Badger Bits: Wisconsin releases 2013 football schedule

The Wisconsin Badgers released their entire 2013 football schedule today, and it includes a twist indicating that traditional Big Ten scheduling practices are becoming more and more flexible. Wisconsin was able to move a conference home game against Purdue to September 21st, effectively starting their Big Ten conference schedules a week earlier than everybody else. This move was made to accommodate a visit from BYU on November 9th, stuck right in between games against Iowa and Indiana. The Badgers have not had to jump out of their conference schedule to play a non-conference opponent in quite some time, so the 1-0 mentality preached by Bret Bielema will be extra important late next season.

Probably the most odd aspect of the schedule is two bye weeks in October, leading to only two games that month. Also, the home portion of the schedule is pretty lackluster; there really is no clear marquee matchup at Camp Randall, though that could change between now and next year. The flip side of that is there doesn't seem to be any easy road games for the Badgers. Here is the entire schedule for 2013 (hit the jump):

• Aug. 31st- Massachusetts
• Sep. 7th- Tennessee Tech (FCS)
• Sept. 14th- at Arizona State
• Sept. 21st- Purdue
• Sept. 28th- at Ohio State
• Oct. 12th- Northwestern
• Oct. 19th- at Illinois
• Nov. 2nd- at Iowa
• Nov. 9th- BYU
• Nov. 16th- Indiana
• Nov. 23rd- at Minnesota
• Nov. 30th- Penn State
• Dec. 7th- Big Ten Championship (Indianapolis)

Wednesday Links:

Offensive lineman Casey Dehn will not play for the Badgers in 2012 due to academic issues. The Badgers should be able to absorb the loss thanks to the program's ever-present depth at offensive line, but how the depth charts will shake out because of Dehn's departure is not yet clear.

Four-star cornerback recruit Ross Douglas decommitted from Penn State after the sanctions were handed down, and he was set to take a visit to Madison on Saturday. But that Wisconsin visit was canceled after he verbally committed to Michigan yesterday.

But there is good recruiting news to be told as well! Wisconsin was able to flip a recruit from the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Three-star cornerback Keelon Brookins made the right choice and threw the Gophers to the curb to pick Wisconsin. Oh, his home state is Minnesota? Excellent...

Tomorrow is the first day of Big Ten Media Days. Expect the Penn State fiasco to dominate the headlines, but here are the other top stories to watch for in the next couple of days.

Off Tackle Empire thinks that Wisconsin vs. Michigan State will be the best Big Ten game this fall. Two other Badger football matchups show up on the top ten list.

Running back Montee Ball is Brent Yarina's top offensive preseason player. Linebacker Chris Borland is his 3rd best defensive preseason player.