B1G schedule analysis - Wisconsin

Games in which Wisconsin will be a heavy favorite:
UNLV
Northern Illinois
South Dakota
Indiana
Purdue
@Minnesota

Games in which Wisconsin will be a heavy underdog:
none

Favorable match-up games:
Oregon State
Nebraska
@Illinois
Penn State

Unfavorable match-up games:
@Michigan State
@Ohio State

Summary:
Wisconsin will only play four "true" road games and two of them (@Minnesota, and @Illinois) are very winnable.  That will come in handy for a team breaking in a new quarterback after the departure of one of the most efficient passers in the history of the program - Scott Tolzein.  Oregon State and Northern Illinois could pose problems for the Badgers in the non-conference portion of the schedule.  However, Oregon State is a perennial slow starter and Northern Illinois will be breaking in a new coach, who funny, just happened to be Wisconsin's defensive coordinator last year in Dave Doeren.   The home B1G slate will also present it's challenges when national powers Penn State and Nebraska come to Madtown.   Even though Nebraska and Wisconsin play in different divisions of the B1G, they could become big rivals due to their historically similar offensive philosophies and school colors.   Both teams have been called Big Red before, although the name suits the Huskers a little better.  Wisconsin Head Coach Brett Bielema publicly campaigned to make a Nebraska vs. Wisconsin game an annual tradition at the end of the season, kind of like Ohio State and Michigan.

Wisconsin will be rebuilding this year with the departures of two year starting quarterback Scott Tolzein, offensive tackle Gabe Carimi, DE JJ Watt, and workhorse running back John Clay.  They still have valuable assets in the offensive backfield in Montee Ball and James White along with one of the best offensive lines in the B1G, but the key will be the Badgers new quarterback making key 3rd down passes, something Tolzein did with regularity.  Look for Bucky to rebuild with a servicable eight win season.