Wisconsin will start true freshman Ryan Hopkins against Rutgers on Saturday, making a clear change at quarterback after a 30-0 loss to Iowa left the Badgers searching for a spark. Colton Joseph has been benched, and Hopkins gets the first chance to steady an offense that never got moving.
The move matters because Wisconsin has not just been losing games; it has been losing control of them. Against Iowa, the Badgers rushed for just 52 yards and neither quarterback reached 100 passing yards, while Hank Brown threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns and completed 20 of 24 passes against Wisconsin. That kind of imbalance is why the switch to Hopkins is now the story heading into Rutgers Vs Wisconsin.
Rutgers arrives at 2-6 overall and 1-4 in conference play, with its two wins coming against Howard and Maryland. It has also dropped its last two games to Northwestern and Michigan, including a 28-point loss to Northwestern and a one-touchdown loss last weekend to Michigan. Wisconsin, meanwhile, is trying to recover from its worst outing of the season after losing to Iowa for the fifth straight time.
That history gives the quarterback change extra weight. Four of Wisconsin's five straight losses to Iowa came under Luke Fickell, and the pressure on the offense now shifts to whether Hopkins can do more than avoid the same dead ends that defined the Iowa game. Saturday's afternoon kick is the next test, and it will show quickly whether the freshman can give Wisconsin something its offense did not have against Iowa: a reason to believe the script can change.
