Badgers Tweak '08 Schedule

The Badgers have often been criticized in the past for having schedules that were considered soft. They've often scheduled cupcake teams like Bowling Green, Akron, and Northern Illinois to come into Camp Randall so they'd be able to profit from an additional home game. By scheduling teams they could easily beat, they also improved their chances at heading to another lucrative bowl game (I guess we can't forget the occasional trip to UNLV so the alumni can go to Vegas for a weekend). Their scheduling history is why I was surprised to see Virginia Tech was actually on the schedule at one point for the 2008 season.

The game was originally scheduled for September 20th as a part of a home and home with Virginia Tech over the next two years. The game was also scheduled before the Badgers were set to begin a difficult six week stretch which included Michigan and Ohio State in consecutive weeks. Barry Alvarez and the gang decided to postpone this home and home all the way until 2016 and 2017.

So what will replace the Va. Tech game as the Badgers 12th game? Buy your tickets now folks, because the November 22nd matchup against Cal Poly is still to be one that will rock Camp Randall (this game has "Exclusively on the Big Ten Network!" written all over it). Cal Poly, by the way, is a representative of the Great West Conference, and the illustrious Football Championship Subdivision.

Here's a look at the Badgers schedule now for the 2008 season:

8-30 AKRON
9-6 MARSHALL
9-13 at Fresno State
9-27 at Michigan
10-4 OHIO STATE
10-11 PENN STATE
10-18 at Iowa
10-25 ILLINOIS
11-1 at Michigan State
11-8 at Indiana
11-15 MINNESOTA
11-22 CAL POLY

Admittedly, that is a tough stretch of Big Ten games, but as a fan, it's disappointing they once again won't have a meaningful non-conference game until the Bowl Season.

(By the way, future schedules for the Wisconsin Badgers can be found here.)