Badger Bits: Preseason accolades continue

We knew the Badgers were going to get a lot of respect this summer, but are they getting too much?

The Bronko Nagurski watch list (nation's top defender) was released today and both Chris Borland and J.J. Watt are on the list. Watt doesn't really surprise me, but Borland certainly does. As good as he was as a true freshmen last season, Borland still went through some growing pains late in the season and is still only a sophomore.

The Outland Trophy watch list was also released today and both Gabe Carimi and Josh Oglesby are on the list. Carimi is a no-brainer, but I'm sure Badger fans everywhere are wondering what Oglesby has done in the past to get on this list. John Moffitt seems much more deserving.

None of these thoughts are that outlandish and I'm sure others are wondering the same thing. ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg is asking similar questions about the lists.

Speaking of Rittenberg, Gabe Carimi is No. 11 on his Top 25 countdown of the Big Ten's best players. Carimi is the fifth Badger to appear on the list along with No. 25 Watt, No. 19 Scott Tolzien, No. 16 Borland and No. 15 Moffitt.

You might have saw Rittenberg's proposal for Big Ten divisions last week, which had the Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota rivalry triangle split up. Today, he explained why he was forced to break up the three rivals.

Meanwhile, if there were to be a Nebraska-Wisconsin trophy game, we can only hope "The Alvaborne" is not the name of the trophy. Madison.com's Adam Mertz writes about the silly name that was thrown out thereby Bret Bielema.

The Wisconsin-Nebraska ties run so deep that we can never stop running out of connections. Mike Lucas writes about UW tight ends coach Joe Rudolph's nine months in Lincoln, Neb in 2007.

And even though the students don't show up to games on time, they continue to set records whenever they purchase their season tickets. This time around the student allotment of football season tickets sold out in 36 minutes.

Finally, you have seen me mention a "surprise" a few times since March and I happy to tell you that it will be revealed Tuesday morning right here on Bucky's 5th Quarter. I can promise you that if you love Badger football, you will want to know what the surprise is and I am very excited to reveal it!