Eight days have passed since the Wisconsin Badgers fell to the now-No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship game. However, UW (10-3) found itself in a third New Year's Six Bowl in four seasons when it was announced that head coach Paul Chryst and his program would play No. 6 Oregon (11-2) in the 106th edition of the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1.

BadgerBlitz.com will provide much more coverage of "The Granddaddy of Them All" in the coming weeks, but for now, editor/recruiting analyst Jon McNamara, senior writer Jake Kocorowski and staff writer Asher Low reconvened to discuss what transpired the first 13 games of the 2019 season.

Below is the fourth of a handful of questions answered that will be published in the coming days. Be sure to check out the previous roundtable discussions as well:

Grading Wisconsin's 2019 season through 13 games | Highest point of the 2019 season through 13 games | Lowest point of the 2019 season through 13 games |

McNamara: The biggest surprise of the season happened during fall camp when Quintez Cephus, who missed all of 2018 due to suspension, returned to the Badgers. In early August, head coach Paul Chryst said he "absolutely would" welcome the junior wide receiver back to the program. Days later, players joined Cephus at a press conference downtown to show their support. And on Aug. 19, Cephus was reinstated as a student and returned to practice. It was a quite a turn of events for Cephus, who leads the Badgers in receptions (52), receiving yards (842) and receiving touchdowns (six) heading into the Rose Bowl.

Kocorowski: There could be a few -- quarterback Jack Coan's emergence or wide receiver Quintez Cephus returning and making a huge impact in the passing game to help balance the offense.

I’m going with true freshman Keeanu Benton. The loss of sophomore Bryson Williams -- who only played in six games in 2019 -- at nose tackle could have been devastating for a unit that was thin at that position. However, Benton stepped up and played in 12 of the 13 games with six starts. He finished with four tackles for loss and a couple of sacks -- both of the latter against Ohio State. PFF also graded him up as a 75.0 during the regular season -- good for sixth-best on the unit.

The Janesville Craig native very well could be on the path to making huge waves in the years to come.

Low: My biggest surprise of the season is a player who stepped up on the defensive side of the ball: Redshirt junior Eric Burrell, who, following Scott Nelson’s injury at USF, assumed a starting role alongside Reggie Pearson at safety. Burrell posted career highs in tackles (52), interceptions (three), forced fumbles (two) and recorded the first sack of his career. The Maryland native hit hard, forced turnovers and excelled in the Badgers' secondary.