Visiting Miami (Ohio) should provide a solid measuring stick for the Wisconsin Badgers and coach Luke Fickell, looking to bounce back from a disappointing season, in the nonconference opener for both teams Thursday night in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin dropped its final five games last season to finish 5-7 in Fickell’s second year at the helm, snapping a streak of 22 consecutive winning seasons.
Miami, 9-5 last season, has appeared in the last two MAC championship games. The RedHawks lost to Ohio 38-3 in the conference title game last year, then defeated Colorado State 43-17 in the Arizona Bowl.
Wisconsin, which averaged just 22.6 points per game last season, has some major changes on offense. Jeff Grimes, offensive coordinator at Kansas last season, replaces Phil Longo in the same role.
For the third consecutive season under Fickell, the Badgers will have a veteran transfer starting at quarterback. Billy Edwards Jr. threw for 2,881 yards with 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions for Maryland last season, completing 65 percent of his passes.
Redshirt freshman Dilin Jones has been tabbed the starter at running back, with returnees Darrion Dupree (317 yards) and Cade Yacamelli (274 yards) as back-ups.
The Badgers will be without injured tight end Tucker Ashcraft vs. Miami.
“Ultimately, game one in particular, is about focusing on yourself,” Fickell said Monday. “For us, it’s about us going out there playing with some confidence and playing clean. We’ve got a lot to prove to ourselves.”
The RedHawks also will rely on a veteran transfer at quarterback, seventh-year senior Dequan Finn, who was at Baylor last seasons after five years at MAC rival Toledo.
Finn started the first two games at Baylor last season before suffering a shoulder injury. At Toledo, Finn passed for 7,074 yards and 63 touchdowns, while adding 1,840 yards rushing with 25 scores and was the MAC’s Most Valuable Player in 2023.
The RedHawks are still trying to figure out their rotations, coach Chuck Martin said last week.
“We’ve still got a hodgepodge mess of talented kids that are inconsistent,” Martin said. “We’re going to play a ton of Wisconsin on offense. I think there’s definitely some guys that we know on defense, our elder statesmen on defense, that are our guys.”
The Badgers face a tough challenge to improve under Fickell, 12-13 in his first two full seasons after going 53-10 in his final five seasons at Cincinnati, including one College Football Playoff appearance.
After home games against Miami and Middle Tennessee, the Badgers travel to eighth-ranked Alabama — the first of six games against teams in the preseason top 20, including four on the road.
It will be the first meeting between Wisconsin and the RedHawks since 2015 when the Badgers rolled to a 58-0 victory at home.