FWIW, I think the Badgers have been overachieving up to this point, and we're
starting to see the tide turn a bit.  Particularly without Mike Valley, this
doesn't strike me as a particularly dangerous teams.  Going back to
Thanksgiving, a Michigan fan I correspond with privately expressed the opinion
that Minnesota had looked like the stronger team the Wolverines faced during the
Showcase.  It's certainly possible that he was just trying to express support
during what already looked like it was going to be a disappointing Gopher
season, but I think that there's something to this.  It would be a stretch to
say that Minnesota is a better team than Wisconsin (though the head-to-head
performance might suggest it), but they are much closer than the standings would
indicate.  Wisconsin has played a fairly easy conference schedule, skipping
series against St. Cloud and Colorado College and have three tough weekends left
(at Michigan Tech, home vs. St. Cloud and at North Dakota).  They have the
opportunity to prove me wrong, but I suspect they'll finish solidly in third
place behind SCSU and the Sioux.  Still, that's a better season than most were
predicting at the start.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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