CFB Futures – 2024 Wisconsin Badgers Win Total Odds

The once proud program has fallen on hard times in recent years, but the 2024 Wisconsin Badgers are poised for a return to the form that made them one of the winningest college football programs for a stretch. The pressure is on Luke Fickell to take the team to the expanded College Football Playoff after doing so with Cincinnati just a few years ago. The Badgers have to be better on the offensive side of the football in order to improve on their 7-6 overall record from a season ago. In fact, Bucky finished with the exact same record in each of the last two seasons, which is unacceptable for folks that witnessed Wisconsin win at least 10 games 10 times from 2005 to 2019. 

Regular Season Wins for the Wisconsin Badgers

Over 6.5 ( -131 )

Under 6.5 ( +111 )

If you’re going to change a formula that brought a lot of success to the program, it had better work. During their time of consistently winning games and competing for the Big Ten title, the Badgers ran the football with the best of them, dominated in the trenches and controlled the clock. Fickell attempted to add a few wrinkles last season and it didn’t work, maybe because he didn’t have the right personnel. Fickel has won more than 79 percent of his games since his second season at Cincinnati in 2018 and three times his teams won at least 11 games. It makes the win total of 6.5 on their CFB futures bet at BetMGM look small and very much within reach.

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Roster

Wisconsin’s move away from a power run game to the Air Raid offense hit a few potholes. They didn’t hit nearly enough downfield throws and the reliable rushing attack also sputtered. As a result the Badgers averaged 381.2 yards to rank 71st in the country. They also scored just 23.5 points a game to rank 93rd nationally. A dip into the transfer portal could potentially solve some of those issues with Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke recently named the team’s starting quarterback.

More of a pure passer with a quick release, Van Dyke will be a better fit for the Air Raid than last year’s starter Tanner Mordecai. And TVD has something to prove after two injury plagued seasons limited his production with the Hurricanes. In 2021 Van Dyke was named ACC Rookie of the Year after throwing for 2,931 yards and 25 touchdowns. Interceptions were a problem last year with 12 of them in 11 games. He had more picks last year than he had in the previous two seasons combined (11). But there is no denying the talent he brings to upgrade the offense.

With last year’s leading rusher to the NFL, the Badgers will rely on a committee to handle the chores. Chez Mellusi should be back after an injury limited him to four games last season. He averaged six yards a carry and scored four TDs when he was on the field and he’s rushed for over 2,000 yards in his career. Will Pauling leads a strong group of receivers. He led the team with 74 catches, 837 yards and six TDs in 2023.

The Badgers weren’t great defensively but they were good enough to prop up an offense that struggled much of the season. The group surrendered more than 24 points just twice with one of those to LSU without Jayden Daniels in the ReliaQuest Bowl. The coaching staff used the portal to upgrade the linebackers and the overall athleticism landing a good one in John Puis, who had 9.5 sacks and 16.0 TFLs for FCS William & Mary.

Schedule

The Badgers are a better team on paper, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to a better record. One look at the schedule and you can see why their CFB futures bet win total is 6.5. They host Alabama and play at USC in their Big Ten opener in the first month. They don’t have to play Ohio State, Michigan and Washington which is a plus instead Penn State in Week 9 and Oregon in Week 12 visit Madison. Win one or more of those games and cashing the OVER is a real possibility. There are some potential landmines, though, like at Iowa and Nebraska.

Prediction

I do think things will run smoother in Fickell’s second season with a majority of the roster acclimating to his schemes. And there’s been an upgrade in talent at key positions, especially QB with Van Dyke having the tools to thrive in the offense, as long as he stays healthy. They aren’t winning the conference title and a berth in the college football playoff isn’t happening, but the Badgers are moving forward under the new regime. As long as they win the games they should win and maybe pull off a surprise with some of the bigger games on their home turf, Wisconsin is a solid pick to go OVER their win total.

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