Badgers Have Many Issues, Lack of Talent Heads the List
UW has plenty of issues right now. But the lack of high-end talent is pretty telling.
Even the casual observer knows this Wisconsin football team isn't very good right now — and that there is no shortage of people you could point fingers at for their shortcomings.
The coaches haven't adapted their schemes to the personnel — the players have done a poor job executing — and it's all led to the Badgers fighting for dear life to become bowl-eligible. Nobody gets a pass here.
That said, there is a glaring issue that helps illustrate how the Wisconsin Badgers got here — and how far they have to go: lack of high-end talent.
Throughout the years, the Badgers have developed stars like Joe Schobert, T.J. Watt, Jonathan Taylor, T.J. Edwards, Quintez Cephus, Jake Ferguson, Leo Chenal, Keeanu Benton, and countless others — who have camouflaged the blemishes Wisconsin football teams have had.
Fast forward to today, and the program's on-field blemishes stick out like a sore thumb because very few playmakers are present on either side of the ball right now — other than safety Hunter Wohler.
Wisconsin Needs Star Power to Compete in the Big Ten
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that the Wisconsin football program needs star power to compete in the Big Ten. But that sentiment rings even more valid considering that Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, USC, Oregon, and Washington possess significantly higher talent levels than the Badgers.
That's not to say Wisconsin doesn't have good players — because they do. The problem is that they don't have many great players capable of elevating the program's ceiling.
Pro Football Focus grades aren't everything — but they're a useful data point for comparison — and the Wisconsin Badgers currently have just three players graded among the top five of their respective positions in the Big Ten conference.
Those players are safety Hunter Wohler (3rd), quarterback Tanner Mordecai (4th), and outside linebacker Darryl Peterson (5th). That's an awfully short list for a team that many considered the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten West division.
How Do the Badgers Stack Up Against the Big Ten?
It becomes easier to understand why the Wisconsin football team's offense has been so poor (No. 74 in the country) when you look at the overall performances of the personnel who have played at least 20% of the snaps — relative to their counterparts.