The Shields Painting Difference: Perfection with Every Brush Stroke
Many painting companies in Florida rely on flashy marketing and big promises to try and attract new clients. But when it comes time to work, they fall short of their promises. This is often due to a lack of experience, qualified painters, and a drive to overachieve. At Shields Painting, we do things a little differently than other painting companies in Citrus County. We believe that a professional paint job should be as close to perfect as possible. Our goal is to leave you 100% satisfied, whether we're touching up an old residential paint job or performing a complex commercial project. It might sound simple, but we achieve that goal through honesty, hard work, beautiful results, and reasonable pricing.
As a family-owned and operated painting company in Wiscon, FL, we strive to provide personalized, professional, and friendly service. Shields Painting has been in business since 1968 for a good reason. Whenever possible, we go the extra mile to make sure our customers are happy. Unlike some of our competition, we want to know all about your house or business painting project: your vision, your preferences, your challenges, and your goals. When we understand your needs, we can present you with a fantastic final product - one that you're proud to show off to friends and neighbors.
At Shields Painting, we combine our extensive experience with time-tested, meticulous painting processes, resulting in the highest quality painting results around. As a painting contractor in Citrus County, we can take on a variety of residential, commercial, and industrial projects in Florida.
A few of our most popular painting services include:
- Interior Painting
- Exterior Painting
- Residential Painting
- Commercial Painting
- Cabinet Painting
- Ceiling Painting
- Fence Painting
- Sign Painting
- MUCH More!
Our commercial, industrial, and residential painting contractors take the proper steps to protect your property and belongings while we work. Our team will clean up after ourselves, so your property is left clean and free of debris when we're done. After all, we think there's only one way to do a job, and that's the right way.
Painting Services
Eco-friendly & clean work area.
PDCA Certified Member.
Your Go-To House Painting Company in Wiscon, FL
Your home is a haven of relaxation and solitude. It is uniquely you - a place where you can express who you are through style and design. Whether you need interior touch-ups for your crown molding or a new exterior coat of paint, hiring a reliable painting contractor is the best way to get quality results.
At Shields Painting, we know how important it is to have a home that highlights your tastes and personality. That's why we offer an extensive array of residential painting services in Citrus County. As tempting as it might be to try a DIY paint job, without the proper skills and experience, there is a good chance that the results will turn out less than satisfactory.
High-quality painting requires skill, experience, and patience. If you're a homeowner who needs residential painting services but doesn't have the time, patience, or skills to handle the job, look no further than Shields Painting. We offer accuracy, precision, and longevity with each paint job we perform. Our customers choose Shields Painting for their home because they receive:
- Free Quotes with Detailed Project Breakdowns
- Affordable Pricing
- Expert Painting Contractors
- High-Quality Paint Products
- Combo of Traditional and Modern Techniques
- Well-Maintained Tools
- Unmatched Craftsmanship
- Friendly, Personalized Service
- Good Old-Fashioned Hard Work!
The majority of our house painting services come in two forms: interior and exterior.
Interior Residential Painting
As an interior painting contractor with decades of experience, our expert technicians have developed an interior painting process that maximizes quality and emphasizes customer satisfaction. We understand that interior painting goes beyond aesthetics. It protects your ceilings and walls and helps you sustain a healthier place to live for your family. When only the finest craftsmanship will do inside your home, Shields Painting is here for you.
Our seasoned team of painting experts and craftsmen is dedicated to respecting your space and providing you with the look and feel you're craving inside your home. Whether you bought a new house and want to make it your own or need minor touch-ups but have no time, Shields Painting is ready to tackle the job, no matter how small or large.
Unlike some painting companies, our interior house painters take the time to get the details right, every time. For instance, color is only one aspect of your interior paint job. The paint sheen or finish is just as important. Certain finishes are better for living rooms and bedrooms than in kitchens and bathrooms. We'll help you find the right finish and paint colors for your home, so you don't have to worry about touch-ups or repainting.
Some of our most popular interior house painting services include:
- Ceiling Painting
- Popcorn Ceiling Removal
- Living Room Painting
- Bathroom Painting
- Basement Painting
- Color Consultations
- More
Cabinet Painting
Citrus County cabinet painting deserves its own section on this page because it requires more time, skill, and quality paint than most sections of your home. If your home's cabinets are built into its woodwork, replacing them can be obnoxiously expensive. Compared to the cost of installing new cabinets, painting your kitchen cabinets is much more affordable.
At Shields Painting, we specialize in transforming old cabinets into new, gorgeous features that are just as usable as they are beautiful. Each step of our cabinet painting process is meticulous and thorough. And we'll take care of the entire job, from cleaning, prep, and sanding to priming, painting, and reassembly. This unique service lets you enjoy a brand-new look in your kitchen without having to go into debt by replacing your cabinets.
Whether your cabinets are new, but you want to change their color or you'd like to transition wood cabinets to a painted finish, Shields Painting has the expertise and experience to give you a new look you'll love.
Exterior Residential Painting
Your home - it's a place that not only keeps your belongings safe. It protects your family and loved ones, too. It's one of your largest investments, and like anything else of value, it should be protected. However, Florida weather can take a toll on your home's structure and paint, lowering your home's value and even putting your family at risk.
While it's true that a beautiful exterior affects your house's value, it shouldn't take thousands of remodeling dollars to make a positive change to your home. There's a fine line between reasonable pricing and top-quality painting, and that sweet spot is what Shields Painting aims for. If you want to transform how your friends and neighbors see your home, never underestimate the power of a professional paint job.
Our exterior residential painting services are designed to boost curb appeal, give your home a fresh look, and help it stand up to Florida's unique weather. But we provide more than that. When you hire Shields Painting for your outdoor painting project, you will enjoy peace of mind in knowing that your home is in truly capable hands. Our goal is to exceed your expectations and help bring out the best in your property, whether you need to re-stain your deck or remove old, peeling paint from your siding.
If you're on the hunt for the very best exterior painting contractor in Wiscon, FL, look no further than Shields Painting.
Some of our most popular exterior house painting services include:
- Vinyl Siding Painting
- Deck Painting and Staining
- Stucco Exterior Painting
- Wood Exterior Painting
- Porch Painting and Staining
- Soffit Painting
- Fascia Painting
- Window Painting
- Front Door Painting
- Thorough Painting Prep
- More
The Premier Commercial Painting Company in Wiscon, FL
When it comes to first impressions, your businesses' appearance plays an important role. Your commercial property's paint job factors into its overall aesthetics. A great-looking, well-maintained paint job can mean the difference between a customer walking in your storefront and passing by. Conversely, an old, worn-out commercial paint job can send the wrong message to prospective customers. If you can't take the time to keep up your property's appearance, why would a customer spend their hard-earned money on your products?
The same goes for your businesses' interior paint. Would you want to do business with a company that has peeling paint or unsightly crown molding? At Shield's Painting, our goal is to create a beautiful environment that your customers and employees will love inside and out. When you work with our business painters, you can rest easy knowing we treat your business like it were our own. We always clean up after ourselves and know that operations cannot come to a halt just because we're painting. As such, we'll work with your busy schedule to ensure the job gets done right the first time without disrupting your day-to-day commitments.
With decades of commercial painting experience, we know the demands of a commercial painting project necessitate a disciplined and focused approach from the start. Our team of business painters is committed to delivering quality, on-time results on every project, every time - no excuses
We offer professional business painting services to a variety of building types, including:
01
Industrial Painting
A high level of care and finesse are required to effectively paint an industrial property. At Shields Painting, we know that industrial paint jobs involve much more than aesthetics. That's why our industrial services are customized to your specifications, using industrial-grade materials that stand up to heavy-duty operations.
02
Retail Store Painting
Our commercial painters apply effective, yet appealing interior and exterior paint that stand up to the daily rigors of busy retail environments.
03
Small Business Painting
Do you own a restaurant franchise? Have a small "mom and pop" location that needs a fresh coat of paint? Shields Painting has the resources and reliability to efficiently get the job done the first time. That way, you can focus on serving your customers, not having your business repainted.
04
Healthcare Location Painting
From walk-in clinics to long-term care facilities, Shields Painting is sensitive to your patients' needs. We know you must protect your patient's privacy while maintaining productivity. Our approach to healthcare location painting centers around your schedule to avoid disruptions in care.
05
Apartment Complex Painting
Erase signs of wear and make your apartment complex or multi-family building a more desirable place to live with a stunning, professional paint job.
Florida's Most Trusted Painting Contractor
Shields Painting has been in the business since 1968. In a world where so much has changed, we are proud to uphold the ideals that make us successful: hard, honest work, getting the job done right, and excellent customer service. Providing you with trustworthy, quality work will always take priority over rushing through a project to serve the next customer. That is just not the way we choose to do business.
As professionals dedicated to perfection, we strive to provide a unique painting experience for every customer - one that focuses on their needs and desires instead of our own. Whether you need residential painting for your home or commercial painting for your business, we encourage you to reach out today to speak with our customer service team. Whether you have big ideas about a new paint project or need our expertise and guidance, we look forward to hearing from you soon.
352-212-1533Free Consultation
Latest News in Wiscon, FL
Badgers volleyball mounts epic comeback for revenge road win against Florida
Dylan Goldmanhttps://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2023/09/badgers-volleyball-mounts-epic-comeback-for-revenge-road-win-against-florida
The No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers traveled down to Gainesville, Florida, and earned a 3-2 win against the No. 3 Florida Gators in what proved to be their most pulsating victory yet.Wisconsin has faced plenty of tests this season, but they have not pushed as hard as they did Sunday afternoon. The Gators, who defeated Wisconsin in another five-set thriller last year at the Kohl Center, had the Badgers on the ropes quickly. The first set was initially close with the scoreboard showing a tie of 10-10. Florida took the lead on the next point and...
The No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers traveled down to Gainesville, Florida, and earned a 3-2 win against the No. 3 Florida Gators in what proved to be their most pulsating victory yet.
Wisconsin has faced plenty of tests this season, but they have not pushed as hard as they did Sunday afternoon. The Gators, who defeated Wisconsin in another five-set thriller last year at the Kohl Center, had the Badgers on the ropes quickly. The first set was initially close with the scoreboard showing a tie of 10-10. Florida took the lead on the next point and never looked back. They secured the first set 25-15, condemning the Badgers to a sort of lopsided defeat they are not used to seeing.
The second set was more closely contested. Wisconsin trailed 23-22 but handed the second game to the Gators courtesy of two attack errors. Facing a 2-0 hole, Wisconsin was dangerously close to suffering their first loss of the season.
Similar to previous games against SEC opponents Arkansas and Tennessee, the Badgers had a response.
Determined to at least avoid a sweep, Wisconsin started the third set with a commanding 14-4 advantage. Florida cut the lead to three, but it was too late as Wisconsin reached match point and won the third set with a kill from Anna Smrek, who ended with a team-high 16 kills.
The fourth set was more competitive, and the Badgers reached match point with the score reading 24-20. A service error from CC Crawford and an error from Smrek closed the gap to 24-22. However, Smrek immediately made up for her mistake and registered another set-ending kill to bring the Badgers into a winner-take-all fifth set.
Wisconsin trailed 10-8 in the fifth set, but their championship mettle kicked in. The Badgers went on a 5-0 run to take a 13-10 lead. Another kill from Smrek would later give Wisconsin a 14-11 lead, setting up match point. The Gators used a kill and an ace to make Badger fans nervous, but the Badgers triumphed for a reverse sweep comeback.
Inevitably, Smrek was there once again with the clutch kill to end the set and match, giving Wisconsin arguably their most exciting win to date this season. The Badgers came back from 0-2 for the first time since 2018 and avenged last season’s loss to the Gators, who they were 1-6 against all-time before today.
Wisconsin now has five ranked wins to their credit before Big Ten play starts this week.
Coach Kelly Sheffield was pleased with his team’s resilience, saying after the game, “We gotta keep getting better. It's an important win, on the road. Being able to come in and [the] whole place is against you. Battling back when you're not playing well and playing a cleaner version of the game,” he said after Saturday’s match. “Defensively, they are really good. Mentally they can really get to you. Real credit to our players. We battled and we fought. Most of the match was played in the mud.”
The Badgers had a tough slate of non-conference games, but the real gauntlet begins with the start of their Big Ten schedule. They will kick off the conference season with a trip to Evanston to face Northwestern on Friday night at 7 p.m.
Florida names Graham Mertz starting QB: Wisconsin transfer given offensive reins for season opener vs. Utah
Will Backushttps://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/florida-names-graham-mertz-starting-qb-wisconsin-transfer-given-offensive-reins-for-season-opener-vs-utah/
Gainesville Sun Florida coach Billy Napier named Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz his team's starting quarterback for the 2023 season. Mertz, who joined the Gators ahead of spring practice, was Florida's expected starter given his wealth of experience at the power conference level.Napier's decision comes just a day after Florida held its first scrimmage of the fall camp slate."I think the big thing I've been impressed with is just his ability to come in and learn the system, translate what he knows and apply that to...
Gainesville Sun
Florida coach Billy Napier named Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz his team's starting quarterback for the 2023 season. Mertz, who joined the Gators ahead of spring practice, was Florida's expected starter given his wealth of experience at the power conference level.
Napier's decision comes just a day after Florida held its first scrimmage of the fall camp slate.
"I think the big thing I've been impressed with is just his ability to come in and learn the system, translate what he knows and apply that to our system," Napier said in a statement. "And then just, you know, relentless in approach. Probably's worked as hard as any player on our team. Probably as hard as a lot of players that I've been around, you know, in terms of the unseen hours, right? Those are what I'm talking about specifically, and the self-discipline, to have a system, a process, a routine, to work, to connect with players, ask very intelligent questions, and is anticipating problems, right.
"So, Graham's done a great job and he's worked from the minute he pulled up in the parking lot until, you know, just a while ago, he's continued to work to improve, so been very pleased in that regard," Napier continued. "The level of professionalism here that I think is respected."
Mertz beat out another former Big Ten transfer in Jack Miller III, who joined Florida ahead of the 2022 season after two years at Ohio State. Miller even had starting experience for the Gators, as he was first off the bench in their Las Vegas Bowl loss to Oregon State.
What Mertz brings to the table
Mertz got his first taste of Florida football in the Blue and Orange Game, which closed the Gators' spring practice slate. He completed 18 of his 29 pass attempts for 244 yards and one touchdown, leading the Orange Team to a 10-7 win.
He started slow, posting only 10 of those yards in the first quarter, but threw for 136 in the second frame.
The highlight of Mertz's game is his experience. Few quarterbacks in the 2023 transfer cycle were as battle-tested. He started every single regular season game at Wisconsin over the past three years and finished his career tied for the sixth-most starts in program history (32). His 19 wins as a starter ranked eighth all time among Wisconsin quarterbacks.
He also became just the eighth Wisconsin QB to eclipse 5,000 career passing yards. His 13 passing touchdowns in Big Ten play were the most by a Badger in Big Ten play since 2017. Mertz's biggest struggle has been taking care of the ball. He has thrown an average of 14.5 touchdown passes to 10.5 interceptions over the last two years.
His 159 passing yards per game for his career leave a lot to be desired as well. Mertz had at least 2,000 passing yards in a single season just once in his four years with the Badgers.
Florida opens the 2023 season with a huge challenge as it hits the road Aug. 31 to play reigning Pac-12 champion Utah.
Gators Put Up Valiant Effort, Fall to No. 1 Wisconsin in Five
Katie Callahanhttps://floridagators.com/news/2023/9/17/volleyball-gators-put-up-valiant-effort-fall-to-no-1-wisconsin-in-five.aspx
Box ScoreGAINESVILLE, Fla. – The third-ranked Florida volleyball fell in a tightly-contested five-set match to the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday.Florida set a new program record on Sunday, with 10,323 fans in the stands of the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. That is not only a O'Dome record, but also is the highest-attended match hosted by an SEC school all-time. It is also the highest attendance for an on-campus volley...
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The third-ranked Florida volleyball fell in a tightly-contested five-set match to the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday.
Florida set a new program record on Sunday, with 10,323 fans in the stands of the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. That is not only a O'Dome record, but also is the highest-attended match hosted by an SEC school all-time. It is also the highest attendance for an on-campus volleyball match in the state of Florida.
Florida finishes the non-conference schedule with an 8-1 record, while Wisconsin moves to 9-0 on the season.
The Gators won the first frame 25-15, then followed with a hard-fought 25-22 victory in the second to take the 2-0 lead. Wisconsin answered with a 25-21 win in the third and then a 25-22 victory in the fourth to force a winner-take-all fifth set. The Badgers won the hard fought fifth set 15-13 to clinch the match.
Florida's offensive attack was evenly spread in the match, with Kennedy Martin posting a team-high 13 kills. She was followed by AC Fitzpatrick and Nnedi Okammor, who each pitched in 11. That mark was a career-high for Okammor in her senior season.
Sofia Victoria and Anna Dixon registered nine kills apiece on night.
After Alexis Stucky went down in the second set due to injury after dishing out 17 assists, Kennedy Muff entered and finished the match with 28 helpers.
Florida tallied eight blocks in the match, led by Nnedi Okammor's five. Martin added four in the five-setter, while Dixon posted three.
Trinity Adams paced the backcourt defense with a career-high 17 digs on the night, followed by Elli McKissock's 16. Martin grabbed her second double-double of the year with 12 digs, while Emily Canaan and Muff registered eight and seven, respectively.
McKissock registered a team-high three service aces from behind the line to lead the Gators.
The Gators rounded out their non-conference play against the Badgers and begin Southeastern Conference matches on Thursday with a trip to No. 24 Auburn. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network +.
Records No. 3 Florida (8-1) No. 1 Wisconsin (9-0) How It Happened
Notables
Attendance Record Chart
All-Time Top 10 O'Connell Center Volleyball Crowds | ||
9/17/23 | 10,323 | |
10/14/94 | 8,163 | |
8/25/17 | 7,523 | |
10/15/04 | 6,311 | |
9/4/94 | 6,204 | |
11/9/93 | 6,132 | |
9/10/10 | 6,022 | |
10/12/01 | 5,831 | |
10/13/06 | 5,722 | |
9/4/19 | 5,665 |
*Bolded matches were after the O'Connell Center renovation in 2016
Thoughts from Coach Wise
Up Next
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Badgers take a bite out of the No. 3 Gators
Wisconsin Badgershttps://uwbadgers.com/news/2023/9/17/volleyball-badgers-come-out-of-the-swamp-still-perfect.aspx
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It's been a year of comebacks for the No. 1 Wisconsin volleyball team. The Badgers (9-0) did again on Sunday, fighting back from a 0-2 deficit in the match to beat No. 3 Florida in a reverse sweep, 15-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13. Even more impressive was that UW did it in front of a Florida program record crowd of 10,323 at the Stephen O'Connell Center.After dropping the first set 25-15, UW improved in the second set but fell behind 2-0 in the match. It was a must-win situation from here on out as Wiscon...
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It's been a year of comebacks for the No. 1 Wisconsin volleyball team. The Badgers (9-0) did again on Sunday, fighting back from a 0-2 deficit in the match to beat No. 3 Florida in a reverse sweep, 15-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13. Even more impressive was that UW did it in front of a Florida program record crowd of 10,323 at the Stephen O'Connell Center.
After dropping the first set 25-15, UW improved in the second set but fell behind 2-0 in the match. It was a must-win situation from here on out as Wisconsin. The Badgers carried over the momentum they built late in the second set to take a 13-4 lead in the third set. Florida held off two Badger set points but couldn't stop the balanced UW offensive attack that hit .406 in the period.
Wisconsin led for most of set four but it wasn't until a 3-0 run put the Badgers up 16-11, a lead they wouldn't relinquish to force a decisive fifth frame.
Set five was highlighted by seven ties and four lead changes. Wisconsin broke a 10-10 tie with a 3-0 run behind the serve MJ Hammill. A kill from Franklin and an ace from Hammill forced a Florida timeout at 13-10. Florida sided out but the Badgers got it right back with a kill from Smrek to make it 14-11. The Gators held off two match points but Smrek, who had four of the Badgers' eight kills in the set, had a kill for point, set and match.
Smrek finished with a match-high 16 kills while Sarah Franklin and Devyn Robinson added 13 and 10 kills, respectively. As a team, Wisconsin hit .199 (56 kills - 23 errors - 166 attempts). The Gators finished the match, hitting .180 (57 - 27 - 167). Kennedy Martin led Florida with 13 kills at the outside.
Setters Izzy Ashburn and MJ Hammill both recorded double-doubles as Ashburn had 16 assists and 13 digs, and Hammill recorded 20 assists and 17 digs.
Julia Orzol tallied 13 digs, making that her eighth match this season with 10-plus digs. Franklin also added 10 digs to complete a double-double, along with her 13 kills. Additionally, Gulce Guctekin put up 14 digs.
Wisconsin was edged by Florida, 74-70, in digs while both teams had eight blocks. Booth led all blockers with six blocks while Smrek contributed five.
The Gators outscored the Badgers from the service line, 7-4 in service aces. Hammill led UW with two aces.
Head coach Kelly Sheffield
On the match, overall: "We just kind of grinded. I thought GG came in and gave us a real lift. Her and Sarah and Julia really handled the serves really well. We just battled and fought."
On Anna Smrek: "It was big. Hitting quicks, hitting in system, hitting out of system…she got a little bit antsy on a couple of balls. Overall she's managing her game at more."
On what this win means: "We gotta keep getting better. It's an important win, on the orad. Being able to come in and whole place is against you. Battling back when you're not playing well and playing a cleaner version of the game. Defensively, they are really good. They have an army of DS's… mentally they can really get to you. Real credit to our players. We battled and we fought. Most of the match was played in the mud."
Wisconsin opens Big Ten Conference play next weekend as it travels to Northwestern on Friday. First serve is at 7 p.m. from Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois. The Badgers open conference home action on Sunday when Indiana comes to the UW Field House for a 1 p.m. first serve. Both matches will be available on B1G+.
Florida bound: LSU receives New Year’s Day matchup with Wisconsin in ReliaQuest Bowl
Tiger Raghttps://www.tigerrag.com/florida-bound-lsu-receives-new-years-day-matchup-with-wisconsin-in-reliaquest-bowl/
LSU finds itself with another Florida destination to end its season.A year after defeating Purdue in last year’s Citrus Bowl, the No. 13 ranked Tigers (9-3) are matched against unranked Wisconsin (7-5) in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Raymond James Stadium at 11 a.m. Jan. 1.The game will be televised by ESPN2.“A SEC-Big Ten matchup always creates a lot of excitement, but facing a Wisconsin team led by a great coach in Luke Fickell makes this bowl game even more attractive,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said in a univ...
LSU finds itself with another Florida destination to end its season.
A year after defeating Purdue in last year’s Citrus Bowl, the No. 13 ranked Tigers (9-3) are matched against unranked Wisconsin (7-5) in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Raymond James Stadium at 11 a.m. Jan. 1.
The game will be televised by ESPN2.
“A SEC-Big Ten matchup always creates a lot of excitement, but facing a Wisconsin team led by a great coach in Luke Fickell makes this bowl game even more attractive,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said in a university release. “Wisconsin has a great tradition with a tremendous fan base. I know both teams are excited to be in Tampa during New Year’s to play in the ReliaQuest Bowl.”
LSU takes plenty of momentum into its contest with Wisconsin of the Big 10 Conference. The Tigers reeled off six wins in their last seven games, suffering only a 42-28 defeat to Southeastern Conference champion Alabama, which will take part in the College Football Playoff.
LSU’s previous history in the ReliaQuest Bowl was when the game was formerly known as the Outback Bowl. The Tigers defeated Iowa, 21-14, in 2014. The two programs have never met in the postseason.
This marks Wisconsin’s seventh appearance in the game (including Outback Bowl) and are 2-4 in the event.
“We are excited for the opportunity to showcase our football program and represent our university in the ReliaQuest Bowl,” LSU athletic director Scott Woodward said in a university release. “Our student-athletes, staff, and fans will enjoy the chance to travel to Tampa and compete in a New Year’s Day bowl against another program with great tradition and support.”
LSU finished were third in the SEC’s West Division behind Alabama and Ole Miss behind on the nation’s top offenses led by Heisman Trophy candidate, quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Daniels was noncommittal about playing in the team’s bowl game after LSU defeated Texas A&M, 42-30, in the regular season finale on Nov. 25. He was the nation’s leader through 12 games in total offense (412.2), having completed 236 of 327 passes (72.2%) for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns to go with a team-high 1,134 rushing yards and 10 TDs.
“I’ve got to make some decisions,” Daniels said after the game. “I’m going to go and sit down with my family and kind of embrace this moment. My last regular season game and we’ll just go from there.”
Junior wide receiver Malik Nabers kept the door open for such an appearance. He’s a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award with 86 receptions with 1,546 yards and 14 TDs.
“I really want to play,” Nabers said after the A&M game. “It’s a decision I’m going to have to look into to play. A lot of people don’t come across this (career yardage) record to break. Being the competitor that I am, being the dog that I am, I want to set myself in history. I want to leave my name at the No. 1 spot as many times as I can.”
Wisconsin was 7-5 and 5-4 in Big 10 play in its first season under coach Luke Fickell. The Badgers have won their past three bowl games and eight of their last nine.
Wisconsin began with a 4-1 record before stumbling a bit in the middle of the season with three straight losses. They wound up with a two-game winning streak over Nebraska (24-17) and Minnesota (28-14) to end the regular season and become bowl eligible.
Sixth-year senior quarterback Tanner Mordecai, an SMU transfer, led Wisconsin’s offense to 22.83 points and 370.1 yards per game. He threw for 1,687 yards on 177 carries with six touchdowns. The Badgers will be without their top running back Braelon Allen (181-984 yards, 12 TDs) who announced his intentions to skip in senior year and enter the NFL Draft.
Junior safety Hunter Wohler was the leading tackler from a unit that allowed 18.92 points and 331.4 yards per game. He had 113 tackles with 4 ½ tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions, four pass breakups and four quarterback hurries.
LSU last faced Wisconsin in the 2016 season opener at Green Bay’s famed Lambeau Field where the Tigers lost, 16-14.
“We’re extremely excited to be playing in the ReliaQuest Bowl, Fickell said. “It’s a great opportunity for our young men who have battled throughout this season and to get closure for what they have done, not just for our seniors but for our entire program. We’re really excited about coming to Tampa for a great bowl game.”