Will the Big Ten Stop the Wisconsin Badgers?

An argument could be made that the Wisconsin Badgers are the best team in college football right now. With an electrifying offense lead by quarterback Russell Wilson, the Badgers are trying to capture their first national championship.

What they have done so far is pretty impressive. As of today, the Badgers lone test was a visit from the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The result was Wisconsin torching a defense so traditionally tough that they're called the Blackshirts en route to a 48-17 win.

In all likelihood, the Badgers have just two more challenges left in their schedule. The first comes Saturday night when the Badgers travel to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans. The second will be the first ever Big Ten Championship game on December 3rd in Indianapolis. With two wins in these games, the Badgers could be on their way to the Bowl Championship Series championship game...

Or could they?

While the leaders of the Big Ten have looked stellar, the rest of the conference has not. The Minnesota Golden Gophers are abysmal. The Indiana Hoosiers are pretty bad too. Every conference has their cellar dwellers, but it's the other teams at the top that have weakened the Big Ten.

While the teams at the top of the conference have pretty good records, it's the way they've won games that could keep the Badgers out of the BCS championship game if there more than two undefeated teams.

For example, Ohio State completed just one pass in their 17-7 victory over Illinois last Saturday. That's not a ringing endorsement for Big Ten football right now.

The cellar dwellar teams are also getting destroyed. Looking at the Gophers in particular, there was a stretch where Jerry Kill's team had given up 94 unanswered points. Again, this is not something that will help voters put an undefeated Badger team into the BCS championship game.

I know every conference has these types of performances, but the overall strength of conferences is what concerns me. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) champion will get into the national championship game because it's the strongest conference in the nation. This spot will be occupied by either LSU or Alabama (the two teams play each other next Saturday).

The #2 team in the country is Oklahoma. The rest of the Sooners schedule features a game in Manhattan against #11 Kansas State, a home game against #17 Texas A&M, and Bedlam (@ #4 Oklahoma State).

By looking at the two conferences Wisconsin is up against, it could be a very great possibility that the Badgers would get the same treatment as the 2003 Auburn Tigers. Auburn was the last undefeated team in the nation that season, but were not put into the BCS championship game. LSU was the national champion that year with a 12-1 record and a win over Oklahoma. Auburn wasn't even a split champion in the AP poll as USC shared that honor with the Tigers.

Adding into the uphill climb for the Badgers (as ridiculous of a thought that seems to be), Boise State is also reeling off a undefeated season in the weak Mountain West Conference. If the Broncos can knock off TCU later this year, that's a fourth undefeated team to be worried about.

The Badgers are a championship caliber team. Whether the BCS lets them showcase that is, sadly, up in the air.