Here We Come Rose Bowl

Going to the Rose Bowl isn’t anything new for us Badger fans, but this team that is going may be the best one we’ve seen in the last few trips. If you remember back to our last two appearances, the Badgers were all about Ron Dayne and a huge offensive line. The passing game was limited and the defense was average.

I’m not saying that running the ball behind a huge line isn’t still our bread and butter, but this time it comes in a little different flavor. It’s not just John Clay exploding out of the backfield. In fact, the past three weeks, Clay wasn’t the featured back at all. It’s Clay, Monte Ball and James White as a triple threat. And especially White isn’t your typical Badger running back that runs over people. He’s shifty and fast which presents defenses an entire different problem.

But this Badger team has another dynamic: their passing game. Scott Tolzien may be the best Badger quarterback of the past two decades. He is very accurate on any type of pass. He is patient and is even willing to take off and run. The receivers and tight ends are huge dependable targets which don’t allow defenses to load eight or nine in the box.

As for the defense, they might not be a whole lot better than those 1999 and 2000 Rose Bowl squads, but they have JJ Watt who is going to be make some NFL team very happy next year. And they are solid against the run. They also don’t have to worry about giving up a couple scores because this Badger offense is capable of digging itself out of a hole if need be. Maybe the most impressive stat is that this Badger team scored 70 or more points three times this year. They averaged 45 points a game. That is dominance.

I think the draw really favors UW too. We’re going to see what TCU is made of in this game. I have gone back and forth on what kind of value I place on these non AQ schools. The Frogs are obviously a very good football team. I am fairly certain that they would have lost at least a game or two had they played in the Big Ten, SEC, Big Twelve or Pac 10 this year. Wisconsin to me is clearly the better team, but TCU is not Indiana or Austin Peay. They can win this game especially when you throw into the mix the long break before the Bowl games, the festive atmosphere and the face that TCU arguably has more to prove than Wisconsin does.

With that said, I like our chance. Go Bucky!

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