When Head Coach Barry Alvarez and the football team learned Tuesday they would be taking on No. 7 Georgia in the Outback Bowl on New Year's Day, he was not surprised. All indicators pointed toward the Bulldogs before the announcement was made, so Alvarez was ready. He also was not surprised when he began to look at tape of the team's next opponent--who they took on in the same bowl in 1998.
\[They're] the typical Georgia team ... much like the one we played down there a few years ago,"" Alvarez said. ""[They're] very talented, a lot of speed, very athletic. They can run the ball as well as throw the ball around.""
But while the game features the same two teams, the 33-6 loss to the Bulldogs was a long time ago.
""I don't look at it as a rematch. I just look at it as an opportunity to play a very good football team from the Southeastern Conference,"" Alvarez said. ""They're talking about the opportunity to win 10 games and we have the opportunity to win 10 games.""
The Outback Bowl will be the No. 17 Badgers' third straight attempt at winning 10 games after back-to-back losses to Michigan State and Iowa to end the regular season.
Those losses were due in part to injuries on both sides of the ball. Some of the Badgers biggest impact players-senior defensive end Erasmus James and senior running back Anthony Davis-had been hobbled by injuries since the Badgers' win over Purdue. Both of them played down the stretch, but they were never 100 percent. However, they should be ready come New Year's Day.
""The guys started working out Monday with our strength people and all indications are that [they] came back and made progress,"" Alvarez said. ""I think we should be a healthy football team going into the game.""
""I really don't know how many games [Davis] was healthy for the entire game,"" Alvarez added. ""And Raz definitely wasn't 100 percent after he got hurt in the Purdue game and [senior defensive end] Jonathan Welsh really wasn't either.""
The Badgers will need those players if they hope to compete with the Bulldogs-whose only two losses came to No. 3 Auburn and No. 6 Tennessee, the two teams facing each other in this weekend's SEC title game.
""We have the opportunity to play a top-10 team and better ourselves,"" Alvarez said. ""It's a great challenge and that's what you go to a bowl game for.""
