Two of this year’s most disappointing teams in college football will meet today in the 2018 New Era Pinstripe Bowl as the Miami Hurricanes (7-5) take on the Wisconsin Badgers (7-5) at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
The meeting comes just one year after these two same teams met in the 2017 Orange Bowl in Miami where the Badgers won 34-24. Last year both teams were top 10 teams as they finished with double-digit wins (Miami 10-3 and Wisconsin 13-1) and at certain points of the season were strong candidates to make the College Football Playoffs.
Their good records in 2017 had many people thinking these two teams could achieve big things this year, but several issues (including injuries) derailed their seasons to end up playing here to the disappointment of their fans and programs.
Before the season both teams were favored to win conference championships, especially Wisconsin as it was picked to win its division, but they both fell off the top 10 very early in the season after suffering unexpected losses (Wisconsin to BYU in the third game of the season, and Miami to LSU in the opener).
Both teams will be without key defenders in this game. Hurricanes All-America defensive tackle Gerald Willis is out following a hand injury that will end his college career; while Wisconsin linebacker Ryan Connelly is out after he had surgery for an unspecified injury that had bothered him late in the regular season.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s sophomore quarterback Jack Coan will start against Miami in place of junior Alex Hornibrook who’s dealing with symptoms from a concussion sustained earlier this season.
Miami will also make a quarterback change as they will start Malik Rosier instead of N’Kosi Perry. Rosier was named the starter after a sexually-explicit video reportedly featuring Perry appeared on a social media outlet.
Although several players from last year came back, Wisconsin’s defensive front and secondary suffered too many losses and that cost the Badgers their season.
The drop of talent reflected in their numbers as Wisconsin went from 42 sacks to 18 and from being a top 5 defense to rank inside the top 50.
Miami’s defense may not be as good as last year, but it certainly was better than Wisconsin’s as it ranked second in total defense (268.3 yards allowed per game), first in third-down defense (allowing a third-down efficiency of 23.7 percent), ninth in sacks and first in tackles for a loss.
Of course, due to Willis absence, Wisconsin’s offensive line could do well against Miami’s defensive front and allow the Badgers to control the running game with Jonathan Taylor as they did last year in the Orange Bowl.
On defense Miami will try to stop the Badgers running game to make them one dimensional and force Coan to beat them, while on the offensive side of the ball they will try to get their running game going with Travis Homer and DeeJay Dallas.
Miami’s running game will have a chance to do well against a Badgers’ a defensive front seven that has disappointed all season long.
While Coan may struggle against Miami’s stingy defense, Rosier is far from a perfect fit for Miami despite being the more experienced passer on the field.
Rosier has to limit his mistakes and improve his accuracy if he wants to take advantage of the Badgers’ depleted secondary. The problem is that he usually makes two or three critical mistakes per game and is off target even when he has the open man available downfield, something that already cost him his starting post this season.
The game starts a 5:15 p.m. ET and will be on ESPN.
