Wisconsin proves it could be best in Big Ten West with 30-6 rout of Michigan State

After crushing the Spartans, Wisconsin is looking like the team to beat in the Big Ten West

Coming into the season, there was no hiding from the fact that Wisconsin was set to face one of the most difficult schedules in the country. Things started with a game against LSU, and they were only going to get more difficult from there.

Well, don't look now, but the Badgers are suddenly 4-0 and looking like they could be the team to beat in the Big Ten's West Division after routing Michigan State 30-6 on Saturday.

After getting past LSU to start the season, Wisconsin struggled last week at home against Georgia State, which led to Paul Chryst deciding to make a major change at quarterback. In a vacuum, it was difficult to imagine a worse time to make a change at quarterback to go to freshman Alex Hornibrook.

The Badgers were preparing to enter the most brutal part of their schedule, starting with a trip to East Lansing to take on Michigan State. While Hornibrook didn't light the world on fire during his first start, he did just about all you could ask of a freshman in such a situation. He completed 16-of-26 passes for 195 yards with a touchdown, and while he also threw one interception, he avoided a lot of the major mistakes young quarterbacks make.

Hornibrook certainly outplayed the fifth-year senior he was going against, as the Wisconsin defense harassed Michigan State's Tyler O'Conner into three interceptions, and that's really been the key to this start to the season for the Badgers. There was plenty of concern about the Wisconsin defense after coordinator Dave Aranda left to take the same job at LSU, but through four games under Justin Wilcox, there hasn't been a drop off.

The Badgers forced four turnovers, kept Michigan State in third-and-long all day (the average distance needed by the Michigan State offense on third down was 9.6 yards), and held Sparty's ground game to 2.8 yards per carry.

Now, things won't be getting any easier for the Badgers from here on out. After taking next week off, they'll be hitting the road to take on Michigan, and then return home for Ohio State. After those two games Iowa, Nebraska and Northwestern loom in what will be huge divisional showdowns.

But through four weeks, the Badgers have already knocked off LSU and beat a top-1o Michigan State team on the road.

You can't like their odds to get through this stretch unscathed, but you didn't like them before, and the Badgers are 4-0 anyway.