Holiday Bowl Preview: USC vs. Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Badgers are set for another bowl game, the Holiday Bowl, on December 30 in San Diego, which will feature an opponent the Badgers have never beaten, the USC Trojans.

Everything you need to know about the USC vs. Wisconsin Holiday Bowl live stream and TV broadcast, as well as game notes and prediction. Outside of conference champions, bowls rarely have the same team play in consecutive years, fearing fans will not make a repeat visit to the same city.

The Trojans defeated Nebraska, 45-42, last season.

Series – USC leads series 6-0. The Trojans can still rely on leading receiver JuJu Smith and Steven Mitchell Jr.as quarterback Cody Kessler’s top targets, however, the more options the better USC will be against the Badgers No. 1 ranked defense.

Last meeting – USC won 38-3 in 1966 in Los Angeles.

New Head Coaches: In his first year as head coach of Wisconsin, Paul Chryst was able to lead the Badgers to a 9-3 record, only losing games to teams who are now ranked above them (Alabama, Iowa, and Northwestern).

The USC Trojans enter a college football game. LB Joe Schobert (73 tackles, four forced fumbles) is one of the leaders of the defense as well as safety Tanner McEvoy (39 tackles, six INTs) and if he sounds familiar, that’s because he’s a former Badger QB as well. This will be the third time the two teams have played each other in the postseason.

Wisconsin ranks seventh in the Big Ten in passing (229.3) and total offense (377.3), eighth in scoring (27.1), and 10th in rushing (148.1). He ranks 15th nationally in passing efficiency with a 154.3 mark and his 3,315 yards is good enough for 24th in the country as well. He’s thrown 10 of his 28 TDs in the last five games and only one of his six interceptions in the past seven.

Banner started all of 2014, but freshman Chuma Edoga will take over at right tackle. The freshman has tallied 80 tackles this season.

RB Tre Madden (personal reasons): A nagging knee injury throughout the season came to a head after the Pac-12 Championship Game, as Madden had arthroscopic knee surgery in hopes of getting his knee as healthy as possible for his football future in the NFL.

Adoree’ Jackson, CB, USC- With a lot of time to prepare for this game, expect the do-it-all athlete to be included in every facet of the game, perhaps even some trick plays on offense.

If they hope to get their first win against a team with a winning record, they’ll likely need another big game from running back Dare Ogunbowale, who carried the ball 33 times in the regular-season finale against Minnesota, totaling a career-high 155 yards and a touchdown.

That Rose Bowl game still stands as one of the most memorable games in Wisconsin Badgers history, as the Badgers trailed 42-14 in the fourth quarter, but behind quarterback Ron Vander Kalen, scored 23 points in the fourth quarter to make it a game in a 42-37 loss. Also, in order to win the game, the Wisconsin defense will have to limit big plays against an explosive USC offense, which is possible because of the way that the Badger defense has performed this season.