Badgers' future non-conference schedule

A comment from New England Badger following the last Paul Chryst post called into question our non-conference schedule, and a nice little discussion followed. Let's break it out into its own post.

Here's what we have booked for the next six seasons:

2008 - Akron; Marshall - remember Randy Moss, Chad Pennington, Byron Leftwich; Fresno State - a team Sporting News says should make the preseason top 25

2009 - Central Florida - a bowl team this year with the nation's leading rusher; Fresno State - see 2008; at Hawaii - a BCS team this year that will probably regress after losing June Jones

2010 - UNLV; San Diego State; Arizona State - a nice opponent, ranked in the top 10 late this season

2011 - UNLV; Oregon State - played in a BCS game recently, a TSN dark horse in the Pac-10 next year; Northern Illinois

2012 - San Diego State; Arizona State

2013 - Oregon State

That's not too bad, all things considered. Oregon State and Arizona State are about our equivalent in the Pac-10, and Fresno, Hawaii, and Marshall have been the cream of the non-BCS crop at one point or another in the last decade.

But with a nod to New England Badger, look at these 2008 non-conference games and tell me you don't feel jealous we don't get one like these:

Illinois vs. Missouri (annual rivalry game)
Tennessee vs. UCLA (Vols always seem to play a game like this)
Auburn vs. West Virginia
Miami vs. Florida (looked better when they scheduled it)
Ohio State vs. USC (wow! kudos to both schools for having the cajones for scheduling this one)
Arkansas vs. Texas (old rivalry)
Georgia vs. Arizona State

Hopefully one of our upcoming games will take on the stature of these big ones. Time will tell.