Fresh off a 17-0 win over the Miami (OH) RedHawks, the Wisconsin Badgers are back in action for Week 2, taking on the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Camp Randall Stadium, with kickoff set for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The Badgers excelled defensively in the season opener, limiting the RedHawks to under 120 total yards, while recording three sacks and constantly disrupting the pocket.
Offensively, they went through their ups and downs, showing early promise with two long drives under starting quarterback
Billy Edwards Jr. before he got injured. Then, there were some initial growing pains with backup quarterback Danny O’Neil, but Wisconsin eventually scored two touchdowns to win by three scores.
Now, O’Neil is slated to make his first start as a Badger, as Edwards is considered week-to-week, and the Badgers are expected to make another major change, as right tackle Riley Mahlman is slated to move over to the left side and take the starting spot of Central Michigan transfer Davis Heinzen.
Heinzen struggled last week at left tackle, and head coach Luke Fickell acknowledged earlier in the week that there’d be some shuffling along the offensive line. In a corresponding move, right guard Emerson Mandell is expected to bump out to right tackle, but we’ll update the situation closer to kickoff.
In addition, center Jake Renfro has been ruled out, so the Badgers will see quite a bit of shuffling along the offensive line, with potentially only Joe Brunner being at the same spot from last week.
Defensively, outside linebacker Corey Walker has also been ruled out. Here is the full list of Badgers on the Injury Report this week:
OUT
QB Billy Edwards
TE Tucker Ashcraft
S Luke Emmerich
OLB Evan Van Dyn Hoven
OL Kevin Heywood
OL Jake Renfro
OL Barrett Nelson
WR Ben Lemirand
OLB Corey Walker
Wisconsin is facing a Middle Tennessee team that had a tough 34-14 loss to FCS Austin Peay last week, marking the program’s first-ever loss to an FCS school.
Heading into the afternoon, the Badgers are seen as 28.5-point favorites, with the over/under set at 45.5 points.
Check out all of our gameday pieces ahead of Wisconsin’s Week 2 contest.
Wisconsin vs. Middle Tennessee: Picks, odds, and predictions for Week 2
3 keys to the game: Do the Badgers have more to lose than win on Saturday?
The Best Case, Worst Case, and Most Likely Scenarios For Wisconsin vs. Middle Tennessee State
3 predictions for Wisconsin’s Week 2 matchup vs. Middle Tennessee
Leave all your thoughts down in the comments for our Week 2 gameday thread!
