Badgers’ Vegas Win Total Drops Following Brutal 27-10 Home Loss

Wisconsin is now stuck between a rock and a hard place as the team needs to win games, but winning could keep some of the potential problems in the building. Coach Luke Fickell has been receiving unrelenting criticism since the loss with many calling for his firing despite the brutal $25.4 million price tag he carries with his. Wisconsin does not have a certain future, but one thing that is certain is that the public has diminishing faith in the Badgers managing to fix the lingering issues.

Wisconsin Badgers Win Total Odds Favor Less Than 3.5 Wins to End the Season

Maryland was considered to be a must-win with a schedule that is packed full of teams who could simply light up the scoreboard against Wisconsin. However, the Badgers looked increasingly unproductive on offense against Maryland which is unacceptable at this point in time regardless of who the quarterback is. Wisconsin continues to push starting quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. into play, which in turn has taken away from the preparation of Danny O’Neil, who has been playing the majority of the time for the team.

Everything that O’Neil and the offense has to offer at full strength (outside of Edwards Jr.) has been lackluster aside from a solid performance against a terrible Middle Tennessee defense. If Edwards Jr. again misses time due to his knee injury, there is no reason to think the offense will play better against elevated competition in particular. Wisconsin has still not seen a full game out of Edwards Jr. on the field, but history and statistics suggest that even with a healthy quarterback, the Badgers are in trouble.

Last season, Edwards Jr. started off the season with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions through the first five games of the season with a record of 3-2 and two more touchdowns on the ground. The quarterback looked like a serious threat against the rest of the Big Ten Conference, but only recorded one game in the final six with more touchdowns than interceptions. Edwards Jr. did so against a weak USC team in a 29-28 win that would be the last win of the season for the team.

Even if Edwards Jr. returns at full strength for Wisconsin, the quarterback still has not proved himself against top Big Ten defenses and will have to do so against arguably the top five defenses in the conference. At the time of writing, Wisconsin is a near 200-point favorite to win less than four games this season as the team is not favored to win any contests moving forward.