Wisconsin vs Florida State in Champs Bowl

Champs Sports Bowl

Wisconsin vs. Florida State

This is one of seven bowl games played in the state of Florida, and it seems obvious that a Florida team would be in it. I mean, a lot of these bowls were created with certain regional teams in mind, but at the same time, many bowls are held out of the “cold zones” to entice fans of northern states to come on down and “warm up” a bit.

No sin in that, especially when you have an entire conference like the Big 10 up there. Those guys deserve some of that warm sunshine or warmer temps too, right? Thus the game we have, Wisconsin vs. Florida State.

This is a good matchup, between BCS bowl teams, and is actually a very interesting story within itself if you look at the resumes of both teams. Let’s start with Wisconsin out of the Big 10.

There was a lot of talk that the Big 10 would have a team in the National Championship, and there was much talk that Wisconsin would be a top 10 team for sure. There were high expectations as the team started out 1-0 by beating Akron 38-17, then capturing their second win against Marshall 51-14. Everything was working smoothly for this team, and it seemed this might be the second best team out of the Big 10.

A trip to Fresno State, then ranked in the top 25, and a win there, gave a lot of weight to the Badgers team as they were now 3-0, looking for more wins as they entered the conference schedule. With lowly Michigan on the ropes, it should have been an easy win to start the conference season right.

Nope.

In a stunning game, Wisconsin lost to Michigan 27-25 and may have lost more in their spirits. An embarrassing loss lead the Badgers into two more top 25 matchups back to back, neither of which they could overcome. A loss to then #14 Ohio State 20-17 and then a loss to then #6 Penn State 48-7 broke their spirits. In three conference games back to back to back, they lost them all, dropping to 3-3. No BCS hopes, perhaps no BCS bowl either.

And it got worse as they lost to Iowa 38-16 as it seemed that Wisconsin hit rock bottom. Whatever goals this team had, they were gone. All that was left was to TRY to get to a bowl, to salvage a disappointing season.

This turnaround started with a win over Illinois, but was stopped again with a loss to top 25 foe Michigan State 25-24. At 4-5, Wisconsin needed at least two more wins to become bowl eligible, with only 3 games left. It seemed they started to get it together, with a win over Indiana 55-20 and then Minnesota 35-32 to finally qualify for a bowl. Their final game against Cal-Poly seemed to show the problems the Badgers still had, barely beating this team in OT 36-35.

Five teams were ranked throughout the course of the year, but Wisconsin beat only one, that being Minnesota. But there were several close games, proving that this team can compete. We shall see.

Florida State used to be the king of the ACC, dominating it every year and sweeping their conference foes away like dust. It was always the “big” game against Florida that was larger than the conference itself, even though Florida was from the SEC. But things have changed for this team, not many being good.

There was no great expectation for Florida State to win it all, but maybe to challenge for the ACC title. But the way the Seminoles went about it seemed… odd.

The first game of the young season pitted them against Western Carolina University…MY old stomping grounds, and they were pulverized 69-0...ouch. But here is something odd… most teams play ONE Division 1AA team… but Florida State scheduled two in a row. Playing UTC and beating them 46-7 made it look like FSU was scoring without measure. Some were even talking of their greatness.

But this came down to earth quickly on the first REAL game, against Wake Forest, where they lost 12-3. Amazing, they scored over 100 against lesser foes but could only manage 3 against a real Division I foe.

But it seemed to wake up the Seminoles as they began a four game winning streak. Rebounding against Colorado at home 39-21, then winning two away games against Miami 41-39 and against NC State 26-17 had them in the right direction. A big win over Virginia Tech brought the Seminoles to 6-1, and 3-1 in conference play. They were now being mentioned as one of the elite ACC teams to beat.

Florida State then fell into a checkered finish, wining one, losing the next to finish the season. A tough loss to Georgia Tech away 31-28 led to a win over troubled Clemson 41-27 before repeating the trend, losing to Boston College 27-17 in their home, and then winning against ranked Maryland 27-3. The final game of the season, against Florida, wasn’t much of a battle, losing 45-14, but the Seminoles did manage to qualify for a bowl, and have a pretty good season.

At least eight teams on FSU’s schedule will be in a bowl, and at least 6 were ranked this year, this was a very tough schedule, excluding the two Southern Conference teams at the beginning of the year. The Seminoles had a very tough season, playing through the very competitive ACC and playing a potential National Champion.. They are quite battle tested.

Of the two teams, one could argue that Wisconsin has underachieved, even though they did play a tough schedule, but Florida State’s schedule was, in my opinion, a bit harder. Coming out of the ACC with just a few losses is not bad, but one wonders if this team is as good as the record. We have not seen the Florida State of old, but then again, where has Wisconsin gone?

In a game in Florida State’s…well… state, I think the Seminoles are favored, but not by any large stretch of the imagination. We will see if Wisconsin can start to regain the respect they had at the beginning of the year. I think this will be a very nice game to watch, with Florida State slightly favored. We shall see.