TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Kalen DeBoer and No. 4 Alabama are set to travel up north to Madison, Wisconsin this week for the Crimson Tide’s first road test of its new era.
The Crimson Tide will take on the Wisconsin Badgers Saturday in Camp Randall in the first half of the home-and-home series between the schools.
Both teams have started the season 2-0, but Saturday will be the first power conference matchup for either team after games against Group of 5 opponents. Alabama is coming off a 42-16 victory over USF, where the Crimson Tide outscored the Bulls 28-3 in the fourth quarter to pull away.
Saturday’s game will take place inside Camp Randall Stadium, a place well-known to difficult road-trip for any team.
“It’s going to be a great atmosphere up there. I think it’s one that when you’re preparing to go play those games, that hostile environment is about taking it on and knowing it’s you versus everyone there,” DeBoer said in a press conference Monday.
One of the stories Alabama fans are following is the health of offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor. Proctor injured his shoulder in warmups ahead of Alabama’s home opener against Western Kentucky.
“He will continue to work on his functional movement early in the week and keep progressing. I feel like he’s coming along well, especially at the end of last week, working extremely hard to get back out there,” DeBoer said.
Proctor’s absence, among other injuries, have forced the Tide into an offensive-line shuffle that has tested the depth of the relatively-young unit. In Saturday’s game against South Florida, Alabama had 13 penalties for 120 yards, including six holding penalties from the offensive line.
For Wisconsin, the Badgers are coming off a 27-13 win against South Dakota of the FCS. Similar to Alabama, Wisconsin had just a one score lead heading into the fourth quarter before scoring a touchdown with under eight minutes left to seal a victory.
Alabama and Wisconsin have only faced off twice in history, splitting the first two matchups. Alabama won the most recent matchup of the two in September 2015 when the Crimson Tide took down the Badgers 35-17 in a neutral site game at AT&T Stadium.
Saturday will also mark the first time Wisconsin has hosted a ranked team during non-conference play since 2001 when then-No. 19 Fresno State went into Madison and took down the Badgers.
“I think our guys are looking forward to the challenge and looking forward to improving on last week and knowing we’re going to have to in order to get a win against Wisconsin,” DeBoer said.
Alabama and Wisconsin will kickoff at 11 a.m. CT Saturday as Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff game.
