Badgers, The BCS, And A Canadian Hottie » Brats & Beer

November 15, 2006
posted under: Badgers football, BCS, Elisha Cuthbert, polls

In his column today, ESPN’s Rod Gilmore describes the Wisconsin Badgers as “the girl next door” and argues this is why they won’t get invited to a BCS bowl game this year. Mr. Gilmore apparently has never seen the film The Girl Next Door, because I’m pretty sure the BCS would totally invite a Canadian hottie like Elisha Cuthbert to the party. (Provided of course she leaves her boyfriend Sean Avery at home. What a goon.)

His point, I think, has something to do with the fact that UW didn’t play Ohio State this year and they had a weak non-conference schedule. I think that’s his point because the column is subscription only, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to give the Worldwide Leader any more of my hard-earned cash; they already take $3 out of my cable bill, that’s way more than enough.

But the whole thing about Wisconsin’s weak schedule isn’t a new idea, and it has been expounded upon in many other places. (Check out ESK’s post at The Wisconsin Sports Bar for a good analysis of UW’s legacy of scheduling problems.) I’ll grant that the Badgers haven’t had the sexiest schedule in Division I-A football, but at the same time I don’t see that huge of a difference between UW’s opponents and those of other one-loss teams.

West Virginia, who are ranked just above the Badgers in the BCS at #8, did beat a good Maryland team, but they also played two middle-of-the-road teams from Conference USA (East Carolina and Marshall), Eastern Washington from the Big Sky, and a suck-ass Mississippi State team. Arkansas, #7 in the BCS, played — and got killed by — #3 USC, but filled out their non-conference schedule with Louisiana-Monroe (2-7, Sun Belt), Utah State (1-9, WAC), and SE Missouri State, whatever the hell that is. And then there’s #4 Florida, who just barely survived South Carolina this past weekend. They played a slumping Florida State, two also-rans in C-USA, and face Division I-AA Western Carolina this weekend.

Debates about strength of schedule aside, the real thing that’s holding UW back in the BCS is the BCS itself. The winner of the Ohio State – Michigan game will play for the national championship and the loser will go to the Rose Bowl, and by virtue of the rules that say no conference can have two teams playing in BCS bowls that are not the national championship, that leaves the Badgers out of the picture no matter how high they are ranked. Of course, beating Michigan when they had a chance would have helped.

Having said all that, I am in full agreement that Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema should schedule some better-quality non-conference opponents. Since the Badgers appear to be headed for their second Capitol One Bowl, maybe an annual game against the SEC would be in order. Or maybe they should play someone from the Big 12, seeing as how that Ohio State – Texas thing gets so much attention. It couldn’t hurt.

Neither could inviting Elisha Cuthbert to your party.