Michigan And A Shot At Redemption » Brats & Beer

November 9, 2007
posted under: Badgers football

With the 2007 football season drawing to a close, the Wisconsin Badgers have one more huge game before the obligatory bookend against the Gophers. Michigan is coming to Madison and an upset Saturday could mean redemption for a banged up program.

Over at the Wisconsin Sports Bar, the prevailing thought is that even beating Big Blue this weekend would not salvage the season, and on a certain level I can probably agree with that. The season seemed to go south after the win over Washington State, with very close wins to out of conference opponents giving way to losses to Illinois and Penn State. Maybe we set the bar too high after last season, but indications were that the Badgers should have been more competitive than they were.

But given that we now know this team is not as good as some others in the conference and was overrated (did I just say that?) in the early season polls, a win over the Wolverines would be a huge feather in Bret Beilema’s cap. It might not salvage the season but it could redeem this year’s squad, restore some confidence within the program and set up another run next year.

Can they beat Michigan, though? The situation looks bad on paper with Allen Langford joining the sideline ranks and P.J. Hill out for another game, but I still give the Badgers a shot at winning this contest.

They are playing at home and they’ll have the services of Lance Smith. Last week they gave Ohio State a good run for almost three full quarters and Michigan is nowhere near that good; they trailed Michigan State by 10 points in the fourth quarter after all. So if the Badgers play as well as they did early in the contest last week — and get a couple bounces to go their way — they should be able to get another win.

On Wisconsin!