Wisconsin set for 20th consecutive bowl game appearance

MADISON, Wis. — For the 20th consecutive season, the Wisconsin football team is going bowling. For the first time in school history, that bowl appearance will come in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. The Badgers (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten) will face Arizona State (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) on Dec. 30 at Allegiant Stadium. The game will kick off at 9:30 p.m. CT and be televised by ESPN.

“I’m extremely proud of our team for earning the right to play another game together, and we are excited that opportunity will come in the Las Vegas Bowl,” Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst said. “We look forward to the challenge of playing a very good Arizona State team.”

“We are very excited to be the inaugural Big Ten team to play in the Las Vegas Bowl,” UW Director of Athletics Chris McIntosh said. “Our fans have a great tradition of support in Vegas, even as recently as a couple weeks ago when our men’s basketball team won the Maui Invitational. Allegiant Stadium is a tremendous venue and I know our players will have a great bowl experience.”

Wisconsin owns the third-longest active bowl streak in the country, trailing only Georgia (25) and Oklahoma (23). The Badgers own a 5-1 record in bowl games under Chryst, with wins in the 2015 Holiday Bowl, 2017 Cotton Bowl, 2017 Orange Bowl, 2018 Pinstripe Bowl and 2020 Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

UW will face Arizona State for the fifth time in school history. ASU owns a 3-1 lead in the series but the teams have split the two most recent meetings, with Wisconsin winning, 20-19, in 2010 in Madison and the Sun Devils claiming the 2013 meeting in Tempe, 32-30. 

Wisconsin is no stranger to playing in Las Vegas as the Badgers have faced UNLV five times at Sam Boyd Stadium between 1986 and 2010, accounting for the Rebels’ top three home crowds in history. UW has won four straight games in Las Vegas, including its last trip west, a 41-21 win over UNLV in 2010.

COURTESY WISCONSIN ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS