Joel Klatt ranks college football's preseason top 25

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Perhaps Wisconsin will shock us and all these people ranking them will look like geniuses. But for now, every time I see WI ranked preseason, I assume the rest of that given ranking is bogus too and the author is either ignorant or doesn’t care and is on a simple quest for clicks.
 

I think everyone is looking for the next TCU - new coach, solid talent that needed a fresh vision. WI I am sure is just getting a Fickell bump. I don't think people realize that 1.) the B1G is not like any other conference 2.) WI does't have a stud QB/WR group or even a great run game and a new coach isn't going to make either something they are not.
 

gophernut1 said:
I think everyone is looking for the next TCU - new coach, solid talent that needed a fresh vision. WI I am sure is just getting a Fickell bump. I don't think people realize that 1.) the B1G is not like any other conference 2.) WI does't have a stud QB/WR group or even a great run game and a new coach isn't going to make either something they are not.
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Local beat writers are calling Wisconsin's WR group the most talented the program has had in decades, maybe ever. They seem pretty confident Fickell has completely retooled that position.
 



Xerxes_ said:
Local beat writers are calling Wisconsin's WR group the most talented the program has had in decades, maybe ever. They seem pretty confident Fickell has completely retooled that position.
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Their wrs have been below average for about two decades. Best ever? Hard to say this group is better than the one that had Lee Evans and Chris Chambers. They brought in four transfers who have a combined 52 career catches. I just don’t see them lighting it up in year one.
 

Xerxes_ said:
Local beat writers are calling Wisconsin's WR group the most talented the program has had in decades, maybe ever. They seem pretty confident Fickell has completely retooled that position.
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We shall see. That is about the most accurate assessment there can possibly be at this time.
 

Ultimately the ranking is about trusting Fickell to produce with higher quality talent than he was able to recruit in Cincinnati. Problem is the margin for error is much smaller in the B1G and I don't know if WI has the talent people think they do. In the end we will see, but I have a hard time thinking WI will be anything special this year.
 

I assume it is because most people here dislike Wisconsin more than Iowa, but I am more surprised by the love Iowa is being shown in these preseason rankings. If you look back at Iowa's season last year they finished 7-5 and ended the year getting beat at home by Nebraska and their interim coach. They easily could have lost to South Dakota State and should have lost to Minnesota. Even the Wisconsin game was very misleading as Iowa could not move the ball all day and a 3-0 Wisconsin lead became a 14-3 Iowa lead after a blocked punt and Mertz pick 6. Mertz and the Badgers punting unit basically gave that game away. Iowa doesn't come out of the '22-23 season 7-5 very often at all, would they be ranked if they finished 5-7? So a transfer QB and a transfer TE (a position they got great production from) are going to transform the offense? Then the defense is going to just stay at the same elite level minus 2 first round picks and a longtime starter (and 3rd round pick I think) at corner? Then you are going to get another amazing season out of the punting game too? I could see one of these things happening, possibly two, but all 3?

With Wisconsin, I can at least see the narrative. They added a QB that put up gaudy stats the last two seasons at SMU and return an RB that is considered elite. They added a number of highly regarded transfers at the WR spot as well. Then they replaced an interim coach with what most considered the biggest/best hire of the offseason in Fickell. They also lost less top end talent off their roster (Tippeman/Herbig) than Minnesota and Iowa. I could see how the season just went off the rails with the loss to Washington State and the firing of Chryst and that Wisconsin will be back to normal this year with a huge (on paper) upgrade from Mertz to Mordecai at QB.

I understand Minnesota not getting the benefit of the doubt that Iowa and Wisconsin seem to both be getting in the preseason rankings. Until the staff actually shows they can get over the hump, there is not a lot of reason to pick Minnesota to be the team that emerges from a rather murky field of West contenders.
 



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