This weekend, Wisconsin football is on a bye week, and there are some amazing games to catch. But you know about all those, the flurry of ranked matchups and other potential upsets. What Wisconsin fans should really be paying attention to is the coaches who could be replacing Luke Fickell if he doesn't make it to next season.
If Adam Rittenberg is to be believed, the coaching job at Wisconsin will still be highly sought after, and the Badgers will have an opportunity to choose from the cream of the crop. Here are four games to pay attention to if you want one of the five coaches that were mentioned as potential candidates last week in this article:
1. Kansas Jayhawks vs. Cincinnati Bearcats - Lance Leipold
At 11 am CT on TNT, you can catch Lance Leipold's Kansas Jayhawks taking on Luke Fickell's former team, the Cincinnati Bearcats. This game will give a good dose of what Leipold would bring to Wisconsin if the Badgers bring back the Wisconsin native who led the Wisconsin-Whitewater from 2007 to 2014.
2. Baylor Bears vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys - Dave Aranda
After you flip off the Jayhawks vs. Bearcats, feel free to flip over to ESPN2 and watch Dave Aranda's team take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys at 2:30 pm CT, who recently fired their head coach, Mike Gundy. Aranda's name appears frequently in every coaching cycle, as when Aranda's teams are good, they are truly exceptional. He does more with less and knows how to get a team off the ground. The connection for the Badgers is that he was the defensive coordinator from 2013 to 2015.
3. New Mexico Lobos vs. New Mexico State Aggies - Jason Eck
Now this one may be impossible to watch as it's on something random. However, keep an eye on it as former Wisconsin player and graduate assistant Jason Eck coaches the New Mexico Lobos in a rivalry game against the Aggies. That game kicks off at 3 pm. Eck seems to be a candidate that a lot of Wisconsin fans are excited about, since he's one of our own and has had a great start to his coaching career.
4. Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Oregon Ducks - Andy Kotlenicki
This one is one you'll want to watch anyway. This should be a great football game, and it falls in the primetime spot on NBC/Peacock at 6:30 pm CT. The coach to watch is offensive coordinator Andy Kotlenicki. He's from Wisconsin and worked under Lance Leipold for years. He may be more of a flyer hire for Wisconsin, but he's a name that has been floated around nonetheless.
There's probably other coaches to watch and pay attention to, but here's four that come to mind.