It's already a game every Badger fan has circled on their calendar, but it looks as though the national media will be playing close attention too. The Badgers will host Alabama at Camp Randall in week three of the 2024 season and 247Sports has named it as one of the most meaningful games of the year.
Not only will the game be huge for Wisconsin, but Alabama will have a lot to prove early on in their post-Saben era. 247 listed the game as the 23rd most meaningful of the season with this to say:
The first of five contests involving the defending SEC champions, college football will see quickly how far along Alabama is under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer when the Crimson Tide take their first road trip of the season. This matchup's equally important to Luke Fickell to starting Year 2 with a bang after the Badgers failed to impress — based on lofty expectations — last fall.
The Badgers will likely be 2-0 leading up to this game, but beating a top 10 opponent will certainly put them on the map as a team to beat. After an up-and-down but relatively disappointing 7-6 2023 campaign, Luke Fickell will most likely need to eclipse that win total in order to gain the trust of the fans. Easier said than done, however, because after Alabama, the Badgers still have to face USC, Penn State, Iowa and Oregon along with the rest of a tough Big Ten slate of games.
This game will have a big impact on the rest of the season and the outcome will completely energize or deflate the teams. This would be a "bad" loss for Alabama unless the Badgers somehow win 9 or 10 games this season. On the other hand, if the Badgers get blown out, this could kill any momentum Fickell had in his second season. In all likelihood, the winner will be undefeated with a top 15 ranking sitting on top of the world. The loser will have a lot of questions to answer from both fans and media.