes in the run game either. That doesn't bode well against a Wisconsin team that is ironclad on defense.
Wisky lost to Penn State, but that game featured a litany of errors on the Badgers part that contributed to their downfall, the kind of errors that can occur in the first game of the year and aren't necessarily indicative of some fundamental flaw in the team. They had a couple breakdowns on defense, but the RZ turnovers were the dagger that kept Penn State in the game, otherwise Wisconsin wins and probably pulls away for the cover as well.
So after manhandling Eastern Michigan like one should, the Badgers had a bye week to get ready for this contest and I think they play closer to their ceiling this time, while Notre Dame's house of cards comes toppling down.
Wisky -6
Now Notre Dame did find ways to win every game and that's a credit to Brian Kelly and his players, but at the same time, they are not same team in the trenches they've been in recent years. Their pass protection is sketchy and they aren't opening holes in the run game either. That doesn't bode well against a Wisconsin team that is ironclad on defense.
Wisky lost to Penn State, but that game featured a litany of errors on the Badgers part that contributed to their downfall, the kind of errors that can occur in the first game of the year and aren't necessarily indicative of some fundamental flaw in the team. They had a couple breakdowns on defense, but the RZ turnovers were the dagger that kept Penn State in the game, otherwise Wisconsin wins and probably pulls away for the cover as well.
So after manhandling Eastern Michigan like one should, the Badgers had a bye week to get ready for this contest and I think they play closer to their ceiling this time, while Notre Dame's house of cards comes toppling down.
Wisky -6