The Wisconsin Badgers had an eventful 2012. They lost four conference games by 16 total points, won their third consecutive Big Ten championship despite finishing the regular season 7-5, watched their coach leave for Arkansas 24 hours after telling his team he wasn't going anywhere, almost won the Rose Bowl with their athletic director coaching the team, graduated the all-time FBS rushing touchdown leader, hired a guy from Utah State to take over, transitioned to a 3-4 defense and opened a brand new quarterback controversy. All in a year's work in Mad Town.
Wisconsin football schedule 2013: Opponents, game dates and more
The Badgers break in their new coach with a schedule that could well get them to a fourth straight Rose Bowl.
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2013 Wisconsin schedule
Projections from Football Outsiders’ 2013 college football almanac.
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New coach Gary Andersen gets a present from the Big Ten: A plush new schedule, wrapped with a bow. Wisconsin has one more season as the outlying western team in the Big Ten Leaders division, which means Ohio State and Penn State stay on the schedule. However, the Badgers avoid Legends division behemoths Michigan, Nebraska, and Michigan State. Their rivalry with Iowa, dormant since division play started in 2011, renews this year with the Hawkeyes at their lowest point in more than ten years. And the remainder of the Badgers’ conference schedule -- Leaders also-rans Purdue, Indiana and Illinois, and protected cross-divisional rival Minnesota -- do not appear formidable.
In non-conference play, Wisconsin gets two west coast matchups, a September trip to Arizona State and a home date with BYU in November. Last year’s Pac-12 road trip, a 10-7 loss to Oregon State, did not go as planned for the Badgers, but Wisconsin’s record on long non-conference trips has been surprisingly good; until last year’s defeat, Wisconsin had won its last five regular season games in the Pacific Time Zone (the Rose Bowl, of course, is another story).
With Penn State in year two of its postseason ban, Indiana still likely a year away from contending, and the remainder of the division in perpetual rebuild, the final Leaders division title could be decided on September 28, when the Badgers go to the Horseshoe. If Andersen is going to pick up where Bielema left off and take Wisconsin to Pasadena a fourth consecutive time, he’s going to have to win in the toughest environment the conference has to offer. Welcome to the Big Ten, sir.
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Projections from Football Outsiders’ 2013 college football almanac.
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