The Wisconsin Badgers are severe underdogs for their first game of the season against the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Yet, Marcus Freeman is not taking the Badgers for granted. The last couple of years, his Irish have faltered early in the season, and it has derailed everything. In fact, that early-season falter is what everyone is blaming for Notre Dame missing the College Football Playoffs, even Freeman himself.
Freeman told the press last week, "We didn't earn that opportunity [to play in the playoff]. That doesn't need to be said, but it's the reminder of what the work that must be done is to give your program a chance to play past Game 12." He then went on to say that their focus has to be on one game at a time, starting with Wisconsin.
ESPN even said that Wisconsin at the start of the season for Notre Dame is the start of the traps for the Irish. "Marcus Freeman wants his players focused on winning now -- so they can avoid the trap of missing the College Football Playoff again." The Badgers are the first big task for Freeman, and he's not taking them for granted; he told the press that the team is focused first on Sept. 6 (the Wisconsin game).
Marcus Freeman won't let Notre Dame look past the Badgers as it's already picked as a 'trap' game
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PFF adds that same sentiment about Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame, calling Wisconsin the first trap game of the season and one of the "5 early-season trap games for championship contenders." PFF contends that Wisconsin is going to be a very different team this year, especially offensively. While the site admits that they don't see the Badgers moving into a world where they are favorites or even close to the Irish, there's a scenario in which an upset happens.
"A Sunday evening matchup at Lambeau Field is unlike anything either team experiences during a normal game week." PFF writer Daire Carragher writes. "Neutral-site games often develop their own strange rhythm, and this one has enough unusual elements to make an upset at least conceivable."
For the Badgers, the team is in a perfect spot with this game. They are the underdogs, so there's no pressure; no one is expecting them to be in the game. That puts all the pressure on Notre Dame, especially when you add in the fact that the Irish have struggled early in the season in the last two years. That's more pressure.
The Badgers also do have some places like PFF and even Freeman's comments that remind them that it's like Notre Dame is playing some FCS team that doesn't have even a snowball's chance in hell. Things like this instill hope into the program: "So you're saying there's a chance."That's also helpful because the Badgers can walk in with belief, hope, and zero pressure. It's all on Notre Dame.
And if it goes the way that everyone thinks, no skin off the back of Luke Fickell and the Badgers. But if, in a crazy world, where the stars align and Colton Joseph, Abu Sama III, and the rest of the Badgers shock the world... can you imagine?!
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