Wisconsin should be getting more offseason hype, Greg McElroy believes

Wisconsin football should not be slept on this season, according to ESPN’s Greg McElroy. 2024 might be quite the year for Luke Fickell and the Badgers.

While McElroy admitted he was a year early on the Wisconsin hype, this fall will be different. When looking at the tape and the personnel, Fickell might have something cooking in Madison.

McElroy explained his stance on Wisconsin during Always College Football.

“Because I know that last year coming into it, quarterback play was a question mark to an extent, it ended up being okay. I wouldn’t say it was bad. I wouldn’t say it was elite,” McElroy said. “This year. I do think they have an elite talent that will be pulling the trigger for them. And that’s Tyler Van Dyke. Now, you’re gonna sit there and roll your eyes when I tell you that.

“But I want you to just reflect back to the beginning of last year, first three, four weeks of the 2023 season. You realize that Tyler Van Dyke was among the most efficient quarterbacks in the country in the first month of the season last year? And then he got the turnover bug and he was just never really able to recuperate?”

Wisconsin will bank a lot on the college veteran. But McElroy is confident in Van Dyke stepping up for the Badgers over the course of the entire season.

“What if we can take a four game stretch and turn it into an eight, nine, 10 game stretch,” he said. “Then how dangerous does Wisconsin become? Because we remember what Tyler Van Dyke did against a really solid Texas A&M defense last year, right? I mean, he picked them apart from start to finish. Problem is after the Georgia Tech game, had a couple picks in that game, he was just never really able to get back on track. 

“Now he moves, fresh start, new lease on life. And remember just a couple of years ago with Wisconsin, they had a guy that was very, very talented. But he just couldn’t seem to get out of his own way and all the pressure kind of built up. Just was never able to play free. That guy was Graham Mertz, transfers to Florida last year, and had a heck of a season that you’re gonna look at it and say, well, he didn’t win a lot of games.” 

Wins and losses aside, McElroy used the Mertz example of going from Wisconsin to Florida in a statistical manner. Meaning, CVan Dyke can do similar things now that he’s in Madison.

“Yeah, but you look at his production and his statistical evidence that he was a significantly improved player when he got to Florida,” McElroy said. “I’m thinking the same thing could happen for Tyler Van Dyke. Throws a beautiful ball. He’s got a big arm. He’s very accurate. It’s just kind of: avoid the catastrophic mistake, which has at times been troubling for him over the last couple of years. 

“But I’m really optimistic about his fit in that offense, and I do think they’re going to have an improved group of weapons around him while still being able to run the football. So Wisconsin as a team, I think we’re a little early on last year, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they’re much better here in 2024.”