Badgers open 2009 season against Northern Illinois
September 04, 2009 | Football
The 2009 college football season finally arrives on Saturday as Wisconsin opens its campaign by hosting Northern Illinois at 6 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium. The Badgers have won 11 season-openers in a row and hold a 10-1 mark against the Huskies, including a 44-3 victory in 2007.
Saturday night's game will be shown live on the Big Ten Network (Charter Ch. 73, Direct TV Ch. 623, DISH Network Ch. 5440 and 9501 HD) with Wayne Larrivee and Chris Martin in the booth and Charissa Thompson on the sidelines. On the radio, Matt Lepay and Mike Lucas will be calling the action statewide on the Wisconsin Radio Network, including 1310 AM in Madison and online at the new All-Access broadband channel, insideBADGERSPORTS.com . Tickets are still available for the game and can be ordered groupCode=FS&linkID=wisc&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode="> --> here .
Make UWBadgers.com your destination for all aspects of Badger football this season. Full coverage includes an in-game blog, game story, video interviews with players, head coach Bret Bielema's post-game press conference, feature stories on key aspects and players, player quotes, game notes, statistics, highlights and more.
The Badgers are 28-11 in Bielema's three seasons as head coach, including a 19-2 record at home. The team returns 42 letterwinners from a year ago and 13 total starters. The captains for the 2009 Badgers are seniors Garrett Graham, Chris Maragos, O 'Brien Schofield and Mickey Turner.
Jerry Kill enters his second season at Northern Illinois after working at Southern Illinois from 2001-07. The 15-year head coaching veteran has a 110-64-0 overall record, but last season was his first with an NCAA FBS program. In his debut season, Kill led the Huskies to a berth in the Independence Bowl. It was just the third bowl appearance in school history.
Fans can read more about how these two teams stack up by reading the Badgers' game notes .
Coach Bielema sportid=111&storyid=18836"> --> spoke with the media on Monday. Read about his thoughts on the Badgers ' first game and watch the press conference in its entirety.
The Big Ten Network has its story_id=3348355"> --> preview story up now. This page is full of information, including audio and video from Coach Bielema and other notes to know for Saturday's game.
On Friday, the public is invited to the induction of the Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2009. The ceremony begins at 6 p.m. outside the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center. View all of the members of the 2009 class sportid=200&storyid=18895"> --> here . The Hall of Fame class will also be recognized at halftime of the football game.
Junior quarterback Scott Tolzien will be making his first career start on Saturday. He's doing his part off the field too, sportid=111&storyid=18885"> --> volunteering at an elementary school in Rolling Meadows, Ill.
Want to take a photo tour of Camp Randall and the Field House' Now you can thanks to @BuckyBadger on Twitter. See areas for football, wrestling and volleyball on Bucky Badger's Flickr page .
For fans heading to the game, take note that certain areas around Camp Randall are under construction. Find out which areas are sportid=111&storyid=18887"> --> affected .
One way to avoid the construction is to take the sportid=111&storyid=18766"> --> Bucky Bus . It's up and running again for the 2009 season.
The Madison Metro Bus schedule has set departure times for Saturday night. Click the following links to find departure times:
# 0133 University Ave at Breese Terrace
(Route 2 Departures to North Transfer Point, Route 8 Departures to Capitol Square, Route 82 Departures towards Breese/Broom)
#0692 University Ave. at Breese Terrace
(Route 2 Departures to West Transfer Point, Route 8 Departures to Spring Harbor)
#0336 Randall Ave. at Engineering Dr.
(Route 7 towards West Transfer Point)
#0692 University Ave. at Breese Terrace
(Route 2 Departures to West Transfer Point, Route 8 Departures to Spring Harbor)
#0682 Monroe St. at Regent St.
(Route 7 to West Transfer Point)
#0249 Monroe St. at Regent St.
(Route 7 to East Transfer Point)
#0349 Breese Terrace at Regent St.
(Route 82 Departures towards Breese/Broom)
Prior to the game, check out the sportid=111&storyid=18879"> --> Badger Bash . It's happening two hours before kickoff at Engineering Hall.
While at the game, be sure to purchase a Gameday program. Catch a sportid=111&storyid=18888"> --> sneak preview of it now.
New at Badger football games this year are sportid=111&storyid=18869"> --> Game Day radios . Fans can listen to a delay-free, live radio broadcast in stadium of all Badger football games, both home and away.
Also new is the one-stop All-Access Silverlight media player for audio and video streams, insideBADGERSPORTS.com .
As part of the NCAA's national sportsmanship campaign, the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and NCAA are partnering to hold a national 'AFCA/NCAA RESPECT Weekend' the opening weekend of the 2009 football season. The highlight of the weekend will be prior to Saturday's kickoff where players from both teams will shake hands at midfield.
