Bucky Plays Again

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  The Wisconsin Badgers had a disappointing season in 2021.

  The team is 8 - 4 overall, 6 - 3 in the B1G conference.  

The results have quite a few fans of the Badgers grinding their teeth, some openly rooting for the head coach to be fired.

I'll agree that this isn't the kind of season Badger fans have grown to expect since Barry Alvarez became the head coach in 1990, leading them to the Rose Bowl in 1993.  

Since 1993, the Badgers played in 27 bowl games... 20 in a row since the 2002 Alamo Bowl.  Before 1993 in the entire history of Wisconsin football, they appeared in 6.

As an old Badger fan, I remember when winning as many games as we lost was a tremendous season.  

Expectations weren't met this year.  The defense was one of the best in the country while the offense couldn't get on track often enough, falling short in games against Minnesota, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Penn State.  

A win Thursday in Las Vegas gives the team a chance to finish with a better taste in its mouth and gives the returning players a extra month of practice which should help in 2022.

The Badgers have a full-squad expected to play in the Las Vegas game while the Sun Devils are without two running backs, two defensive backs, and an offensive lineman.  All of them left early to prepare for the NFL combine.  

If I can stay awake for the Las Vegas Bowl (kick isn't until 9:30 PM CST), I'm expecting to see an exciting game.  For this Badger fan, bowl games never get old... although I hope to see them playing on New Year's Day in the years to come.  Go Badgers!