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WISCONSIN BACK ON THE PRACTICE FIELD THURSDAY MORNING
Wisconsin continued its preparation for the 81st Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic with another nearly two-hour practice Thursday morning.
Donning shells and helmets, the Badgers hit the AT&T Stadium turf with enthusiasm, working through situational plays on offense and defense in their third practice in North Texas.
“I’ve been really happy with the way the kids have approached the mornings in practice and in meetings. They had good energy today,” said head coach Paul Chryst. “They’ve been doing a good job mixing the balance of all the things that the Cotton Bowl provides for them, and yet still, there’s time for the football. They’ve been doing a good job at that.”
Wisconsin (10-3, 7-2 Big Ten) and No. 15 Western Michigan (13-0, 9-0 Mid-American) meet in four days in a contest that will feature big-play potential in the key matchup of the Broncos’ potent offense against the Badgers’ stout defense. Western Michigan’s offense is ranked eighth in the nation in scoring offense at 43.5 points per game, while the Badgers’ defense comes in ranked seventh in the nation in total defense at 303.0 yards per game.
“We’re going to have to play our assignments,” noted Chryst. “I think that’s what they force you to do. Once the ball declares, then we have to get hats to the ball. They do a nice job so guys are going to have to play their positions. It comes down to the situations we were working on today.”
Following practice, Chryst and the players stepped away from the gridiron to take a visit to the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, spending approximately an hour visiting patients before heading back to its headquarter hotel for the day.
Friday’s schedule has been altered with the team opting to not to practice at AT&T Stadium. The team’s offensive news conference, featuring offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph, RB Corey Clement, OL Michael Deiter, QB Bart Houston, RB Dare Ogunbowale and OL Ryan Ramczyk, will take place tomorrow afternoon but is set to start 30 minutes earlier than originally scheduled at 1:30 pm CST.
The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic celebrates its 81st anniversary on Monday, January 2. Airtime on ESPN is set for noon CST, with kickoff slated for 12:01 p.m.
This marks the third consecutive year for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl to be a part of the ESPN bowl lineup. Bob Wischusen and Brock Huard will provide the call from the booth with Allison Williams reporting from the sideline.
ESPN Radio returns as the Classic's national radio partner for the fifth consecutive year. Brad Sham, the "Voice of the Dallas Cowboys," teams with Rod Gilmore in the booth and Quint Kessenich on the sideline to describe all the action from AT&T Stadium. This is Sham's 20th consecutive year as the Classic's play-by-play voice and his 24th overall.
