Wisconsin Accepts Outback Bowl Bid, Heading to Tampa Florida

It was announced that on Thursday, the 8-3 Wisconsin Badgers officially accepted an invitation to play in the 2008 Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. This would be a third straight bowl game in Florida as in the previous 2 seasons, the Badgers and I went to the Capital One Bowl (2006 and 2007) in Orlando. Wisconsin came out victorious in both Capital One Bowls, defeating Kenny Iron's Auburn in '06 and Darren McFadden's Arkansas in '07. I enjoyed both of my bowl game trips/vacations and is sad to say that I might not have the chance to be in the stands for this year's Outback Bowl. The opponent for the 2008 Outback Bowl is still undetermined and it may come from the SEC bunch of Tennessee, Florida, Auburn or Arkansas.

Whoever's invited, it promises a very good matchup as SEC has proven itself to be a very solid conference, unlike the Big Ten this year. For Wisconsin, after a National Championship hopeful previously touted BCS-ish season that started on a high but regressed to one battered with injury and 3 conference losses, a bowl game on the New Year’s Day is the simple reward for the team's persistent effort throughout the season. The 3 loses clearly costed a much hoped National Championship dream for all cheeseheads and Badgers faithfuls.

An untimely loss to Illinois followed by a dreadful loss to Penn State dug a huge hole for the Badgers late into the season. Then Wisconsin went down fighting against Ohio State before acknowledging that they are second to the Buckeyes and at the same time proved their worth with a convincing and solid win over Michigan at home which salvaged the season. There's much more to come from this Wisconsin core next season with talented starters like CB Jack Ikegwuonu, LB Johnathan Casillas,TE Travis Beckum and RB P.J. Hill returning. Stay tuned Badger fans. There are more to come.