Wisconsin Badgers With Revenge on Their Minds and Something to Prove This Weekend

 

It doesn’t seem like it, but the Big Ten Leaders division is still technically up for grabs. The Ohio St. Buckeyes are still undefeated and face the Wisconsin Badgers this weekend. The Badgers have two losses in conference, but if they win out, and that means beating the Buckeyes, they could still win the division legit if the Buckeyes not only lose to them, but to the Michigan Wolverines as well. It does seem like a far-fetched scenario, but stranger things have happened in the history of college football.

The Badgers have plenty of motivation going into this weekend’s game against the Buckeyes, and the division title isn’t even the main motivation. The Badgers clinched a spot in the Big Ten championship game last weekend after their win over the Indiana Hoosiers due to the fact that the Buckeyes and the Penn St. Nittany Lions (the Badgers’ final opponent of the regular season) are ineligible for post-season play this year. That leaves the Badgers as the division’s representative in the title game. What motivates the Badgers more than the division title going into this game is how their game with the Buckeyes ended last year.

Last year, the Buckeyes defeated the Badgers 33-29 after a wild and crazy fourth quarter that proved incredibly painful for the Badgers. During the quarter, the Badgers came back from 12 points down and took the lead on a big touchdown catch by Jared Abbrederis with a little over a minute to play. Sadly for the Badgers, that was all the time Braxton Miller needed.

On a first down, Miller was able to lead the entire Wisconsin secondary away from the receivers they should have been defending simply by having to scramble while trying to make something happen. By the time Miller released the ball, Devin Smith was by himself in the end-zone in a way that shamed the Badgers’ secondary. Smith made an easy catch to complete the 40-yard touchdown play and the Badgers didn’t have enough time to respond.

It’s a loss that still haunts Badger fans to a degree and should haunt all Badger players that were on last year’s team, particularly those in the secondary. Saturday will be their chance at redemption. It’s also a chance for this year to mean a lot more for the Badgers as a win will keep the hope alive that they will go into their second straight Big Ten title game (out of two) as a division champion instead of a team simply representing their division in the game.