After escaping Piscataway (shrug), Northwestern hosts Wisconsin at Ryan Field for a critical Big Ten West matchup. Northwestern has won just one home game this season, and it will need to play much better in front of the home crowd to earn a win against a tough Wisconsin team.
Why Northwestern will beat Wisconsin
For once, Wisconsin’s defense is not an elite unit. Wisconsin has been a top-10 defense by S&P+ since 2014, but the Badgers have sunk to a disappointing 66th in 2018. Even if you ignored the stats, Wisconsin’s once-vaunted defense is not what it used to be.