Football after Thanksgiving??

It looks like Wisconsin is trying to get the Iowa-Wisconsin game moved to the Saturday after Thanksgiving (http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/260941). Not gonna happen. Why would Wisconsin want to move a game to the week after Thanksgiving you might ask. Tradition? Nope. TV? Prolly not. It seems as though Coach Bret Bielema just cant handle the grind of the Big Ten schedule. Since moving to a 12 game schedule a few years ago, most Big Ten teams filled in their conference bye week with a non-conference game. Well in 2008 there are 13 Saturdays before Thanksgiving so all Big Ten teams will get a bye week and still have 12 games. But, unfortunatly for them, Wisconsin's bye week is the Saturday before Thanksgiving so they end their season in November 15 against Minnesota. It's similar to Iowa's Big Ten schedule in 2002 with 8 Big Ten games in 8 weeks. The Iowa game falls on October 18 in the middle of a tough strech for Wisconsin. At Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, at Iowa, Illinois. Moving the Iowa game would give their team a much needed bye week in that rough stretch and also allow them to have a bye week before playing at Iowa (you know Bielema loves nothing more than beating Iowa). Perhaps Bielema doesn't think that Wisconsin will be able to compete in all of those games and is looking for an excuse to make his schedule easier.

But now lets examine, from Iowa's perspective, on why this will not happen. Kirk Ferentz has always said that he likes finishing before Thanksgiving so that players can spend time with their families since often times Christmas is spent in preparation for the bowl game(although not this year). Iowa's scheduled bye week is October 25, so moving the game gives them two bye weeks in a row....not something you really want. Moving the home game would also mean that Iowa plays three straight road games separated by two bye weeks. Another bad thing although not as important is that many students will be visiting home for the holidays and may not be able to make if back for the game(I would be there). So a student section that isnt always full as it is might be even emptier despite this being a big rivalry game. Wisconsin claims that they will look for other teams to move if Iowa wont, but I have a hard time understanding why anybody would want to do that.

Well, as promised, my brief breakdown on the Heisman race which will end tonight. Chase Daniel had a great season but he hurt himself immensly in the Big 12 title game. Colt Brennan puts up crazy numbers more becuase of the system that he plays in. And Hawaii played the worst schedule in D-I. Tim Tebow will win it. Darren McFadden should win it. He is by far the best player in college football, but he will probably come in a distant second.