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Wisconsin Football snubbed by The Athletic’s CFB Super League

By Christian Borman

Students and Badger fans rush the field after the University of Wisconsin upset the number 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at Camp Randall Stadium 31-18 in Madison WI Saturday October 16, 2010.Uwgrid17 Spt Lynn 17
Students and Badger fans rush the field after the University of Wisconsin upset the number 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at Camp Randall Stadium 31-18 in Madison WI Saturday October 16, 2010.Uwgrid17 Spt Lynn 17 /
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When you hear about the possible European Super League forming, you don’t necessarily think of Wisconsin football; but here we are.

For those who don’t know or just don’t follow soccer, some of the premier soccer teams in Europe are trying to create the ‘European Super League.’ SkySports gives a pretty quick explanation about what it is.

"Twelve of Europe’s leading football clubs have announced they have agreed to establish a new midweek competition, the European Super League, governed by its ‘Founding Clubs’.The proposal involves the clubs forming their own competition to rival the UEFA Champions League."

So what does that have to do with Wisconsin football? Well, the popular internet-based sports website, The Athletic, tweeted out what one of their writer’s College Football Super League would look like. It consisted of 15 teams, and, well, Wisconsin fans weren’t too happy.

I don’t think it’s necessarily that Wisconsin was left off the list. I mean, let’s be honest, the Badgers weren’t really a relevant football program until the 90s. But recency bias is definitely a thing and you’d think this CFB Super League would include the top teams right now.

What really got to the Wisconsin fans is that Nebraska was put on the list. Nebraska is still a prominent program in some people’s eyes, but they haven’t been all that dominant or even successful since the late 90s. In the last 20 years, the Huskers have a 152-101 record. A team winning just 60% of their games in a 20-year span doesn’t seem like a qualifier for a Super League.

The Badgers, on the other hand, have won 71% of their games with a 183-76 record and have multiple Big Ten titles and Big Ten Championship Game appearances, including a 70-35 win over Nebraska. The Badgers have also been to a bowl game in each of the past 19 seasons, winning 10 of them, including six of their last seven.

Meanwhile, Nebraska has been to just 14 bowl games in the past 20 seasons, winning just six of those games. In fact, Nebraska hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2016, when Mike Riley led them to the Music City Bowl where they lost to Tennessee, 38-28.

Yes, Nebraska has a great history and was dominant before the 2000s, but if we are going to form a College Football Super League, I think the Badgers would be a team that would certainly be in contention and should be in it over Nebraska.