Are the Wisconsin Badgers eligible for a bowl game this year?

If you’ve followed the 2020 Big Ten football season then you know about the conference’s 6-game requirement for a team to qualify for the conference championship.

I’ve written about the rule extensively and argued that it will end up taking away the credibility of the season if 4-0 and No. 3-ranked Ohio State misses one more game and becomes ineligible for the Big Ten Championship.

Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez spoke about the conference’s new rule for this season, noting that “that’s something [the athletic directors] have to revisit” if a scenario arises where undefeated Ohio State can’t play in the championship game.

Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez, who chaired the Big Ten’s return-to-play task force, had interesting comments today about Big Ten possibly having to reconsider its requirements for championship (with OSU in mind) From a conversation w The Detroit News today…. pic.twitter.com/CIKEDxyELI

— angelique (@chengelis) December 2, 2020

How that plays out is yet to be seen, so what we’re looking at now is whether the 2-1 Badgers, who per the Big Ten rule are ineligible for the title game, will be able to play in a bowl game this season.

The answer: Yes.

Back in October the NCAA waived the normal 6-win bowl eligibility requirement, in essence making every FBS team bowl eligible.

Since Wisconsin only has three games left on their schedule–Indiana, Iowa and Big Ten’s Champions Week–under the normal rules they wouldn’t be able to play in a Bowl Game.

Due to the NCAA changing their requirements (as the Big Ten should), the Badgers will play in the postseason for the 19th straight season.

Only five teams since 2015 have played in a Bowl Game with fewer than six wins–Nebraska, Minnesota and San Jose State in 2015, and Mississippi State and North Texas in 2016. That is going to change this year with numerous teams across the country playing far fewer than the normal 10-game regular season.

So the focus now is on finishing the regular season on a high note and making the most of the challenging season that this has been. But if you questioned whether the team would be able to play in a Bowl Game, put those questions aside and shift to asking where, when and who they will play.

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