2020 Wisconsin Badgers football team

The 2020 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Badgers were led by sixth-year head coach Paul Chryst and competed as members of the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They played their home games at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

2020 Wisconsin Badgers football
Duke's Mayo Bowl champion
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
DivisionWest Division
Record4–3 (3–3 Big Ten)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJoe Rudolph (6th season)
Offensive schemePro-style
Defensive coordinatorJim Leonhard (4th season)
Base defense3–4
CaptainGarrett Groshek
Home stadiumCamp Randall Stadium
Uniform
Seasons
← 2019
2021 →
2020 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
East Division
No. 2 Ohio State xy$^   5 0     7 1  
No. 12 Indiana   6 1     6 2  
Penn State   4 5     4 5  
Maryland   2 3     2 3  
Rutgers   3 6     3 6  
Michigan   2 4     2 4  
Michigan State   2 5     2 5  
West Division
No. 10 Northwestern xy   6 1     7 2  
No. 16 Iowa   6 2     6 2  
Wisconsin   3 3     4 3  
Minnesota   3 4     3 4  
Nebraska   3 5     3 5  
Purdue   2 4     2 4  
Illinois   2 6     2 6  
Championship: Ohio State 22, Northwestern 10
  • ^ – College Football Playoff participant
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
  • Note: Due to COVID-19, the Big Ten suspended the season on August 11, but later decided to begin play on October 24. In addition to the title game that was played on December 19, the conference seeded all remaining teams for "championship week" games.[1]
Rankings from AP Poll.

On August 11, 2020, the Big Ten Conference suspended all fall sports competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] However, on September 16, the Big Ten reinstated the season, announcing an eight-game season beginning on October 24.[3]

Offseason

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2020 NFL Draft

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Round Pick Player Position NFL Club
2 41 Jonathan Taylor RB Indianapolis Colts
3 74 Zack Baun LB New Orleans Saints
4 146 Tyler Biadasz C Dallas Cowboys
5 166 Quintez Cephus WR Detroit Lions
Undrafted Chris Orr LB Carolina Panthers

Transfers

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Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Transfer to
Bradrick Shaw #7 RB 6'1 205 Senior   Hoover, AL California
Aron Cruickshank #1 WR 5'9 155 Sophomore Brooklyn, NY Rutgers
Seth Currens #10 ILB 6'3 230 Junior   Pickerington, OH Miami (OH)
Christian Bell #49 OLB 6'4 246 Senior   Hoover, AL South Alabama
Griffin Grady #47 OLB 6'2 205 Sophomore   Dublin, OH -

Preseason

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Spring game

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The Badgers spring scrimmage and practice on April 18, 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Award watch lists

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Listed in the order that they were released

Award Player Position Year
Davey O'Brien Award Jack Coan QB SR
Chuck Bednarik Award Jack Sanborn LB JR
Doak Walker Award Nakia Watson RB SO
John Mackey Award Jake Ferguson TE JR
Butkus Award Jack Sanborn LB JR
Jim Thorpe Award Eric Burrell S SR
Outland Trophy Cole Van Lanen OL SR
Manning Award Jack Coan QB SR
Maxwell Award Jack Coan QB SR
Wuerffel Trophy Madison Cone S SR
Bronko Nagurski Trophy Eric Burrell S SR

Preseason Big Ten poll

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Although the Big Ten Conference has not held an official preseason poll since 2010, Cleveland.com has polled sports journalists representing all member schools as a de facto preseason media poll since 2011. For the 2020 poll, Wisconsin was projected to finish first in the West Division.[4]

Media poll (West Division)
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Wisconsin 221 (19)
2 Minnesota 209.5 (14)
3 Iowa 157
4 Nebraska 117
5 Purdue 105
6 Northwestern 87.5 (1)
7 Illinois 55

Schedule

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Games canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic

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The Badgers 2020 schedule originally consisted of six home games, four away games, and two neutral site games. The Badgers would have hosted two of its three non-conference games at Camp Randall; the first on September 12 against Southern Illinois from the Missouri Valley, then the next week on September 19, playing Appalachian State, a member of the Sun Belt Conference. The last non-conference matchup on October 3 was a primetime game guaranteed to air on NBC against Notre Dame as part of the Fighting Irish's neutral-site Shamrock Series at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, with Notre Dame as the designated home team.

The Big Ten Conference canceled all non-conference games on July 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic;[5] the day before, the November 7 away game at Northwestern was moved from the neutral site Wrigley Field in Chicago back to Ryan Field in Evanston.[6] Both Notre Dame and Wisconsin plan to fulfill their contract and play the Lambeau Field game in a subsequent season.[7]

On November 25, Wisconsin's game vs. Minnesota was canceled, leaving the team with only 5 games maximum and thus making the Badgers no longer eligible for the 2020 Big Ten Football Championship Game.

Current schedule

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In Big Ten Conference play, Wisconsin will play all members of the West Division, and draws Indiana, and Michigan from the East Division.

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
October 237:00 p.m.IllinoisNo. 14BTNW 45–70
October 312:30 p.m.at NebraskaNo. 9FS1No Contest[8]
November 72:30 p.m.PurdueNo. 10
  • Camp Randall Stadium
  • Madison, WI
ABCNo Contest[9]
November 146:30 p.m.at MichiganNo. 13ABCW 49–11605
November 212:30 p.m.at No. 19 NorthwesternNo. 10ABCL 7–170
November 281:00 p.m.MinnesotaNo. 16
  • Camp Randall Stadium
  • Madison, WI (Paul Bunyan's Axe)
BTNRescheduled[10][11]
December 52:30 p.m.No. 12 IndianaNo. 16
  • Camp Randall Stadium
  • Madison, WI
ABCL 6–140
December 122:30 p.m.at No. 16 IowaFS1L 7–281,445
December 193:00 p.m.Minnesota
BTNW 20–17 OT0
December 3011:00 a.m.vs. Wake Forest*ESPNW 42–281,500

*Wisconsin's game with Nebraska was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game will not be rescheduled. Instead, both teams will have a bye and will have just seven games.[8]

*Wisconsin's game with Purdue was cancelled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game will not be rescheduled. Instead, Wisconsin will have a bye and will have just six games, and Purdue will have a bye and will have just seven games.[9]

*Wisconsin's game with Minnesota was initially cancelled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game was eventually rescheduled for Big Ten Championship weekend.[10][11]

Source:[12]

Roster

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2020 Wisconsin Badgers football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
QB 2 Chase Wolf   So
WR 3 Kendric Pryor   Sr
QB 5 Graham Mertz   Fr
WR 7 Danny Davis III Sr
RB 8 Jalen Berger Fr
RB 10 Isaac Guerendo   So
WR 11 Stephan Bracey   Fr
QB 12 Daniel Wright Fr
WR 13 Chimere Dike Fr
WR 13 Mike Gregoire   So
WR 14 Jordan DiBenedetto   Fr
QB 15 Danny Vanden Boom   Jr
WR 16 Jack Dunn   Sr
QB 17 Jack Coan Sr
WR 18 Cam Phillips   Fr
WR 21 Cooper Nelson   Fr
WR 22 Cade Green   Jr
WR 24 Haakon Anderson Fr
WR 24 Adam Krumholz   Sr
WR 25 Isaac Smith Fr
RB 25 Nakia Watson   So
FB 28 Quan Easterling   Fr
RB 29 Brady Schipper   So
TE 30 Coy Wanner   Jr
RB 32 Julius Davis   Fr
FB 34 Mason Stokke   Sr
RB 36 Hunter Johnson   Jr
RB 37 Garrett Groshek   Sr
TE 41 Jack Eschenbach   So
TE 43 Hayden Rucci   Fr
FB 44 John Chenal Jr
TE 46 Gabe Lloyd   Sr
TE 47 Clay Cundiff   Fr
TE 49 Cam Large Fr
OL 50 Logan Brown   Fr
OL 59 Andrew Lyons   So
OL 60 Logan Bruss   Jr
OL 61 Dylan Barrett Fr
OL 62 Logan O'Brien   Fr
OL 64 Sean Timmis Fr
OL 65 Tyler Beach   Jr
OL 66 Tanor Bortolini Fr
OL 67 Cormac Sampson   So
OL 68 Ben Barten Fr
OL 69 Aaron Vopal   Jr
OL 70 Josh Seltzner   Jr
OL 71 Cole Van Lanen   Sr
OL 73 Kerry Kodanko Fr
OL 73 Alex Fenton   Jr
OL 74 Michael Furtney   So
OL 75 Joe Tippmann   Fr
OL 76 Kayden Lyles   Jr
OL 77 Blake Smithback   Jr
OL 78 Trey Wedig Fr
OL 79 Jack Nelson Fr
WR 81 Taj Mustapha   So
WR 82 Emmet Perry   Jr
TE 84 Jake Ferguson   Jr
WR 86 Devin Chandler Fr
TE 86 Luke Benzschawel   Sr
WR 89 A.J. Abbott   So
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
CB 1 Faion Hicks   Jr
S 2 Reggie Pearson   So
CB 4 Donte Burton   So
CB 5 Rachad Wildgoose Jr
CB 6 Dean Engram   Fr
OLB 7 Spencer Lytle   Fr
CB 8 Deron Harrell   Jr
S 9 Scott Nelson   Jr
CB 11 Alexander Smith   So
S 12 Titus Toler   Fr
CB 16 Amaun Williams Fr
CB 17 Max Lofy Fr
S 18 Collin Wilder   Sr
OLB 19 Nick Herbig Fr
S 19 John Torchio   So
CB 20 Semar Melvin   Fr
CB 21 Caesar Williams   Sr
ILB 22 Jacob Heyroth   So
CB 24 James Williams   Fr
S 25 Eric Burrell   Sr
CB 26 Travian Blaylock   So
CB 27 Cristian Volpentesta   Sr
ILB 29 Jackson Kollath   Fr
S 30 Tyler Mais   Jr
S 31 Madison Cone Sr
ILB 32 Marty Strey   So
ILB 34 Ross Gengler Fr
CB 36 Kobe Knaak   Sr
OLB 37 Riley Nowakowski Fr
S 38 Dante Caputo   Fr
ILB 39 Tatum Grass   Fr
OLB 41 Noah Burks   Sr
OLB 42 Jaylan Franklin   So
OLB 43 Preston Zachman Fr
ILB 45 Leo Chenal So
OLB 46 Hegeman Tiedt   Sr
OLB 48 Cole Dakovich Fr
OLB 50 Izayah Green-May   Jr
DE 51 Giovanni Paez   Fr
OLB 52 Kaden Johnson Fr
OLB 53 Malik Reed Fr
ILB 54 Jordan Turner Fr
ILB 55 Maema Njongmeta   Fr
DE 56 Rodas Johnson   Fr
DE 57 Michael Balistreri   Jr
ILB 57 Jack Sanborn Jr
ILB 58 Mike Maskalunas   Sr
DE 59 Aaron Witt Fr
DE 90 Isaiah Mullens   So
DE 90 James Thompson Jr. Fr
NT 91 Bryson Williams Jr
DE 92 Matt Henningsen   Jr
DE 93 Garrett Rand   Sr
DE 94 Boyd Dietzen   So
NT 95 Keeanu Benton So
DE 96 Cade McDonald Fr
DE 97 Isaiahh Loudermilk   Sr
DE 98 C.J. Goetz   So
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K 19 Collin Larsh   Jr
P 26 Jack Van Dyke Fr
P 28 Gavin Meyers Fr
K 28 Blake Wilcox   Fr
P 38 Andy Vujnovich Jr
LS 51 Adam Bay Sr
LS 52 Josh Bernhagen   Sr
LS 63 Peter Bowden   Fr
LS 64 Duncan McKinley Fr
P 96 Conor Schlichting   Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  •   Injured
  •   Redshirt

Roster
Last update: November 19, 2019

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516Final
AP1212*191691013101818181825
Coaches1212*171814111114122019201925
CFPNot released1616Not released

Game summaries

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Illinois

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1 2 3 4 Total
Fighting Illini 0 7 0 0 7
No. 14 Badgers 7 21 0 17 45

At Nebraska (Cancelled)

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1 2 3 4 Total
No. 9 Badgers 0 0 0 0 0
Cornhuskers 0 0 0 0 0

The Wisconsin at Nebraska game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game will not be rescheduled. Instead, both teams will have a bye and will play just seven games.[8]

Purdue (Cancelled)

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1 2 3 4 Total
Boilermakers 0 0 0 0 0
No. 10 Badgers 0 0 0 0 0

The Purdue at Wisconsin game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game will not be rescheduled.[9]

At Michigan

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1 2 3 4 Total
No. 13 Badgers 14 14 7 14 49
Wolverines 0 0 11 0 11

At Northwestern

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1 2 3 4 Total
No. 10 Badgers 7 0 0 0 7
No. 19 Wildcats 7 7 0 3 17

Minnesota (Rescheduled)

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1 2 3 4 Total
Golden Gophers 0 0 0 0 0
No. 16 Badgers 0 0 0 0 0

The Minnesota at Wisconsin game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Minnesota. The game was rescheduled for December 19 at 3:00 p.m..

Indiana

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1 2 3 4 Total
Hoosiers 0 7 7 0 14
Badgers 0 3 3 0 6

At Iowa

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1 2 3 4 Total
Badgers 0 0 7 0 7
Hawkeyes 3 3 15 7 28

Minnesota

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1 2 3 4OT Total
Golden Gophers 7 0 3 70 17
Badgers 0 7 7 33 20

Vs. Wake Forest (Duke's Mayo Bowl)

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1 2 3 4 Total
Demon Deacons 14 0 7 7 28
Badgers 0 14 14 14 42

Awards and honors

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Weekly Awards
Player Award Date awarded Ref.
Graham Mertz Big Ten Co-offensive Player of the Week October 23, 2019 [13]
Graham Mertz Big Ten Freshman Player of the Week October 23, 2019 [13]
Individual Awards
Player Award Ref.
Cole Van Lanen First Team All-Big Ten Offense (Coaches)/Second Team All-Big Ten Offense (Media) [14]
Jake Ferguson First Team All-Big Ten Offense (Media)/Second Team All-Big Ten Offense (Coaches) [14]
Logan Bruss Third Team All-Big Ten Offense (Coaches/Media) [14]
Caesar Williams Third Team All-Big Ten Defense (Coaches)/Honorable Mention Defense (Media) [14]
Isaiahh Loudermilk Third Team All-Big Ten Defense (Media)/Honorable Mention Defense (Coaches) [14]
Jack Sanborn Third Team All-Big Ten Defense (Media)/Honorable Mention Defense (Coaches) [14]
Mason Stokke Honorable Mention Offense (Coaches) [14]
Tyler Beach Honorable Mention Offense (Coaches) [14]
Leo Chenal Honorable Mention Defense (Coaches/Media) [14]
Eric Burrell Honorable Mention Defense (Coaches/Media) [14]
Faion Hicks Honorable Mention Defense (Coaches/Media) [14]
Andy Vujnovich Honorable Mention Special Teams (Coaches) [14]

Players drafted into the NFL

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Round Pick Player Position NFL Club
5 156 Isaiahh Loudermilk DE Pittsburgh Steelers
6 213 Rachad Wildgoose CB Buffalo Bills
6 214 Cole Van Lanen OG Green Bay Packers

References

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  1. ^ Stevens, Matthew. "Big Ten To Play A "Championship Weekend" 9th Game Of 2020 Season". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  2. ^ "Big Ten Statement on 2020-21 Fall Season". Big Ten Conference. August 11, 2020. Archived from the original on August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  3. ^ "The Big Ten Conference Adopts Stringent Medical Protocols; Football Season to Resume October 23-24, 2020". Big Ten Conference. September 16, 2020. Archived from the original on September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  4. ^ Baird, Nathan (July 31, 2020). "Ohio State voted 2020 Big Ten favorite in cleveland.com Preseason Poll". The Plain Dealer.
  5. ^ Myerberg, Paul. "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA TODAY. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  6. ^ "Badgers' Wrigley Field game moved back to Northwestern's Ryan Field". Associated Press. WKOW. July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  7. ^ Vitovitch, Frank (July 10, 2020). "A Notre Dame – Wisconsin at Lambeau Reschedule Not Likely Until At least 2026". UHND.com. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  8. ^ a b c "Wisconsin Football pauses team activities". uwbadgers.com. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c "Wisconsin vs. Purdue game canceled as Badgers continue to deal with COVID-19 outbreak within program". CBSSports.com. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Minnesota cancels football game vs Wisconsin amid positive test for COVID-19". espn.com. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  11. ^ a b Potrykus, Jeff (December 13, 2020). "Try it again: UW is set to host Minnesota on Saturday as part of the Big Ten's Champions Week". jsonline.com. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  12. ^ "2020 Wisconsin Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Big Ten Football Players of the Week". Big Ten Conference. Big Ten Conference. October 23, 2020. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Big Ten Unveils Football All-Conference Teams for defense and Select Individual Honors". Big Ten Conference. Big Ten Conference. December 26, 2020. Archived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.