Where will the Wisconsin Badgers play for their 2023 football bowl game? Latest projections.
With Wisconsin's win over Minnesota on Saturday, it seems more and more likely that the UW football team will wind up playing in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on Dec. 30 at Nissan Stadium. But it's not a unanimous expectation among college football writers.
Where else could UW end up? The Badgers will learn their fate Dec. 3 on "Bowl Selection Sunday." Whatever bowl it is, tickets will go on sale for the general public Dec. 7, with Wisconsin athletics donors and season-ticket holders getting earlier dibs.
These are the experts picking Wisconsin for the Music City Bowl
Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, who's had UW connected to the Music City Bowl for multiple weeks now, still envisions UW heading to Nashville to take on Texas A&M.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports picks them to play Texas A&M.
247Sports also pits Wisconsin vs. Texas A&M.
Mark Schlabach of ESPN puts Wisconsin into the game against Auburn, a rematch of the last time Wisconsin appeared in the Music City Bowl, in 2003.
Bryan Fischer of Fox Sports has UW against Auburn, as well.
The USA TODAY Network has Wisconsin against Kentucky.
Where else are experts picking Wisconsin to land?
Bill Bender of The Sporting News places Wisconsin into the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl against Virginia Tech on Dec. 28 in Yankee Stadium, with Maryland in the Music City Bowl instead. The Badgers last played at the Pinstripe Bowl in 2018, an overwhelming win over Miami.
Kyle Bonagura of ESPN puts Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 1. Formerly the Outback Bowl, that would perhaps be a step up in prestige from the Music City Bowl, but that would also require some unexpected machinations since the Big Ten typically surrenders its spot in that bowl game if one of its members is selected for the Orange Bowl. Most projections (even Bonagura's own) put Ohio State in the Orange Bowl.
What should Badgers fans know about Texas A&M or Auburn?
Since most expectations feature a matchup with one of these two SEC schools, a bit about each:
Texas A&M is in the midst of a coaching shakeup; the Aggies (7-5) just fired Jimbo Fisher, who'd been head coach since 2018, replacing him with interim Elijah Robinson and then announcing Monday the hire of Duke coach Mike Elko, a former A&M defensive coordinator, on a permanent basis.
Quarterback Max Johnson, who threw for 1,452 yards and nine touchdowns this season over eight games, just entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer, and the coaching change means several more players can be expected to follow. Johnson wasn't the starter initially, losing that battle to Connor Weigman, but took over when Weigman got injured — though Johnson suffered his own ribs injury and missed the final three games. Jaylen Henderson has been the quarterback for the Aggies the past three weeks, completing 67.5% of his passes and averaging 9.5 yards per attempt, with six touchdowns.
Junior linebacker Edgerrin Cooper wasn't among the five finalists for the Butkus Award, acknowledging the nation's best linebacker, but he easily could have been on the list and will likely leave early for the NFL Draft, possibly sneaking into the first round.
The Aggies are 0-4 against ranked opponents this year but have won the rest of their SEC games (4-4 in conference), including a 21-10 battle against Auburn.
Auburn, meanwhile, finished the year 6-6, including a gut-punch of a loss to No. 8 Alabama on Saturday, 27-24, with the Crimson Tide winning thanks to a 4th-and-goal conversion at the 31-yard line in the final moments. The Tigers also fared admirably in a 27-20 loss to Georgia but went 0-4 against ranked teams this season.
Auburn is led by quarterback Payton Thorne (1,671 yards passing, 15 touchdowns, plus 529 rushing yards and three scores), running back Jarquez Hunter (865 rushing yards, 5.9 per attempt, seven touchdowns) and safety Jaylin Simpson, who has four interceptions and netted a spot on the ESPN midseason All-American team.
The Badgers and Tigers have gotten quite familiar with each other in the college football postseason, meeting in the Music City Bowl in 2003 and then the Citrus Bowl after the 2004 season and the Outback Bowl after the 2014 season. UW won the past two meetings, including a 34-31 nail-biter in overtime the last time, a game with athletics director Barry Alvarez on the sideline in place of departed coach Gary Andersen.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin football 2023 bowl projections: Where will Badgers play?
