Badgers arrive in Arizona for Guaranteed Rate Bowl

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Badgers football team won’t have to worry about the single-digit temperatures back home, as they have arrived in Phoenix for next week’s bowl game.

The Badgers touched down in Phoenix Saturday afternoon and will celebrate the holiday season in the desert before continuing their impressive string of postseason play.

The Badgers will face off against Oklahoma State in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on Tuesday night, continuing one of the longest bowl game appearance streaks in all of college football. Wisconsin has qualified for a bowl game for 21 straight seasons, trailing only Georgia (26 straight seasons) and Oklahoma (24 straight seasons). Wisconsin has won 7 of its last 8 bowl games.

Wisconsin became bowl-eligible by getting their 6th win of a challenging season on November 19, when Graham Mertz helped lead a 4th quarter comeback win over Nebraska. It would be one of the final games as a Badger for Mertz, who announced he was transferring after the season and recently committed to the Florida Gators.

With Mertz gone, the Badgers are down to two scholarship players at quarterback for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl: redshirt senior Chase Wolf and freshman Myles Burkett. The Badgers will also be without running back Isaac Guerendo, who also entered the transfer portal. Offensive lineman Joe Tippmann, defensive tackle Keeanu Benton and linebacker Nick Herbig will also not play in the bowl game after declaring for the NFL Draft.

Despite so many holes on the depth chart, new head coach Luke Fickell has made it an early priority to prepare for the bowl game and come away with a win.

This will be the first time the Badgers have ever faced the Cowboys, and it’s just the second time Wisconsin will play an active member of the Big 12 Conference. The Badgers beat Colorado, who belonged to the Big 12 at the time, 31-28 in overtime in the 2002 Alamo Bowl.

It’s also a rare trip to Arizona for Wisconsin, who hasn’t played a bowl game there since the 1996 Copper Bowl, which they won over Utah, 38-10.

Kickoff is scheduled for 9:15 p.m. central time on ESPN and the ESPN app.

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