Kirk Herbstreit: Wisconsin had best win of opening weekend
Everybody had LSU pencilled in as Week 1 winners at Lambeau Field. Wisconsin heard all offseason about its daunting schedule and how it would be devastated by former defensive coordinator Dave Aranda in the season opener.
The Badgers flipped the script on Saturday.
Kirk Herbstreit and the College GameDay crew were on hand to take in the action in Green Bay. Herbstreit said that after watching what the Badgers did, their victory over a preseason national title contender was more impressive than Houston’s (beat No. 3 Oklahoma) or Texas’ (beat No. 10 Notre Dame).
“Most people are talking about what’s wrong with LSU and should Les Miles be fired?” Herbstreit said. “I walked away from every play of that game thinking, ‘Wisconsin looks really athletic on defense and really motivated.’ I thought Paul Chryst did a great job getting his team ready.
“Considering what you were waiting for, and what you thought you knew about Wisconsin — you knew Houston was good — I didn’t have any idea that Wisconsin was capable of doing that. That was probably the one that really jumped out at me.”
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Perhaps Herbstreit is changing his tune on the B1G West race already. He predicted that Minnesota would be the surprise team and win the division.
The Badgers did have the No. 1 scoring defense in the country last year. Many, of course, questioned whether that was a product of Aranda’s system or if the Badgers were just that talented.
Apparently it wasn’t all Aranda’s work.
Wisconsin will look to avoid a deflating loss when it hosts Akron on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.