Wisconsin football is one of Phil Steele’s ‘2021 surprise teams’

Ben Kenney
·2 min read
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The day Phil Steele’s College Football Preview magazine comes off the press and circulates around the country is one of the greatest days of the college football offseason.

For me at least, it marks the true start of daily summer preparation for the upcoming season.

The Wisconsin Badgers are an interesting case study entering the 2021 football season. They’re coming off an underwhelming 4-3 2020 season, return many of their top players and have a schedule that could cater to a return to the Big Ten Championship.

Phil Steele is high on the Badgers, calling them one of his ‘surprise teams’ for the 2021 season.

Here’s what he had to say about the Badgers:

The Badgers’ normally powerful run game had just 165 ypg (3.9) and they needed a bowl win to get to 4-3. This year the ground game figures to be back on track with 4 VHT RBs running behind their usual mammoth Oline which is now experienced. QB Graham Mertz will be one of the nation’s best and I rate their LBs #6 and DBs #10 in the nation. They have 17 returning starters and like Washington, a schedule tailor-made for success. Wisconsin has 4 true road games this year in Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers and Minnesota and none had winning records last year. They do face Notre Dame in Chicago and pull Penn State out of the East but get them in Camp Randall. Six of my 9 sets of power rankings call for an unbeaten season but then they will have to knock off Ohio State in the Big Ten title game.

Two pieces from Steele’s take on the Badgers stick out: “QB Graham Mertz will be one of the nation’s best” and “Six of my 9 sets of power rankings call for an unbeaten season.”

I’ve expressed a similar sentiment all offseason about Mertz, about the schedule and about the team’s overall outlook entering the season. Maybe Mertz is more conference-best than nation-best, but the Badgers are in line to turn some heads on the field this season.

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