For the past couple of years, Wisconsin's football team has exceeded its preseason expectations, and this year, it looks as though the Badgers are going to do it again.

Just a quick flashback of UW football's last two seasons:

2004 — The reputation of head coach Barry Alvarez earned Wisconsin the 21st spot in the Coaches' Poll, but the team faced many questions heading into the season, namely replacing Lee Evans, Alex Lewis and Jim Sorgi, among other key starters. However, the Badgers turned the nation's heads around in John Stocco's first season at quarterback, climbing all the way up to No. 4 in the polls. The smell of roses was in the air, but then UW choked on the road in the final two games (at unranked Michigan State and No. 17 Iowa). Nevertheless, an Outback Bowl bid was much higher than what was projected going into the year.

2005 — After the '04 season, Wisconsin's defense took a major hit, losing its entire line, as well as Scott Starks and Jim Leonhard. What's more impressive, the Badgers had to replace Anthony Davis — the school's second all-time leading rusher — at running back with a transfer from Colorado who had sat out the previous year and a half. Luckily for the Badgers, that one-time Buffalo was Brian Calhoun, who helped take the team's offense to new heights. Despite a heartbreaking loss to Northwestern in an old-fashioned shootout, Wisconsin earned a bid to the Capital One Bowl against No. 7 Auburn. Heading into the game as a 10-point underdog, the Badgers surprised many by dominating the top-ranked Tigers in a 24-10 victory.

And this year, expectations were just as low, if not lower. Calhoun bolted for the NFL draft, Alvarez hung up his head coaching duties and the team's top three wide receivers graduated. To make matters worse, starters Chris Pressley and Marcus Randle El sustained season-ending injuries before the year even started.

In fact, the only position on offense in which the Badgers didn't have a question mark was at quarterback and left tackle with seniors John Stocco and Joe Thomas returning — but even Thomas was adjusting early on after recovering from a serious right knee injury suffered in the Capitol One Bowl.

Wisconsin was nowhere to be found in the preseason rankings, and rightfully so. This was a team predicted to finish, at best, fifth in the Big Ten — a conference that is having a down year to say the least.

And the Badgers did nothing to help themselves in their non-conference schedule. While Wisconsin won each game, none was very convincing, especially considering they came against sub-par teams.

But now with three games remaining on the schedule (four if you actually want to count the Buffalo game), Wisconsin's football team is once again overachieving.

Not counting the conference-opening loss to then-No. 6 Michigan, Wisconsin has routed every single Big Ten team, outscoring opponents in the last four games by an average of 31 points.

The Badgers' defense has done its part, too, holding their last three opponents to under 14 points and only giving up an average of 11.5 points per game.

Sure, this defense was supposed to be solid, but to imagine that this unit would be among the top ten in the nation prior to this season would've just been plain absurd. Envisioning it holding Purdue to a mere field goal, the nation's fourth-ranked offense heading into the matchup, would've been even more ludicrous.

Even more unlikely, however, would've been Wisconsin being the third best team in the Big Ten, hands down. That is, the best team on a normal level and not that of No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan.

So as the end of the season nears, the age-old question becomes, what Bowl bid are the Badgers most likely to earn?

Unlike certain other publications on campus, I won't give the annual speculation about Wisconsin's Rose Bowl chances. We all know that is very unlikely with either the Buckeyes or Wolverines making the national title game and the other heading to Pasadena.

Also, while the Badgers have surpassed expectations the last couple of years, they have also been known to fade at the end of the year, something first year head coach Bret Bielema is well aware of.

"It's not so much what you see in front of you right now," Bielema said at his weekly press conference. "It's what the big picture is, and our guys have understood what it means to finish."

With Penn State and a trip to Kinnick Stadium against Iowa still on the schedule, no Bowl game can be etched into stone as of yet.

But at this point, it will probably be much more than anyone would've predicted it to be before the year began.

Michael will be traveling to whatever Bowl game the Badgers make. If you'd like to take a road trip with him, you can reach him at [email protected]