Wisconsin received a cold slap in the face in their loss to the Florida State Seminoles in the Champs Sports Bowl on December 27^th. There were two fumble returns for touchdowns.  That certainly killed the Badger hopes.  Florida State scored two touchdown passes but that only covers 28 of the 42 points they piled on.

The Badgers kept it close up until just after the first half.  Phillip Welch kicked a 41-yard field goal to put the Badgers within eight points.  Sadly, that was as close as Wisconsin got for the rest of the day.  Two rushing touchdowns by Florida put them up by twenty-two.

In the fourth quarter Dustin Sherer lost the ball as he was sacked at midfield.  Linebacker Dekoda Watson picked up the ball and ran it back for a touchdown, pushing the Florida lead to 29 points.  The fumble was one of two that the Seminoles ran back for touchdowns. 

Bobby Bowden notched his seventh win in Orlando bowl games.  This victory also marked the largest margin of victory for a post season appearance by Florida State.  Bowden is now second in bowl game victories.

The only highlight would be P.J. Hill's 150 yards of rushing for the day.  Dustin Sherer scored a passing touchdown with six minutes to go, but the outcome was already determined. 

The Wisconsin Badgers will be facing one of the better coaches in college football tomorrow night in Orlando.  Bobby Bowden's first bowl game was in 1977.  Since that game, he has led his Seminoles to twenty-nine more bowl apperances.  Of those, three were national championship fights. 

Bowden has struggled in the past eight years when compared to the lofty records his team has produced in the past.  This will also be Bowden's third year in a row where his team plays in a non-BCS game. 

Only one other active coach has more wins than Bowden.  Penn State's coach Joe Paterno has Bowden beat in win column.  Wisconsin will have fifteen returning starters on the field for the Champs Sports Bowl.  Those starters expected better things for their team.  At one point in the season, the Badgers wondered if they could put together a winning season at all. 

With the change at Quarterback, Wisconsin hoped to create the spark they needed.  The spark was snuffed out when Travis Beckum ended his season early with a broken leg.  Wisconsin was left to rely upon their run game.  Wisconsin managed to pull out a 7-5 record overall, and go 3-5 in the conference. 

Wisconsin is ranked higher than Florida State in total yards, but not in scoring.  Florida averaged 32.7 points per game, compared to Wisconsin's 28.  The Badgers kick off at 4:30pm Central time this Saturday. 

While I waited on hold for my internet provider to fix a problem, he started to make small talk about the Wisconsin Badgers football game coming up against Florida State.  He didn't think that Wisconsin had a chance against the Seminoles.  He didn't recite stats, or player to player match ups.  He only pointed out one thing. 

Big Ten football ends a month earlier than ACC football does.  He felt that the long wait for the bowl game puts Big Ten teams at a disadvantage. 

I felt that the style of play is the biggest factor that determines the outcome.  Florida State is a team that relies upon the run, just as Wisconsin does.  Florida State benched their quarterback Christian Ponder after his terrible performance against rival Florida.  He has since come back as a starter, but Wisconsin had their share of quarterback troubles as they benched their starter in favor of Sherer. 

Ponder has thrown 12 touchdowns, and passed for over 1800 yards this season.  Sherer has thrown five touchdowns, and passed for over 1200 yards.  He had fewer snaps when compared to Ponder. 

The P.J. Hill and John Clay tandem of running backs have scored twenty-two touchdowns for Wisconsin.  The Smith and Thomas Seminole backs have scored 17 for the season. 

The Seminoles went up against two top 25 ranked teams this year, and went 1-1 in that regard.  Wisconsin went up against four top 25 ranked teams and lost three of four.

Factors that cannot be analyzed before the game include injury recovery, how the coaches use the time off to prepare for the opponent, and how well seniors will play in what could be the last game.

The Wisconsin Badger fans travel in large numbers.  One can expect to see thousands of Wisconsin fans in Orlando on December 27^th.  It may be tough to drown out the tens of thousands of Florida fans who have a short drive to the Champs Sports Bowl.

Break out the shorts, flip-flops, and sun block.  The Wisconsin Badgers are headed for Florida yet again.  They will face the Florida State Seminoles in the Champs Sports Bowl.  Both teams expected to rank higher by the end of their respective seasons, but things don't always turn out as expected.

It has been thirteen years since Wisconsin faced an ACC team in a bowl game.  The Seminoles are coached Bobby Bowden who ranks second in career victories for a coach in his division. 

Bowden will have his team ready to play the run focused Badgers on December 27^th, in Orlando.

The Badgers are now 7-5 after coming out on top of an overtime game against Cal Poly.

Wisconsin dodged a bullet, partly because Cal Poly's kicker failed on three of five extra point tries earlier in the game.  The Badgers gambled that once more, the extra point try would come up short, so they elected to go on defense after winning the overtime coin toss.

Sure enough, Cal Poly scored a touchdown, and their kicker failed at the extra point try.

Wisconsin moved the ball into the end zone, and kicked the extra point for victory.

The Mustangs ran all over the Badgers, gaining 276 yards on the ground.  They converted over half of their third down plays, and two fourth down plays.  The Mustangs had four drives with each being over sixty yards in length.

The two point conversion in the fourth quarter by Wisconsin put the game into overtime.

From there, Bret Bielema felt that taking a chance on defense would be the key to an overtime victory.  He was proved correct.  Wisconsin awaits their fate in the bowl selection.

This victory may give them a better chance at a higher profile bowl game.