Wisconsin, Nebraska could start a trophy game

by Adam Hoge on Jun 12, 2010 10:36 AM CDT in Wisconsin Badgers Football

Someone is excited about Nebraska joining the Big Ten.

Wisconsin is already trying to start a trophy game with the conference's newest member and the Badgers would like to schedule the Cornhuskers as their last game every season.

"I contacted the Big 10 office about hopefully scheduling Nebraska as a last game rival on a yearly basis," UW head coach Bret Bielema wrote in a Tweet Saturday morning. "Possibly starting a trophy game."

Before the talk of conference expansion blew up this year, there were already reports Wisconsin was trying to schedule Nebraska for a non-conference series.

"And everyone thought I was kidding about trying to get Nebraska on our schedule," Bielema said in another Tweet. "We are very excited about the new addition to our league."

Iowa may be closer to Nebraska, but given UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez's ties to the university (he played football there) and the input he has already had on getting Nebraska into the Big Ten, it appears this rivalry is already coming to life.

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Maybe but...

CNNSI did a survey about a year ago.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/specials/fansurvey/2009/big10.html

Wisconsin considered Minnesota their biggest rival (77%) while Minnesota considered Wisconsin their biggest rival (79.2%). Iowa on the other hand was fairly split between Minnesota(41.3%) and Wisconsin(31.5%).

Now of course fan surveys are always 100% accurate, but I’m guessing that Nebraska and Iowa is more of a possibility for those respective schools season-ending rivalry game. This is nothing against Wisconsin. Nebraska has ties to Wisconsin and the match up will make and excellent rivalry no matter when it’s played.

Do you think Minnesota fans would be happy with this?

by Aaron Musfeldt on Jun 12, 2010 2:29 PM CDT reply actions

Minnesota fans?

What are those?

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Jun 12, 2010 6:34 PM CDT up reply actions

Nifty.

by Bush League All Star on Jun 12, 2010 4:04 PM CDT reply actions

Makes sense

You figure Nebraska would end up getting two trophy games, and us and Iowa would be the two most logical candidates. Not sure we would get the nod for playing them in the last week of the season, but that’s a possibility if Minnesota/Iowa want to keep their last game of the season tradition going.

by Adam Tupitza on Jun 12, 2010 4:20 PM CDT reply actions

You can have Minnesota.

I really don’t think many of us are tied to them, although ending the season in Minnesota in front of tens of thousands of Hawkeye fans is a nice tradition.

by PackerHawk on Jun 12, 2010 7:50 PM CDT up reply actions

Get in line.

Both Iowa and (yup) Penn State are already fighting hard to have Nebraska considered a protected rivalry.

Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.

by Kyle McCann't on Jun 12, 2010 4:37 PM CDT reply actions

Penn State I can understand, Nebraska's robbed them of a pair of national titles...

But why would Iowa hate Nebraska, Kyle? I’m just looking for reasoning other than “their state is right next to our state”

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Jun 12, 2010 6:36 PM CDT up reply actions

Well, there is a Husker fan base in parts of western Iowa

Iowa was actually in a conference with them once, before Iowa joined the Big Ten. We’ve played 41 times in our (admittedly distant) history, 6 times in the last 30 years (and Nebraska is 5-1 in those meetings). The lone Iowa win is still one of the biggest upsets in Iowa history and marked the beginning of Fry’s run through the 80’s. The two most recent meetings were absolute beat downs in the earliest Ferentz years, including Couch running up the score at the end of the game in Iowa City up over 4 touchdowns with 5 minutes in the 4th quarter. Wisconsin has played them 5 times, and not since 1974.

It seems that the only argument for Wisconsin being their rival is Alvarez.

by PackerHawk on Jun 12, 2010 8:05 PM CDT up reply actions

Sometimes a border is all that's needed.

As PH noted, there are loads of Huskers fans in Iowa (Western mostly) which already leads to a good deal of tension. The striking similarities of the two groups only intensifies the feeling. I think both groups are pretty eager for it.

Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.

by Kyle McCann't on Jun 12, 2010 10:18 PM CDT up reply actions

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Badgers Football Schedule

UNLV	Thu 09/01	W 51 - 17
Oregon St. Building The Dam	Sat 09/10	W 35 - 0
@ Northern Illinois Red And Black Attack	Sat 09/17	W 49 - 7
South Dakota Coyotes	Sat 09/24	W 59 - 10
Nebraska Corn Nation	Sat 10/01	W 48 - 17
Indiana The Crimson Quarry	Sat 10/15	W 59 - 7
@ Michigan St. The Only Colors	Sat 10/22	L 31 - 37
@ Ohio St. Along The Olentangy	Sat 10/29	L 29 - 33
Purdue Hammer and Rails	Sat 11/05	W 62 - 17
@ Minnesota The Daily Gopher	Sat 11/12	W 42 - 13
@ Illinois Hail to the Orange	Sat 11/19	W 28 - 17
Penn St. Black Shoe Diaries	Sat 11/26	W 45 - 7
@ Michigan St. The Only Colors	Sat 12/03	W 42 - 39
@ Oregon Addicted To Quack	Mon 01/02	L 38 - 45