Sports

Tennessee named as bowl foe

The wait is officially over for Wisconsin: The Badgers will face No. 16 Tennessee in the Outback Bowl.

After accepting a bid to the Jan. 1 bowl Wednesday, the football team had to see how this past weekend’s Southeastern Conference Championship game shook out before learning the identity of their foe.

After falling to LSU 21-14 in the SEC Championship Saturday, University of Tennessee officials accepted the Outback Bowl selection committee’s invitation for the game.

"We had a tremendous time down there last year … in Tampa, and we look forward to returning and representing the Southeastern Conference," Tennessee Director of Athletics Mike Hamilton said Sunday in a conference call with reporters.

Tennessee (9-4, 6-2) tied for the SEC East division with No. 4 Georgia, but won the tiebreaker thanks to a 35-14 victory over the Bulldogs earlier in the season.

"A play here or there and they would have been in the thick of it with the BCS," Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said.

After losing two of their first three games to open the season, the Volunteers rode an explosive offense to win eight of their last nine games and set up the championship game berth.

The Volunteers feature a uniquely balanced offense, which has both a 1,000-yard receiver (junior Lucas Taylor) and a 1,000-yard rusher (junior Adrian Foster), along with quarterback Erik Ainge.

"I know that they’ve got very talented players — their quarterback is very gifted, a wide receiver and a running back that bring a lot to the table," Bielema said.

Ainge threw for 29 touchdowns against only 10 interceptions on the season and averages 242 yards per game through the air. Even more impressive is that the Tennessee offensive line has allowed only four sacks all season.

"That jumped out right away. … Anytime your offensive line protects the quarterback the quality that Ainge is, you get concerned," Bielema said. "Obviously not many people are getting to him and making him feel pressure."

With the opponent now known, Wisconsin will construct to gameplan and prepare for Tennessee.

"We’ve got our work cut out for us, but it should be a classic Big Ten-SEC matchup, something we’ve fared on the good side of the last two years beating Arkansas and Auburn in the Capital One Bowl," Bielema said. "We look forward to continue the tradition in Tampa."

Wisconsin has faced an SEC team in each of the past four bowl games, including a 24-21 loss to Georgia in the 2005 Outback Bowl.

Unlike some potential SEC opponents, Wisconsin doesn’t have much of a history against Tennessee. The two schools have played just one time, a 28-21 Tennessee victory in the 1981 Garden State Bowl.

"We’ve only met Tennessee one time in 1981; I was 11 years old so I didn’t catch the game," Bielema said.

Badgers move up

For the second consecutive week, the Badgers moved up in the Associated Press Top 25 poll without playing a game, jumping one spot to No. 18.

Four teams ranked ahead of Wisconsin lost this past weekend, including former No. 18 Oregon, which fell out of the rankings completely after losing its third consecutive game to close out the regular season.

With the loss to LSU, Tennessee dropped two spots from No. 14 to 16.

1 Comment | Leave a comment

Anonymous | December 3, 2007 6:14 PM | Reply

whats the point spread? and expected crowd percentages

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