CHICAGO -- In the past five years, Wisconsin has closed its regular season by playing such non-memorable opponents as Hawaii (twice), Cal Poly and Buffalo. Ohio State's finale has been against Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, Michigan and Michigan.
Yeah, Bret Bielema has noticed.
"I'd like to have that tradition for ourselves," the Badgers' coach said at the Big Ten preseason media days. "Let's have something and run with it."
He knows what he would like that "something" to be, too: Nebraska.
The Cornhuskers join the Big Ten next fall, and Bielema has been lobbying since the expansion became official to put Wisconsin in front of the line to begin a new tradition. The Badgers already have a pair of rivalry games, with Minnesota and Iowa, but those teams generally close the season playing each other in the traditional Floyd of Rosedale game.
So why not Nebraska? After all, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez is a Husker alum.
"I thought it would be a neat crossover game for us," even before Nebraska joined the league, Bielema said.
The coach first put his desire for a Huskers-Badgers finale on Twitter, and followed up with a text message to Big Ten assistant commissioner Mark Rudner. "I'm sure he was inundated, and took about five seconds to delete the text," Bielema joked. "But it was something I felt strongly about. And I thought it would be neat."
