Jeff Hanisch – US Presswire
The Wisconsin Badgers and BYU Cougars announced Thursday that the two schools will play a home-and-home series during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Wisconsin and BYU will meet first in Utah at LaVell Edwards Stadium in 2017, and then they will follow that up with a meeting at Camp Randall Stadium in Wisconsin during the 2018 campaign. This now creates three future matchups between the two schools as they are scheduled to play next November in Wisconsin.
Both schools have been two of the most successful football programs in the nation over the past decade. The Cougars are 64-19 under head coach Bronco Mendenhall since 2006 and have been to a bowl game in seven straight seasons. Meanwhile the Badgers are 64-21 under coach Bret Bielema and have made a bowl game in ten straight campaigns. Over that span BYU owns the 10th best winning percentage in the nation, while Wisconsin has the 11th.
The announcement comes on the heels of the recent news that the Ohio State Buckeyes have agreed to face the Texas Longhorns in a home-and-home series in 2022 and 2023, as well as TCU in 2018 and 2019. It is clear that the Big 10 needs to become relevant again on a national stage, and is scheduling tougher non-conference opponents down the road in an attempt to do so.
The Michigan Wolverines tried their hand at things on the opening night of the 2012 season against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Let’s just say that didn’t work out so well for Wolverines. Alabama dominated Michigan and that really set the tone for what was to come for the conference this season.
The Big 10 has fallen off significantly when it comes to being considered as one of the nation’s power conferences. With the Notre Dame Fighting Irish agreeing to play five games a season in the ACC, and ending their series with the Wolverines in 2014, other Big 10 rivals can’t necessarily rely on the Irish to appear on their schedule in the future.
It’s one thing to schedule tougher non-conference opponents down the line, but if the Big 10 wants to get themselves back as a national powerhouse, they are going to have to start winning some of those games.
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