Fifth Quarter Consensus: Badgers Stomp Spartans

The Predictions:

Adam Hoge (+8): Wisconsin 48, San Jose State 10

Jake Harris (+11): Wisconsin 51, San Jose State 10

Adam Tupitza (+15): Wisconsin 45, San Jose State 6

John Veldhuis (+17): Wisconsin 51, San Jose State 13

The Reasoning:

The Badgers played on the road a week ago and made some significant mistakes, yet they still escaped from the desert with a 41-21 victory. Now they are back home at Camp Randall Stadium, a place where they are 36-4 since 2004. Their opponent is San Jose State, a team that lost by 45 points in a similarly hostile environment last week.

The Spartans managed just seven first downs against Alabama, which is good news for a Wisconsin defense that afforded UNLV just 12 total yards in the first half last Saturday. Even more alarming for San Jose State is that it gave up a whopping 591 yards of total offense last week to a team missing its Heisman running back. The Crimson Tide racked up 257 rushing yards without Mark Ingram, which should have Wisconsin's three-headed rushing monster of John Clay, Montee Ball and James C. White licking its collective chops.

The Badgers could give up a score early and maybe one in garbage time, but they will dominate in between. If there is one thing Wisconsin has not had trouble with in recent years, it's stepping on the throats of inferior nonconference competitors early in the season. This game unfortunately won't tell us much about the 2010 Badgers unless they struggle.

The hope locally is that Wisconsin builds an insurmountable lead by 'Jump Around' time so that fans can get a seat at one of the bustling Madison bars for some of the more appetizing games on Saturday's schedule.

Who has the edge?

Offense: Wisconsin

Defense: Wisconsin

Special Teams: Wisconsin

Coaching: Wisconsin

Intangibles: Wisconsin

-Jake Harris