After weeks of USA TODAY Sports and other outlets projecting the Wisconsin Badgers to face the Auburn Tigers in their bowl game this winter, there is finally a projection change to talk about.
This obviously due to Auburn’s early-season performance, a 2-2 start with a tough road left ahead, and the Badgers still waiting to take the field, variables which have held UW towards the top of the bowl calendar and allowed another team to rise and join them.
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That team is the BYU Cougars, a school that upset the Badgers back in 2018 when Paul Chryst’s team was No. 6 in the nation and had Big Ten Championship aspirations.
This recent USA TODAY projection has the two teams facing off in the Fiesta Bowl, with Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Oregon forming the College Football Playoff.
Speaking realistically, a Fiesta Bowl appearance would be a success for the 2020 Badgers. No, not because it means they lost the conference championship and their shot at the playoff, but because it would mean that they and the rest of the Big Ten were able to finish their regular season.
We’ve seen cancellations due to COVID-19 all across the college football landscape thus far, and since the Big Ten must play eight games in as many weeks in order to finish on time for the bowl schedule, just finishing the season in full would be something to celebrate.
Oh, and vengeance against BYU would be a pretty good consolation prize.