In the 2017 Fiesta Bowl the Wisconsin Badgers will be taking on the Miami Hurricane. These teams actually have a lot in common. Both were undefeated for a majority of the season, both were once in the college football playoff top 4, both had a chance to get a spot in the playoff if they won their conference championship, and finally both lost that game. Regardless of what happened in the conference championship games both teams are going to come out hungry to end their seasons with a win.
Hurricanes vs. Badgers Viewing Details
Date: Saturday, December 30, 2017
Time: 8:00 PM EST
TV Channel: ESPN
Location: Hard Rock Stadium; Miami, FL
The biggest question of this college football season wasn’t who’s going to win the national championship or who’s going to win the Heisman it was is The U back!?!?!?!? And I finally have an answer for you! and its maybe. Miami had a great season going 10-2 with tons of signature wins including the absolute spanking they gave Notre Dame. Unfortunatly Hurricane fans earned that Miami still has a ways to go to be top dog again being that Clemson routed them by 35 in the ACC Championship game. Regardless Maimi has found a way to piece together a real nice season under 2nd year head coach Mark Richt. Richt played Quarterback for The U in the late 70’s early 80’s but spent most of his time as a back up to guys like Jim Kelly and Vinny Testaverde. Richt had one goal return Miami to its former glory and in 2 seasons he had amassed a 19-6 record with a victory in last years Russell Athletics Bowl. They are lead by Quarterback Malik Rosier, Malik has put together a nice season scoring 30 total TDs and throwing for just under 3,000 yards. Rosier is going to have to be sharp against this gritty Badgers defense if Miami is going to win the Orange Bowl in their own backyard.
I feel like every year you can say Wisconsin almost made it. The formerly undefeated Badgers saw their National Championship chance fall right before their eyes as they lost a 27-21 heartbreak to Ohio St. The Badgers put together a 12-1 record on the year and will look to make it 13-1 with an Orange Bowl victory. Wisconsin lacks speed on the edges and the ability to stretch the field. But they are extremely aggressive on defense and they take care of the ball on offense by running the hell out of it. The workload is carried by stand out freshman Jonathan Taylor, who’s accounted for over 1900 total yards and 13 TDs. The Badgers rode Taylors coat tails all the way to the Big 10 Championship Game, where Ohio St made Wisconsin beat the by throwing the ball with Alex Hornibrook and they just couldn’t muster enough offense. If Wisconsin wants to beat Miami they are going to have to get Jonathan Taylor the ball A LOT! and continue to play great defense. They will be playing in Miami so this ‘Neutral site’ isn’t very neutral so hopefully the Badger faithful make the trip and try and even out the crowds the best they can, good thing defense travels!
Final Prediction:
This will be a great game and its going to be close but I think…
Wisconsin Wins 24-17
Wisconsin will cover the 6.5 points they are laying and the game will fall short of the Over/Under of 45
