The Badgers Should Go Bowling

 Despite an iffy, Covid-19 plagued season, the Wisconsin Badgers of Coach Paul Chryst are still  taking part in a post-season bowl game.

And once the bowl schedule was released, lo and behold there's the 3-3 Badgers, packing bags to head off to Duke's Mayo Bowl (say what?) at Charleston, N.C. on Wednesday, Dec. 30th. Their foe? The Wake Forest Demon Deacons, a 4-4 team that has averaged 37 points and 435.3 yards per game. That's a pretty imposing offense. Looks like Jim Leonard and the Wisconsin defense had best bring their "A" game.

Can't blame Chryst and the Badgers for wanting to line up another game. It gives more practice time in a season that, to be sure, was a scheduling disaster for many teams.

Granted, I've maintained for years that there are way too many bowl games, so it helps that 15 bowls have pulled the plug -- including the Rose Bowl, thanks to the rising Covid-19 numbers. And several FBS programs (Big Ten teams Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State and Rutgers, as well as Boston College, Pittsburgh, Stanford and Virginia Tech, to name a few) have bowed out of bowl contention.

That leaves 30 bowl games. Of the bowling teams, there are seven with losing records and another four that are .500! And, of course, the usual suspects (Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Ohio State) get to square off in the Final Four and the eventual National Championship.

That's a joke, since the Final Four is a television event, not a true playoff (sorry 11-0 Coastal Carolina and 9-0 Cincinnati, your record is good but you're just not good enough to attract viewers). Let's expand the field to eight teams, make it a better tournament and let it go at that, a drum I've been beating for a long time.

Senior Quarterback Jack Coan is entering the transfer portal. No surprise here as an injury that required surgery allowed the Badgers to move on to stellar freshman Graham Mertz. Coan will be immediately eligible for whichever school he heads to. And while Mertz has had some ups-and-downs, and left Saturday's win over Minnesota with an injury, he's still shown enough promise to be a star at Wisconsin.