There's a lot on the line this week in the showdown between the Wisconsin Badgers and Nebraska Cornhuskers. Both teams are at 5-5 on the season, on the verge of potentially missing out on a bowl game. If that turns out to be the case for Wisconsin, a 22-year streak will come to a close.
Obviously, Luke Fickell and his players want to prevent that from happening, which is why they want to take care of business now and defeat Nebraska on the road in Week 13. Leave it to freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola to provide them with some bulletin-board material.
Following the loss to USC, Raiola was pretty frustrated with how things went down for him and his teammates. However, his confidence isn't wavering, with him essentially guaranteeing a win over Wisconsin. Wait, what?
Dylan Raiola pretty much guaranteed a Nebraska win over Wisconsin
“We’re only going to keep building on it these next two weeks," Raiola told reporters after the close loss to the Trojans. "We’ll get the win this week (against Wisconsin) and get us to a bowl.”
This is something the Wisconsin defense needs to have posted all over the locker room. Things haven't gone according to plan for both of these squads, but they're still one win away from having their season extended with a bowl appearance. The extra practices would serve Wisconsin, no doubt.
However, this team is going through a three-game losing streak, posting disappointing results against Penn State, Iowa and Oregon. Outside of the 42-10 defeat in Iowa City, Wisconsin was a play or two away from topping the Nittany Lions and Ducks.
Unfortunately, brutal execution in the second half prevented those two upsets from getting done. Against Nebraska, there are zero excuses on both sides of the ball for the Badgers. Fickell is hoping his playmakers can step up, and Raiola has certainly given them extra motivation to do so.