The Wisconsin football team is looking get over the hump and make it to the College Football Playoff this year. Is it too bold to say the Badgers will?

It won’t be long until our Saturdays are filled with college football and every week is filled with a full slate of marquee matchups and big-time clashes.

For the Wisconsin Badgers- a team coming off a 11-3 season, Cotton Bowl victory, and coming oh-so-close to a College Football Playoff, expectations are riding high as many of the preseason talks and projections have the Badgers returning to the Big Ten Championship game and finding themselves a similar situation they were in last year.

Unfortunately for Wisconsin, the team suffered a huge setback during preseason training camp as start inside linebacker Jack Cichy suffered a torn ACL and will miss the entire 2017 season. Voted a captain by his peers, Cichy was expected to have a breakout year as being the main focus of the defense and the perfect guy to step in for the departed T.J. Watt and Vince Biegel. While the team will miss his presence, the team will sure to be just fine with their extreme depth at the position.

On the offensive side of the ball, quarterback Alex Hornibrook will return as the main guy in charge after splitting time in a platoon with senior Bart Houston a year ago. Hornibrook took over for Houston in game three of last season and started all eight regular season Big Ten games before injuring his head in the finale against Minnesota, forcing him to see limited time in the team’s postseasons matchups against Penn State and Western Michigan.

This year there will be no platoon and no controversy as this will be Hornibrook’s team from start to finish. Wisconsin will be favorites to win their division and a favorable schedule could land them in a favorable position at the end of the year.

By this time, you’ve probably heard a lot of this, which is why we are bringing you five bold predictions for the Wisconsin Badgers in 2017.