One of the biggest games on the calendar this football season for Wisconsin is a week three matchup in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, against the Crimson Tide. It's a game that has the potential to change the trajectory of the entire season for the Badgers. If they somehow pull that off, the nature of the rest of the season changes for Wisconsin and actually for Bama, too.
Wisconsin has rebuilt its defensive line, added a better signal caller, and, maybe most importantly, added a top-tier offensive coordinator. This year could be a surprise to many, including Wisconsin fans, but the biggest test will not be week one against Miami (Ohio) or even week two against Middle Tennesee; it's that week three matchup against arguably the best program of the last twenty years.
Wisconsin and Alabama will be the first game of a big triple-header on ESPN, Sept. 13
The 11 a.m. start time in Alabama means that ESPN thinks it may be the weakest of the three games in terms of competitiveness, but you never know with these two teams under the current coaches. Alabama threw out some absolute clunkers last season and is still talking about it in the offseason. The game against Vanderbilt was embarrassing, and they've shown they can be hit or miss under Kalen DeBoer.
On the other hand, Luke Fickell has found a way to hang with teams that were marketed as "going to kill the Badgers." Last season, the Badgers took No.1 Oregon to the wire and had Penn State on the ropes until the final few minutes. The Badgers did all that without a good quarterback and a defensive line in shambles. They did that with an offense that mostly looked incapable of scoring. This year truly could be different and that will be the game that tells Wisconsin fans whether it will be or not.