Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman and Wisconsin's Luke Fickell both said similar things at the end of fall camp. There was one group they were both praising on their respective teams. Each loves what their defensive lines are bringing into Week 1. Fickell said, "I think that's the group that, you know, defensively in particular has, you know, for me has stood out in a lot of different ways."
Freeman said a similar thing the other day to reporters: "We're deep with a lot of guys that will play, a lot of guys that could start. It's great competition. Those guys [defensive line] really had a good camp.” And this should be a danger bell and a warning light for Wisconsin Badger fans. The biggest question mark for Wisconsin coming out of fall camp is the offensive line.
There are questions about talent, consistency, chemistry, but mostly injuries. Wisconsin has two different starting linemen who haven't been able to practice fully: Kevin Heywood and Emerson Mandell. Each is dealing with lingering issues that may or may not keep them out of Week 1. Luke Fickell has said that this next week will be important in the determination.
Wisconsin and Notre Dame are both dealing with the same question and exclamation
Related: Final Wisconsin football depth chart projection ahead of Week 1 versus Notre Dame
And while the linemen and even the coaching staff seem to be a lot better this season than last season, the question mark is clearly there. Notre Dame's biggest strength will be going head-to-head against Wisconsin's biggest question mark. That's not ideal.
However, at the start of this article, we established that Fickell has also identified Wisconsin's biggest strength as the defensive line. So I could walk over to Slap the Sign (the FanSided Notre Dame site) and write an article flipping this narrative. That Wisconsin's biggest strength is going to test Notre Dame's biggest question mark.
For Notre Dame also has a ton of questions about their offensive line. Mostly around injuries. Offensive linemen Charles Jagusah, Peter Jones, Matty Augustine, and Ashton Craig are all dealing with something or another. Augustine has a broken foot, Jagusah is still recovering from a left-humerus injury, Jones has got something going on with his shoulder or pec, and Craig is mostly okay but still battling.
So, there's some shuffling happening for the Irish too, and there's a lot for Freeman to figure out. Notre Dame would list it as their biggest question mark too. 18stripes posted this projected depth chart the other day, and it said this about the offensive line: "Left tackle (Black), left guard (Knapp), and right tackle (Lambert) seem completely locked in at their positions. That leaves us with the questions about who is starting at center and right guard. Reading the tea leaves it does really seem like the coaching staff are trying to convince themselves that Otting can handle center so that Craig can play right guard."
So Wisconsin and Notre Dame will be heading into the Week 1 game with the same question and the same exclamation mark. Which means that whichever team can figure out its offensive line and handle the other defensive line may end up deciding the game.
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