Jake Chaney, Jack Nelson: 'A lot of work' needs to be done before Wisconsin thinks about Alabama

Jake Chaney and Jack Nelson didn’t hold back about Wisconsin’s matchup with Alabama coming up in September.

They were both on the same page saying they’re not worried right now. There’s a lot of work Wisconsin needs to do before thinking about the Crimson Tide.

Heck, Wisconsin has to prep for Western Michigan in the season opener first!

“I mean, it’s tough talking about ‘Bama right now,” Chaney said on Big Ten Network. “There’s a lot of work needed to be done to even say we’re close to playing Alabama. I mean I think there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to say we’re ready to play Western Michigan, and South Dakota. Those are great programs and we don’t have an easy schedule at all.”

Nelson completely agreed. While Wisconsin as a whole is looking forward to playing Alabama, the team doesn’t want to put the cart before the horse.

“I think Jake hit it on the head,” Nelson said. “It’s a great opportunity to prove ourselves against a great program and a good chance to showcase what we’ve got. But like he said, we’re not really looking forward to that just yet. We’ll look forward to it on that Monday of the game week.”

Wisconsin expected to improve defensively in 2024

If anything will slow down Alabama in December, it’ll be Wisconsin’s defense. Expected to be one of the more improved units, according to anonymous coaches, the Badgers should be ready for the Crimson Tide.

“The focus here is on offense. It was a hard sell for a program to embrace a system like Phil’s [offensive coordinator Phil Longo], and it ended up being a mismatch because of personnel. Are they going to make any big changes? I think there’s extra pressure here in Year 2 because they didn’t score points last season, and they got away from an identity that worked so well in this league,” an opposing Big Ten assistant coach said in the Athlon Sports preview.

“Defensively, we expect them to be much improved. I’d say they’re on a timeline similar to what Luke [Fickell] did at Cincinnati. That’s not the side of the ball to worry about here. They need to put up points to get everyone on board with their new identity, it’s that simple.”

Alabama visits Wisconsin September 14th in what should be a raucous environment inside Camp Randall Stadium.