Sports

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Five things to watch: Alabama

1. Filling the running back void

Crimson Tide poised to return to Playoff

In the 2014 season, Alabama was one of the four best teams in the country. They made the inaugural College Football Playoff, and lost to the team that would go on to be the National Champion. Even so, last year’s Alabama team was one of the least successful Crimson Tide squads of the last decade.

Amid offseason of change, Aranda holds steady

Keeping Dave Aranda in Madison for his third year at defensive coordinator was the most impressive move Wisconsin made this offseason.

Rapid "preactions" to UW-Bama: Alabama shakes, breaks, falls to far superior Badgers

Rapid "preactions" to UW-Bama: Easing your elephant-sized woes

Wisconsin and Alabama square off this Saturday. Here's the kind of reaction you can expect if the Badgers fall to the Crimson Tide.

Race for the Playoff: By the numbers

The Ohio State Buckeyes wrapped up last season with 13 straight wins and won the inaugural College Football Playoff. As the first ever unanimous No. 1 in the preseason AP poll, they don’t show any signs of slowing down. Everyone and their mother is predicting that they are a shoo-in for the Playoff this season as well. Prediction, though, is a fickle beast.

Badger bio: Biegel never slows down

Outside linebacker Vince Biegel became one of the Badgers’ biggest defensive stars last season, making one impact play after another each weekend.

Big Ten power rankings: Ohio State returns cast of champions

Another year, another chance to argue which team is the best in the Big Ten. We polled 10 members of our staff and made the surprising discovery that it’s really not much of an argument nowadays. 1.

Elliott, Chubb can end Heisman’s QB run

The college football season is upon us, and it’s never too early to start the Heisman watch. Every performance from all of the top players will be scrutinized from here on out by fans and media alike as they try to predict and later vote on who will win college football’s most prestigious award. Even without playing a down of football this fall, there are already some clear favorites.

Fortifying a wall to slow down the Tide

Wisconsin is known as an offensive line factory, and that factory has been working overtime leading up to the Badgers’ opening game against Alabama. Injuries have been a big issue for this unit, and it has forced a ton of shuffling up front.

Wisconsin seeks first win in Santa Clara

Through two games, the Badgers (0-2-0 overall) have yet to find the back of the net this season.  As they embark on the first match of a four-game road trip, they’ll look to both get on the board and get in the win column Friday against a Santa Clara (0-2-0) squad that is also scoreless in two games.  Despite the disappointing result its last time out, Wisconsin played No. 19 Xavier (2-0-0), a team that advanced to the Elite Eight a season ago, close for the entire 90 minutes in an encouraging match for the young squad.  “We have great players.

Tuscaloosa Talk: Q&A with Alabama assistant sports editor Tyler Waldrep

Wisconsin kicks off its season this Saturday with a highly anticipated matchup against the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Daily Cardinal caught up with Tyler Waldrep, assistant sports editor for the University of Alabama's student newspaper The Crimson White, to discuss this weekend’s showdown in Dallas.

Badgers focus in on Tar Heels, ACC

Wisconsin (2-1) came into last weekend’s matchup against Western Kentucky ranked 5th in the country, but a season-opening loss to the Hilltoppers shocked UW and swiftly taught it to not take any opponent for granted.

Fall football camp update: defense

As the college football season gets closer, there are still unanswered questions on every roster around the country. While coaches are often careful with how much information they release, watching practice can clarify the potential depth charts for the season. Here’s how Wisconsin’s defense is shaping up.

Fall football camp update: offense

At the beginning of each season, college football rosters are always in a state of flux. With players graduating, transferring or leaving early to the NFL, there is a level of turnover unlike anything in professional sports. It’s tough to gauge how the Badgers will look this year based on a handful of practices, but several trends on the offensive side of the ball have emerged.

Four takeaways from Big Ten Football Media Days

CHICAGO—With the Big Ten Media Days in Chicago coming to a close Friday, four key storylines dominated the flurry of questions the representatives from Wisconsin faced.

Alvarez expands on student-athlete admissions process

CHICAGO—Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez briefly addressed the university’s admissions process after highly regarded recruit Jordan Stevenson, a running back from Texas, was denied enrollment to UW based on academics last week.

Charting Wisconsin's consecutive visits to the Final Four

Since first stepping on the UW-Madison campus as a student in the fall of 2013, I’ve had the good fortune of experiencing numerous memorable Badger sports moments that have helped create memories that will last a lifetime.

Melvin Gordon tears through record book, sets table for Big Ten title run

Wisconsin has become known for producing good, if not great, college running backs in the last two decades. These running backs have had some spectacular individual performances, but none were better than what Melvin Gordon accomplished last season. Gordon finished last year with 2,587 yards and 29 touchdowns, but a major chunk of that yardage came in one game in November against Nebraska when he rushed for 408 yards, a single-game NCAA record.

Bauman lights it up from 3-point range

There are certain moments in any sport that define a player’s career: Michael Jordan’s Flu Game in the 1997 NBA Finals, Derek Jeter’s walk-off hit in his final at-bat, Rafael Nadal’s grueling five-set win over Roger Federer in the 2008 Wimbledon final. Nicole Bauman’s historic three-point barrage against Ohio State was her moment.