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This time it will be in December, not January, and against the ACC, not the SEC, but the Wisconsin football team is headed back to the state of Florida for the fifth-straight time and school-record seventh consecutive bowl game. Sunday, UW head coach Bret Bielema officially accepted an invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, where Wisconsin (7-5, 3-5 Big Ten) will face the Seminoles of Florida State (8-4, 5-3 ACC) Dec. 27.

“I actually received a phone call, the official invitation, with about five to 10 minutes left in practice,” Bielema told members of the media Sunday night in a press conference. “The [players] saw me talking, and when they heard me say, ‘Florida State,’ they were very excited about the opportunity.”

The Seminoles are led by the ageless Bobby Bowden, who is currently second behind Penn State’s Joe Paterno as the all-time winningest coach in Football Bowl Subdivision history and has a pair of national championships on his r?sum?. Bielema remembers meeting Bowden when Bielema was a graduate assistant at Iowa at age 22.

“I got on an elevator and met coach Bowden, shook his hand,” Bielema said. “I’m sure he doesn’t remember that, back almost 16 years ago.

“Just the awe of being around him, the legend that he is,” he continued. “To be able to have an opportunity now to play against one of his teams is something that’s special for me as a head coach.”

In only his third season as Wisconsin’s head coach, Bielema will have coached against both Paterno (age 81) and Bowden (79), something that hasn’t been done since Virginia’s Al Groh in 2002. And as the their respective careers wind down, it may never happen again.

“[To withstand] the test of time, to be where they are is a great tribute to who they are as coaches, as well as the assistant coaches they’ve been able to keep,” Bielema noted.

Five weeks ago, the Badgers fell below .500 to 4-5 following a crushing last-second loss on the road at Michigan State. At that point, a postseason appearance seemed like a long shot. But after beating Indiana, Minnesota and Cal Poly to close the regular season, Wisconsin became bowl eligible (six wins) and will once again find itself in the Sunshine State this winter. And in terms of recruiting, the extra weeks of preparation bode as a huge advantage for the program’s future success.

“We’ll open up our practices to recruits to view our practices,” Bielema said. “Also, the exposure … the bowl practices allow you to showcase your program that much more.”

In a season labeled by most (including themselves) as disappointing, Wisconsin now has a chance to finish with a four-game win streak and end the season on a high note.

“From my standpoint, it’s an opportunity to have one more game,” Bielema said. “Every game we try to win. We’ll prepare as hard and intense as we have. I’ve really been challenging my coaches this week to begin their preparations on Florida State.

“After what we’ve experienced this year, the emphasis on winning is the only thing that really matters for us,” he added. “I think the general public will be intrigued by [this] matchup as well.”