With the Badgers set to close out their regular season Saturday at Minnesota, many fans are wondering where and when they should be booking their bowl plans.
The truth is, the Big Ten bowl situation is the most confusing in the country. Ten Big Ten teams are bowl eligible, and the parity in the middle of the conference makes it nearly impossible to pick a Purdue over an Indiana or an Iowa over a Northwestern and three teams (Ohio State, Michigan and Illinois) still have BCS hopes.
So where do the Badgers (4-3 Big Ten, 8-3 overall) stand?
Personally, I think it comes down to either the Outback Bowl in Tampa Jan. 1 or the Alamo Bowl Dec. 29 in San Antonio, and either of the two would be great. The Outback Bowl would mean a fourth-straight New Year's Day bowl - a record for a senior class that already set the school record for wins by a class (38-10) when they beat Michigan last week.
Personally, I'm pulling for the Alamo Bowl.
Shocking, right? Actually a lot of people might agree with me. Not many Badger fans have made the connection that the UW men's basketball team plays at Texas Dec. 29 - the same day as the Alamo Bowl. According to MapQuest.com, Austin, Texas and San Antonio are exactly one hour and 18 minutes away from each other. The basketball game is at 11 a.m. The football game is at 7 p.m. Sounds like another opportunity for Badger nation to invade a foreign territory. Unfortunately, UW only gets a limited number of tickets to road basketball games, but no one gets their hands on tickets like Wisconsin fans and the game is during winter break when fewer students will be around.
Now don't go thinking that head coach Bret Bielema is going to pass on a New Year's Day bowl game because Bo Ryan's squad is playing in Texas three days earlier, but the fact won't be lost on Alamo Bowl representatives who would love to cash in on an extra incentive for UW fans to travel.
Plus, a bid to Tampa is still a reach right now. Illinois' upset over Ohio State hurt UW's chances of landing the Outback, but there is still a chance the Big Ten could land two BCS teams which basically bumps the entire conference up one bowl game. OSU (6-1, 10-1) and Michigan (6-1, 8-3) will now play for the Rose Bowl Saturday. If the Wolverines can pull off the upset, it's likely the losing Buckeyes would still end up in a BCS bowl game.
That would most likely put the Illini (5-2, 8-3) in the Capital One Bowl and the Outback Bowl would pick between Wisconsin and Penn State (4-3, 8-3). Meanwhile, Illinois is actually still in the BCS picture. They need to be ranked in the top 14 to be BCS eligible and they are currently No. 19. It's a reach, but a possibility.
Personally, I think the Buckeyes will win Saturday and then Illinois won't crack the top 14. That puts Ohio State in Pasadena, and, assuming Illinois beats Northwestern, don't be surprised to see the Capital One Bowl take the Illini in a matchup that could pit Ron Zook up against his former team, the Florida Gators. Michigan would then take the Outback with one less conference loss than Wisconsin (although the Badgers could get the bid with a better overall record). Then there's no way the Alamo passes on the Badgers for Penn State with the basketball team in town on the same day only an hour away.
As for the opponent in that game? It will be a Big 12 team but two Wisconsin-Texas matchups in one day are not likely with the Big 12 set to send two teams to the BCS. Kansas and Missouri would both have to collapse late and Texas would have to fall at Texas A&M Nov. 23. It would be a great day for Badgers and Longhorns fans, but I don't think it will happen.
Tampa was great three years ago, but I'm sick of spending New Year's in Florida. Remember the Alamo (a 31-28 overtime win over Colorado in 2002) and remember that fans can give the basketball team a huge boost in Austin on the same day in what will be a tough game.
If would like to help Adam lobby for an All Wisconsin-Texas day"" on Dec. 29, e-mail him at hoge@wisc.edu.