Wisconsin officially reached the halfway point of its season after Saturday night’s 20-14 victory over Army to round out its non-conference slate. After a 1-3 start, Wisconsin won consecutive games to get to 3-3 overall, including 1-2 in the B1G.

Wisconsin has 6 conference games remaining, and with the way the defense is playing, the Badgers have a chance to win in every single matchup. But with the way the Badgers’ offense is playing, they have a chance to lose in every single matchup.

Anything can happen in the final stretch of the season. Here are 5 predictions.

Braelon Allen will lead team in rushing

Wisconsin’s running game is taking shape with an offensive line the coaching staff finally seems to feel good about, and true freshman Braelon Allen will move forward as the team’s leading rusher coming off consecutive games of running for more than 100 yards. Because this is the internet and you want bold predictions, not only will Allen lead Wisconsin in yards on the ground during the second half of the year, he will finish the season as the team’s leading rusher overall despite Chez Mellusi’s 255-yard advantage to this point.

Fans could not be too impressed with Wisconsin’s passing game against an Army secondary that is worse than any the Badgers will see the rest of the season outside of maybe Rutgers. Because of that, the Badgers will continue to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible with an offensive line that is better than it was at the start of the season, and Allen should have the ability to take over games as a powerful runner who can wear defenses down.

Defense will rank No. 1 against the run

Wisconsin’s passing game turns the ball over too often, the running game isn’t up to the program’s high standards and the secondary gives up too many big plays. Through the struggles of this team, the Badgers’ rushing defense has been incredible. Wisconsin allowed 179 rushing yards to Army on Saturday, but defending a triple-option offense is like playing an entirely different sport, and the Badgers likely won’t see that again for many years.

As it stands right now, Wisconsin ranks No. 3 behind Colorado State and Georgia in yards per rush attempt against FBS opponents thanks to a front seven that is playing at an extremely high level. The Badgers next 3 games will come against Purdue, Iowa and Rutgers, and none of those programs rank better than No. 109 in yards per rush attempt.

Wisconsin did not have inside linebacker Leo Chenal for the first 2 games due to a positive COVID-19 test, and we saw against Army how much of a difference he can make. Teams will likely stop trying to run against the Badgers at a certain point, so the secondary will continue to be tested.

Wisconsin will beat Iowa

Wisconsin needed Iowa to lose at some point to keep any chance at winning the B1G West alive, but part of me wishes the Hawkeyes had not lost to Purdue on Saturday so the Badgers could have gotten a shot at the No. 2-ranked team in the country. Regardless, Wisconsin will beat Iowa at home on Oct. 30.

The obvious question surrounding Iowa after its 6-0 start and dramatic rise in the polls was how the Hawkeyes would respond in the event they do not dominate the turnover margin. Well, we saw what happened over the weekend when Purdue went on the road and put a beatdown on Iowa 24-7, which is a blowout in B1G West culture.

Wisconsin and Iowa are looked at in completely different ways right now. The Badgers have far underachieved expectations, while the Hawkeyes have exceeded them. However, these are extremely similar teams, as they have been for many years. Wisconsin ranks No. 4 in yards per play defensively, while Iowa is at No. 7. We know about the Badgers offensive struggles, but the Hawkeyes are worse. Wisconsin has nothing to brag about with a No. 94 ranking in yards per play offensively, but Iowa checks in at No. 116 in that category. At least the Badgers know their offensive strength comes through running the football; I’m not sure what Iowa would point to as the strength of its offense.

The only difference between the 2021 versions of these teams has been defensive takeaways, a stat that is largely based on luck.

Wisconsin will finish 7-5 overall

With a 4-2 record for the second half, the Badgers will obviously fail to represent the West in the conference championship as they likely need to run the table for any shot. With this finish, Wisconsin will go into their bowl game with a 7-5 record, which would fall short of any preseason prediction you’ll find anywhere on the internet.

The offensive struggles will be the reason, and the defense can only do so much to limit the damage. I was willing to give Wisconsin more of a pass early on when the Badgers faced quality defenses, but a lack of consistency in the passing game in consecutive weeks against Illinois and Army is a bad sign.

Because this is a predictions article, I must decide which games Wisconsin will lose, so let’s go with Purdue and Nebraska.

Badgers will make offseason changes

Maybe this is cheating because this is more of an offseason prediction, but the second half of the year will determine whether Paul Chryst decides to change things up a bit on the offensive side of the ball. The Badgers currently rank outside the top 100 in college football in passing yards per game, yards per pass attempt and completion percentage against FBS opponents.

Whether it’s a shakeup on the offensive coaching staff or the addition of a quarterback who’s not on the current roster, a change will be coming. Graham Mertz has completed less than half his pass attempts over the last 4 games, and even if you are the most optimistic of Badgers fans, I’m not sure what you would point to for signs of better play going forward.

Without a second half that shows promise for the future in the passing game, Wisconsin will hit the transfer portal market for a quarterback to at least challenge Mertz for the starting spot in 2022. Nobody on the roster has more pressure on him than Mertz, who has a couple months to prove he is the guy to lead this program into the future.