No top five recruiting class, no 70 million dollar coach, and no Heisman winning quarterback. Despite this, the Badgers are still considered a contender to win the national championship.
There's a simple saying on the wall in the Badgers' team meeting room. It says "The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf."
What makes Wisconsin football so great is reliance on one another, and the trust that the man next to you will do their job. It can be more simply put as smart, tough and dependable.
Succeeding as a football team requires players to be smart, which typically comes with experience. Rarely does Wisconsin have a single player who carries the team, or the flashy freshman who can change a program.
Rather, the Badgers choose to have their players grow in their system to be smart players who know the ins and outs of the playbook and are willing to learn and adapt. In doing this, when a player gets called on, most times, this player is able to step in and do the same job as the player before him did at the same level.
Take wide receiver Danny Davis for example. After playing a small role at the beginning of the Badgers' 2017 campaign, he was forced to step in and play a much larger role following a season-ending injury to Quintez Cephus. Since Davis was given time to grow, he stepped right in and filled Cephus' role at the same level, if not better, capping off his season with a three-touchdown game against the Miami Hurricanes.
Toughness can make or break a team, and for the Badgers, it is part of what makes them great. The Badgers are led by the warrior spirit of a few players, namely, D'Cota Dixon. Despite being seemingly banged up every game, D'Cota Dixon is one of the top safeties in the country because of a mentality that says nothing can stop him.
This kind of mentality goes throughout the team, and because go this, the Badgers are one of the toughest teams in one of the most rugged conferences in the country.
Dependability is another key trait that puts Wisconsin above the rest. The best example of this on the Badgers' roster is their offensive line. This group is widely considered the best offensive line in America. The reason why is because they all believe in one another to get the job done. They paved the way for the likes of Jonathan Taylor to break records and set standards.
As Taylor told Sports Illustrated, "I was hesitant to go through [the hole]," Taylor says. "I didn't think a hole was supposed to be that big." Taylor assumed a safety or linebacker was hiding behind the mass of bodies waiting to clobber him. He quickly learned there is no trick.
"Oh, that's normal," Taylor says. "Those guys have got that thing sealed off." This kind of dependability is what led Taylor to break the FBS record for rushing yards in a single season, and is what makes this Badger offense ready for its best season in years.
Come January, there's a good chance we could see the Badgers in the CFP, and if they do make it, it will be on their strength, toughness, and dependability.
