It’s official: Wisconsin’s football team is headed to Tampa, Fla., to play No. 13 LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Jan. 1 at Raymond James Stadium. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT. Here are six takeaways on the game and what to expect from the Badgers.
1. This would appear to be a tremendously difficult matchup for Wisconsin, which finished the regular season 7-5 while averaging 22.8 points per game — the program’s lowest in a season since 2004. LSU (9-3), meanwhile, leads the FBS in scoring offense (46.4 points per game) and total offense (547.8 yards), ranks fourth in passing offense (334.2 yards) and seventh in rushing offense (213.5 yards).
Advertisement
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels is the Heisman Trophy front-runner after completing 72.2 percent of his passes for 3,812 yards with 40 touchdowns and four interceptions while running for 1,134 yards and 10 more scores. Wide receiver Malik Nabers leads the country with 1,546 receiving yards while adding 14 touchdowns.
But with bowl games becoming increasingly less important to a season, Daniels and Nabers are candidates to opt out and declare for the NFL Draft, as Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen did last week. The Athletic NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler projects Nabers as the No. 6 pick and Daniels as the No. 7 pick in his latest mock draft. If either of those players (or both) does not play, that would dramatically alter the matchup.
LSU backup quarterback Garrett Nussmeier is a redshirt sophomore who has played in six games this season while completing 17 of 33 passes for 196 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Nussmeier has played in 17 career games and saw action in the second half of the 2022 SEC Championship Game against Georgia, setting a single-half school record by passing for 294 yards with two touchdowns. LSU also has a second 1,000-yard receiver in Brian Thomas Jr., who has amassed 1,079 yards while leading the team with 15 touchdown catches.
Daniels played against Wisconsin two years ago during the Las Vegas Bowl when he was Arizona State’s quarterback. Wisconsin won that game 20-13 with a defense that led in the country in run defense and total defense. Daniels completed 11 of 21 passes for 159 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. He also carried 19 times for 40 yards.
THE #FootballInParadise MATCHUP IS SET! No.13 LSU & Wisconsin will face off at the 2024 ReliaQuest Bowl!
🗓️ New Years Day 2024
⏰ Kickoff @ 12:00 PM ET
🏟️ Raymond James Stadium
🏆 @LSUfootball vs. @BadgerFootball
🎟 https://t.co/gJfU92fELI (link in bio for tickets) pic.twitter.com/Ev2xiQgxyk
— ReliaQuest Bowl (@ReliaQuestBowl) December 3, 2023
2. Potential NFL departures aren’t the only reason these teams likely will look different by the time they play. With the transfer portal opening Monday, expect roster movement from every FBS program in the country. How many of those players for either Wisconsin or LSU are key contributors this season remains to be seen.
Advertisement
When Wisconsin played Oklahoma State in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl last season, neither team had its starting quarterback. Wisconsin’s Graham Mertz entered the portal and ended up at Florida, while Oklahoma State’s Spencer Sanders left to transfer to Ole Miss. Oklahoma State had 12 scholarship players in the transfer portal, including five starters, while Wisconsin had six scholarship players leave after the regular season but before the bowl game.
3. The first big domino to fall after the regular season for Wisconsin was the departure of Allen for the NFL Draft. Fickell was asked Sunday night what kind of conversations he had with Allen about his decision and how it impacted the bowl game prep. Fickell said it was a decision Allen made a long time ago.
“I think he was pretty set in his mind at what it is that he wanted to do and what he needed to do,” Fickell said. “I wasn’t going to stop him. I was going to wish him the best of luck. So this was done quite a bit before any of this was ever going to happen. But we actually visited, I think it was on Sunday, a week ago, and he was pretty sure he knew exactly what he was going to do, where he was going to go. He was pretty much off.”
Fickell said he does not expect to have running back Chez Mellusi back in time for the bowl game. Mellusi broke his left leg Sept. 22 against Purdue. That leaves Jackson Acker and Cade Yacamelli as Wisconsin’s top two running backs, with walk-on Grover Bortolotti and freshman Nate White as other options.
“The prep for without him, I guess it’s a better thing than I’ve been at a place at times where guys prepare a little bit for the bowl game and all of a sudden right before the bowl game decide it might not be the best thing for them,” Fickell said. “To me, that’s far worse. So knowing is a part of it.”
Advertisement
4. Fickell has plenty of familiarity with LSU offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. The two of them worked together at Cincinnati, with Denbrock serving as Fickell’s offensive coordinator from 2017 to 2021. Denbrock’s offense during Cincinnati’s run to the College Football Playoff in the 2021 season set school records for touchdowns (70) and points scored (516).
“I see some similarities, obviously, with what we had done maybe a bit at Cincinnati,” Fickell said. “But I think more than anything, he’s really good at using his personnel. So what it is that he has, he finds a way to make sure he can use those guys. I think that’s sometimes the unique thing about preparing for a bowl game.
“None of us will probably have some version of a full roster or what it is that we’ve had all year. So you actually get to see how coaches and guys can improvise and adapt and change based on the people that they’re going to have. That’s where I feel like Mike’s strengths are. So it will be unique to kind of get a feel for it. Sometimes you have no idea. But I would hope and believe maybe we’ve got a little bit better idea after working together for five or so years.”
5. Regardless of who plays for LSU, this is still a Tigers team that carries a top-15 ranking into this matchup, which creates excitement for Wisconsin’s coaches and players. LSU’s three losses this season came against Florida State, Alabama and Ole Miss — teams that are a combined 35-3 and all are ranked in the top 11 of the College Football Playoff committee’s rankings.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Fickell said. “I think that’s the most intriguing thing for our guys. Sometimes you just want in these positions to have a great challenge in front of you so more than anything you’ve got a motivated team. Not just to play but to prepare and to continue to work to move forward.”
Wisconsin lost to Washington State, Iowa, Ohio State, Indiana and Northwestern. While Iowa, Ohio State and Northwestern made bowl games, Washington State finished 5-7 and Indiana went 3-9, with its only Big Ten victory coming against the Badgers.
“I did not see us getting the opportunity to play a team of that caliber, obviously, with our struggles this year,” Badgers safety Hunter Wohler said. “But now we get the chance and we get the opportunity, and I can’t wait. It’s a talented group. There’s a lot of really good athletes on that team, and we’ve got some good athletes of our own. So it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a good battle and a good test of how well we prepare, how well we train and ultimately how well we compete.”
Advertisement
6. Wisconsin and LSU, despite all their success over the years, have never before met in a bowl game. The last time the teams played came in the 2016 season opener, when Wisconsin beat LSU 16-14 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay in a return game after LSU defeated Wisconsin 28-24 at NRG Stadium in Houston to open the 2014 campaign. LSU beat Wisconsin during the 1971 and 1972 seasons and holds a 3-1 all-time lead.
Wisconsin has played in this bowl game five times, though the previous occurrences came under different bowl names. Wisconsin beat Duke 34-20 in the 1995 Hall of Fame Bowl to close out an 8-3-1 season that began with the Badgers in the AP Top 10. Wisconsin lost 33-6 to Georgia in the 1998 Outback Bowl, lost again to Georgia 24-21 in the 2005 Outback Bowl and lost 21-17 to Tennessee in the 2008 Outback Bowl.
Wisconsin last played in this game Jan. 1, 2015, when it was still known as the Outback Bowl (it became the ReliaQuest Bowl last year). Wisconsin defeated Auburn 34-31 in overtime when running back Melvin Gordon ran for 251 yards with three touchdowns in his final college game.
(Photo: Mark Hoffman / USA Today)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGpncmthZ3xzfJFsZmpqX2WAcMPIrJqopqOeu26uzrCjZp%2BRorJuvsSloJqppZrAtXnLrKxo