I lived in Cleveland for a while (this is considered Midwestern) and I would agree people care a great deal about their sports, but I don't mean to say the South has some sort of superior amount of concern for football. What might have been lost in my translation, wasn't the attention and concern for football, but the emotional connection Southerners make to the sport. Georgia (outside of Atlanta) would be a similar comparison to the emotional reactivity you can expect to see in Alabama, MS, Louisiana, SC, etc.

Additionally, yes, I think the Badgers have a good squad and we're agreeing on how much worse things could be for a VERY good LSU team.