Hello Sports Friends,

I'm a college football fan among all the sports I like and recently I  checked out the schedule for Wisconsin and Texas my two favorite college football programs. In this blog I'll specifically talk about Wisconsin's schedule.

I wish the Badgers would play a better nonconference schedule. Traditionally they have played a lot of weaker teams and it has come back to haunt them a lot of times like last year when they had only one loss all season 27-13 to Michigan,  they didn't play Ohio State and because they didn't play anybody of note in the regular season they were left out when it came to the BCS because only two teams can get in to those bowl games from each conference. Ironically Wisconsin finished in a better position at the end of the bowl season than Michigan who lost their last two games to Ohio State and the Rose Bowl to USC and previously unbeaten  Ohio State who beat Michigan but got clobbered by Florida in the BCS national championship game 41-14.  Wisconsin finished 12-1 after beating Arkansas in the Orlando Bowl on New Years Day.

Anyway as I said Wisconsin never plays anybody in the Top 25 traditionally for some reason in their non conference schedule and sometimes it's come back to hurt them either when they haven't had quality wins or a few times they've even been upset in recent years by teams like Fresno State or Cincinatti in recent years. I would enjoy the challenge of seeing them play somebody tougher and it might help them in the mind of the voters especially if they win.This year they play Washington State, UNLV, The Citadel and Northern Illinois. Since they are consistently a Top 25 program now shouldn't they play a better schedule?

Another thing I've wondered for a long time is why they don't play nearby Midwest and national rival Notre Dame. I looked it up recently and Notre Dame and Wisconsin haven't played each other in football since 1936! I would think since Wisconsin has been better since the Barry Alvarez era started in 1990 that they would have played each other especially since he came to the Badgers as a coach after being an assistant previously under then Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz staff. The two teams had a chance to meet in the 1996 Copper Bowl I remember in Arizona but Notre Dame wouldn't play in a small bowl game like that because of their status so Wisconsin ended up playing and beating Utah.

I don't understand why Notre Dame traditionally plays Big Ten teams Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue and has occasionaly played Ohio State, Penn State and even Illinois and Northwestern a couple times I think in recent years. But they can't seem to play other Big Ten schools like Indiana from their own state, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota among the rest of the Big Ten schools.I say fine Notre Dame don't join a conference and have a big tv contract with NBC but at least play some of the other Big Ten teams near their area especially one like Wisconsin which has been a Top 25 team in recent years. If anyone out there knows why Notre Dame hasn't played a team like Wisconsin I'd like to know because I've waited a long time to see that game and hopefully will see it in the near future.

One other thing about Wisconsin's schedule that's tough this year is that they have to play in November at Ohio State and then the next week at home vs Michigan the two weeks before Michigan plays Ohio State. Do you think those two teams will be fired up or looking past Wisconsin? I don't think so but we'll see what happens and If Wisconsin can get through that undefeated maybe they'll have a shot to play for the national championship one of these years. Hey at least Texas had the guts to schedule back to back games in consecuctive seasons  with powerful Ohio State and it helped to lead them on to the national championship which they won after beating USC in the Rose Bowl in the 2005 season.

So we'll see what happens and hope for the best this season. Best of luck to your teams this year and thanks for reading. Best wishes and have great and productive days friends.