This weekend's bye may be a time for the Wisconsin football team to rest and recuperate, but it also gives the fans and students a break from the grind of football Saturdays. Badger supporters will now have an oppurtunty to sleep in, not worry about pre-game plans, and maybe even do something non-football related with their day.
But oh, what might have been.
You see, this Saturday could have been so much more for the Badgers. Up until 2005 they were scheduled to play the Virginia Tech Hokies. You know, the defending ACC champion, one of the top programs in the country over the last decade, that Virginia Tech.
This isn't an indictment of the Badgers schedule because it took a lot of guts to go to Fresno, and they earned some real credibility with the win.
But imagine for a moment the stretch the team would be in right now if they were to play the Hookies: at Fresno State, Virginia Tech, at Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State in five consecutive weeks. That's three of the best teams in college football history, one of the best mid-major teams in the country and a consistently very good team.
That is the kind of stretch that would elicit praise from the national media and, more importantly, the kind of stretch that could cause a shift in the Badgers' fortunes come bowl time.
Wisconsin football has achieved a rather consistent level of success, playing in four consecutive New Year's Day bowl games and finishing no lower than fourth in each of those seasons. Their best season in that span was 2006 when they went 12-1 but missed out on a BCS bowl because only two teams could go from each conference and both Michigan and Ohio State had better seasons.
To break out of this UW would have to get to a BCS, game meaning they need to win the conference outright or get an at-large berth in one of the games. And to get that berth the Badgers would need to lose fewer than three games (last season Illinois was the only three-loss team to get in without a conference title) and hope to be picked.
As it stands, winning all their games would almost assuredly send Wisconsin to the national title game. One loss probably means a BCS bowl and two defeats puts them on the fence.
Throwing a Virginia Tech-level team on the schedule would give a two-loss Wisconsin team a much better chance at that top-tier bowl. Last year LSU emerged from a slew of two-loss teams to go to the national title game, partially due to an early season win over these
same Hokies.
Furthermore, the hype that would be generated by this run could be very beneficial. Even if UW went just 3-2 in the five games, it would at least earn a fair amount of national respect.
These five weeks could have elevated the level of the program and helped them stand out. Beating Fresno on the road is an accomplishment, but why not go for more?
And all of that does not take into account the enjoyment the game could have brought to the fans. It would have been the highest profile, non-conference home game since at least 2003. Surely there is some value in getting all the fans fired up for a big match up with a powerful east coast team.
Instead of the Hokies, the athletic department could only get Cal Poly. According to reports, they tried for a better opponent but were more committed to having an open date before heading off to Ann Arbor.
So while you spend your Saturday doing whatever non-football related activity suits your fancy, stop for a moment and ponder what could have been.
Spending this Saturday going to the farmer's market or doing something else more productive then watching football? Tell Ben about it at breiner@wisc.edu.
