MADISON (WKOW) --- The college football regular season now is over. But the excitement is just beginning as the Badgers fans and alumni look towards bowl season.
The College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings were announced Sunday. But after losing to Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game, the Badgers didn't make the cut. They finished the season with a 12-1 record, dropping from 4th to 6th place in the rankings.
The four teams in the playoffs will be No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Alabama. Ohio State is No. 5.
Fans may be disappointed that the Badgers missed a shot at the championship game, but the bowl game they did snag isn't too bad either. The team will travel to Miami, Florida to battle it out against Miami in the Orange Bowl on December 30th. It will be Wisconsin’s 16th consecutive bowl game. And fans are getting a jump start on joining the team.
“Kind of an unexpected venue for us. Although we knew that they were going to probably land in a New Years six bowl game,” said Jeff Wendorf, Vice President, Alumni Relations & Engagement.
Wendorf said UW-Madison alumni and fans are already making plans.
“We did a bowl presale last week or so. And had hundreds, if not thousands of alumni that got back to us and indicated they wanted to go to any and all bowls. And the Orange Bowl was one of those bowls that was, at least among our alumni, pretty highly anticipated.”
“I’m very excited. I think they're an excellent team. They’ve got a very young team. A lot of good future. Paul Chryst is a great coach. So I’m looking forward to a lot of years of good times,” said Larry Drunasky of Middleton.
Once the bowl announcement came out Sunday, Mary Miller at Middleton Travel sent an email blast to people interested in attending the game.
“We have about 15,000 people on that email list. We've done a variety of ads to get people all psyched and pumped and ready to book. There's always a lot of conversation about the Badgers.”
Drunasky said he can't make the trip to Florida. But he'll be watching and cheering for his favorite team from home.
“I hope they can win. I think they have the team to do it. I'm sure they can beat Miami.”
UW-Madison Alumni Association is offering Badger Bowl Tours. Middleton Travel is also travel packages for folks who want to attend the Orange Bowl and support the Badgers.
For more on this story: http://www.wkow.com/story/36983101/2017/12/03/uw-madison-alumni-gearing-up-to-travel-to-miami-for-the-orange-bowl