Wisconsin at Minnesota
Kickoff: 11:00 a.m. CT
Spread: Minnesota (-3)
Location: TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minn.
Weather Forecast: 45F, Showers, 40% chance of rain, Wind: NNW 11 mph
TV: ESPN
Radio: WIBA-AM 1310, WIBA-FM 101.5 and the Badgers Radio Network
Coverage: A week's worth of coverage on on our Minnesota Game Page
Opposing Blog: The Daily Gopher
Greetings from the arctic north. Somewhere around Eau Claire I crossed a line separating fall from winter. Fortunately, I have a warm, cozy seat inside the beautiful TCF Bank Stadium Press Box, which blows Camp Randall's out of the water. For one, they have crystal clear HD TVs, as opposed to Camp Randall's televisions from the 1980s, which I'm pretty sure still use an antenna. (Yes, I know analog TV does not work anymore. That's my point.) Actually, Camp Randall's TVs are probably only from five years ago, but technology has come a long way since then.
The atmosphere around TCF Bank Stadium is electric, despite the horrible weather. I drove into campus around 8:30 a.m. and fans were already packing the streets and parking lots, creating a tailgating scene lightyears ahead of Metrodome era.
There are considerably less Badger fans here than in the past, but I think Gopher fans will be surprised with how many actually find seats inside the stadium. They seem to believe security won't be letting anyone wearing red enter the stadium, but there is plenty of Cardinal and White here on campus.
We're about 90 minutes away from kickoff and the teams have begun to warm-up. I'm going to take a stroll around to check out the new digs, but I'll be here all morning and afternoon. Feel free to leave your questions, comments and predictions right here on the Live Thread.