BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Wherever Vince Biegel went in the big city, from room to room and interrogation to interrogation, the same questions followed.
Biegel was one of three Wisconsin representatives at Big Ten Football Media Days last month in Chicago. Over the course of 48 hours, the highly-regarded senior outside linebacker fielded a lot of questions from national reporters, but one dominated the proceedings.
"The overwhelming one that I received was about our schedule," Biegel said.
More often than not, the query was framed in an ominous context. One national writer referred to the UW schedule as "toxic" and wondered how Badgers fans would handle it "if they have a train wreck on their hands."
Wisconsin, unranked in the preseason coaches' poll for the first time since 2009, opens the regular season facing sixth-rated LSU at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Sept. 3.
The Badgers subsequently usher in the Big Ten Conference season with a remarkable test of will.
They start with consecutive road games vs. Michigan State on Sept. 24 and Michigan on Oct. 1. MSU is 11th and the Wolverines eighth in the coaches' poll, respectively.
Next, following a bye week, is the Big Ten home opener with Ohio State on Oct. 15. The Buckeyes are fifth.
UW then ventures to Iowa, ranked 15th, for a duel on Oct. 22.
That gives way to an Oct. 29 home game with Nebraska, picked by ESPN to win the Big Ten West Division.
A remarkable six-game stretch ends on Nov. 5 when the Badgers play at Northwestern, one of six Big Ten schools to win 10 or more games last season.
Biegel said he had a pat answer to the schedule question.
"Yes, this is a tough schedule, but a lot of opportunities for Wisconsin to have great games and put ourselves back on the map and put ourselves in position to be in a big-time bowl at the end of the season," he said.
The stock answer from Biegel included a dollop of feistiness.
"If they want to put a negative connotation to it, that's their own business," he said of the writers and analysts. "I know the men in our locker room. I know what we're capable of. I don't really care what the media says if it's positive or negative. That doesn't change the way we conduct our business."
Is this glass half full or half empty?
Yes, the Badgers open the Big Ten season with the defending conference champion, but the last time that happened on the road they prevailed (17-9 over Penn State in 1995).
Yes, Wisconsin begins league play with back-to-back road assignments, but the last time that happened it finished 12-1 overall and beat a 10-win Southeastern Conference opponent in a bowl (2006).
"Everybody's talking about how hard our schedule is this year; that it's going to be tough," UW senior center/guard Dan Voltz said Sunday during UW media day at Camp Randall. "The way we look at it is it's more of an opportunity. We're going to play all these top-ranked teams, the best teams in the Big Ten. If we win those games, we're setting ourselves up for a real good position going into the postseason.
"We're not looking at it like, 'Damn, this is going to be a hard year.' We're looking at it as we have a lot of opportunities to beat a lot of good teams and set ourselves up to have a fantastic season.
"We couldn't be more excited about it. We're excited for the challenge. Every week's going to be a grind, but that's what we want. That's why we came here."
That outlook has rubbed off on UW coach Paul Chryst and his staff.
"What we do with those opportunities, it's on us," he said Sunday. "Your good, established players love playing against the best. Your younger kids, they have a chance to grow up and to know what it means."
Strange, the Badgers haven't played at Michigan State since 2011 and Michigan since 2010.
Strange, UW is playing at Iowa for the fourth time since 2010. The road team has won the last five meetings.
Wisconsin senior cornerback Sojourn Shelton joined Biegel and senior tailback Dare Ogunbowale in Chicago. Shelton heard the same line of questioning.
"For a lot of people, the theme was, yeah, the schedule's tough and how's Wisconsin going to do it?" he said.
The answer?
"That's for us to figure out," Shelton said. "We have to be able to come out here every day and work and get better as a team. When that time comes we'll be ready to rock and roll."
Interestingly, only three of Wisconsin's 12 opponents are breaking in new QBs, but all three occur early in the season and are in succession: Georgia State, Michigan State and Michigan.
Interestingly, UW will have a quarterback without a career start — fifth-year Bart Houston and redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook begin preseason camp Tuesday in a dead heat — for the first time since 2004.
If the schedule question is No. 1 among college football observers regarding the Badgers, a close second is who will be the quarterback.
Those unknowns help explain why UW didn't show up in the coaches' preseason top 25.
That doesn't sit well with Shelton, who noted that in his first three seasons with the Badgers they are 30-10 (.750).
"That bothers me a lot," he said. "I'm sure that bothers a lot of people in this locker room. But we can't worry about it. It is what it is."
Wisconsin has finished 14 consecutive seasons in bowl game, the longest streak of its kind among Big Ten teams. Its overall record during that stretch is 132-53 (.714). The only league school with a better mark is Ohio State (143-28, .836).
Despite that consistency, the Badgers are projected as underdogs vs. LSU, Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State, according to an ESPN stat formula.
"I feel a lot of people have put us out as far as some of those games, which is pretty cool," Shelton said. "We've been the underdog here a lot of times in a lot of situations. Now's the time to prove people wrong again.
"If we do what we believe that we can do with the schedule, I think we'll turn a lot of heads and shock a lot of people."
