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That might have made Friday’s announcement more palatable for Wisconsin followers.
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Bret Bielema |
But the news that California Polytechnic State University, located in San Luis Obispo, Calif., will fill the final opening in the Badgers’ 2008 football season Nov. 22 at Camp Randall Stadium? Puh-lease.
That’s not what Badgers fans, who have grown weary in recent years of a stream of home dates with no-name opponents — Buffalo, The Citadel and Western Illinois, to name three — wanted to hear.
Still, when Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema decided to keep open the Sept. 20 date, the week before the start of Big Ten Conference play, the Badgers didn’t have a lot of options.
Wisconsin opens Big Ten play at Michigan Sept. 27, then is home against Ohio State and Penn State the next two weeks, before traveling to Iowa. There also is a tough road non-conference game at Fresno State Sept. 13.
“It was the No. 1 priority,” Bielema said of keeping the Sept. 20 date open. “If we hadn’t done that, we would have been the only school in the Big Ten Conference that didn’t have a bye week. I felt that really would have put us at an extreme disadvantage.”
The Badgers were actually juggling three dates, after Akron, which opens the season at UW Aug. 30, tried to get out of that game.
“They basically told us they weren’t going to play us at one point,” Bielema said.
Akron ended up with more contracts for games than open dates, Bielema said, although the situation was resolved and that game was kept.
Wisconsin contacted more than 20 schools from other Bowl Championship Series conferences with mutual open dates.
“We tried to find some BCS schools, but we still have to be fair to our kids,” UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said. “To fit somebody in that (Sept. 20) date, before that run of conference games, wouldn’t be fair to our kids.”
UW is the first Big Ten team to start conference play against Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, since the Nittany Lions joined the conference in 1993. Six of the first seven conference games are against 2007 bowl teams, also including Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana.
That tough schedule is why, one of the first things Bielema did after becoming coach prior to the 2006 season was get out of a scheduled game against Virginia Tech, which created the Sept. 20 opening.
“That game was scheduled, I believe, before they released the Big Ten schedules, that was made so far in advance,” Bielema said. “Obviously, the way the season opens up for us in Big Ten play this year was a huge factor in trying to get out of that game.”
The good news, with all the calling the Badgers did over the last six months, they may have found some future opponents.
“There is some interest with other schools to do home-and-homes, which is very appealing for me,” Bielema said.
The Badgers apparently had worked out a deal, in principal, to play Texas-El Paso Nov. 22, but Conference USA didn’t want one of its teams playing that late in the season.
Cal Poly, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision, will be playing its first game against a BCS school. It is 2-5 against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents under current coach Rich Ellerson, losing to San Jose State 17-7 and beating San Diego State 16-14 in 2006 in the most recent meetings.
“Obviously, any time you play a team that’s I-AA or whatever subdivision you want to call it, there’s going to be some adverse reaction,” Bielema said. “There’s only one on our schedule and they’re very, very talented. They’re in the top 20 at that level, actually the second-leading offense in the country last year next to the national champions (Appalachian State). I hope (fans) can understand and appreciate what we’re trying to do, from a scheduling standpoint, especially with the bye week (before Big Ten play).”
Bielema does not believe his team’s non-conference schedule, which includes Marshall as the other home opponent Sept. 6, will adversely affect next season’s team in terms of rankings or BCS opportunities.
“Not at all,” Bielema said. “My guess is we’ll probably be in the top half of the Big Ten (in strength of schedule), the teams we’re playing within our (conference) schedule, then, obviously, with Fresno State being a bowl winner from a year ago. Fresno State will probably be a top-25 team coming out (next season).”
