The Wisconsin football team heads into the Holiday Bowl with something to prove. The Wisconsin Badgers have yet to beat a team with a winning record this season, and they will have that chance on Wednesday night against USC in San Diego.
The Badgers come into the bowl game with a 9-3 record, but the teams Wisconsin has beaten have a combined regular-season record of 34-75. The Badgers played three teams with records above .500, and lost all three – a blowout loss to Alabama in the season opener and devastating home losses to Iowa and Northwestern. The two conference losses are hard to stomach looking back, not only because it snaps a streak of five-straight New Year’s Day bowl games, but Wisconsin was so close to finishing the regular season 11-1 with a shot at Michigan State that could have led to a College Football Playoff spot.