The UW football team finalized its 2008 schedule by replacing the previously scheduled game against Virginia Tech with an end-of-season battle against... wait for it... Cal Poly.
So while the best of the Big 12 and SEC are solidifying their BCS arguments with tough conference games, the Badgers will be trying to prevent Cal Poly from becoming the next Appalachian State when they meet Nov. 22.
In Bret Bielema's defense, if he hadn't moved the Virginia Tech home-and-home series to 2016 and 2017, UW would be playing road games at Fresno State, Michigan and Iowa and hosting Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Penn State and Illinois in the hardest seven-week stretch in the history of football.
Instead, the Badgers get a bye-week before an already tough five-week stretch at the start of the Big Ten season, and the addition of a game at the end of the season will shorten the layoff between the regular season and bowl game.
Still, what is there to gain by playing Cal Poly? The Badgers will already have a good inkling of their postseason fate and will do their best to avoid injuries - i.e. you won't see the starters past halftime. But that's assuming they are winning.
Cal Poly is one of the better Football Championship Series (Division I-AA) teams. Its offense (487.1 yards per game) was only second to Appalachian State (488.3 ypg) last season, and it will return all but one starter on offense next season.
This is that game where the Badgers have nothing to gain and everything to lose. If they win, no one will notice because Cal Poly isn't even a Division I-A school.
If they lose, the Badgers might drop from the top 10 all the way out of the rankings. And the loss would certainly dash any BCS hopes Wisconsin had, unless, of course, the Badgers have already won the Big Ten, which would be possible.
But then there is the issue of the fans. If the student section is more than 75 percent full for any part of this game, then I will take this column and pee on it. Meanwhile, the students are being invited to online surveys asking for ideas on how to get the students to the games on time.
I have an idea: Play Virginia Tech, not Cal Poly.
Combine coverage draws yawns
Congratulations to the NFL Scouting Combine, which has now replaced the WNBA All-Star Game as the most pointless sporting event nobody cares about. Are people really that naive to think that because a guy ran a 4.52 instead of a 4.48 he will drop two rounds? God forbid a first-round draft pick got an 18 on his Wonderlic test.
I see the point of using the combine to rank the players in each position, but I really don't need to hear Todd McShay talk every 10 minutes on SportsCenter. At least give me Mel Kiper Jr. Who doesn't enjoy looking at Kiper's mane?
Now, the combine actually does have its benefits. Guys like former UW wide receiver Paul Hubbard can really help themselves by showing up and having a good weekend. Unfortunately, Hubbard dropped more passes this weekend than Hanon in The Little Giants.""
Come on Paul, just pretend the ball is a giant roll of toilet paper. It can't be that hard.
I wasn't shocked to hear that some of the Indiana players boycotted practice Friday before the school announced it was firing Kelvin Sampson. I was surprised, however, to hear that they were reportedly upset that assistant Dan Dakich would take over as interim head coach instead of assistant Ray McCallum, who recruited many of the players.
Let's go over that last sentence. McCALLUM RECRUITED MANY OF THE PLAYERS. He recruited them.
If athletic director Rick Greenspan had let the guy who did most of the recruiting take over for the guy who was being fired for recruiting violations, then he might as well have brought a box back to his office after the press conference and started Googling ""any job that doesn't have to do with sports administration.""
McCallum might not have done anything wrong, but you can't let him take over. Then again, Greenspan hired Sampson, so anything is possible.
If you plan on arriving at the Cal Poly game 45 minutes before kickoff or if you would like to call some recruits, e-mail Adam at hoge@wisc.edu.
