Madison, WI - Coming off an impressive 41-21 season opening victory on the road against UNLV, the Wisconsin Badgers have moved up to No. 11 in both top 25 college football polls. Wisconsin began the season as No. 12 in both polls.

Offensive Player of the Week: QB Denard Robinson (Michigan) - 383 total yards (197 rushing) (19/22 186 passing) and two total touchdowns.

Defensive Player of the Week: S Tyler Moeller (Ohio State) - seven tackles, two for losses (-10), one sack and a forced fumble. The team shutout Marshall and allowed only 44 yards rushing. 

Special Teams Player of the Week:  RB Paki O'Mera (Iowa) - Blocked a punt and returned it 42 yards for a TD against Eastern Illinois. 

Co-Freshman Player of the Week: RB Le'Von Bell (Michigan State) - 141 yards on 10 carries and two TD's against Western Michigan. 

QB Rob Bolden (Penn State) - 20/29 239 yards and two TD's. 

Instead of going with the standard prediction column I thought I'd 'predict' the numbers that we'll see tonight in Vegas.

Lids/Impact Sports "Beat the Man Challenge" picks: Michigan to win and cover vs UCONN, LSU to win and cover vs NC and TCU to win and cover vs Oregon State. 

Badger game numbers predictions:

Wisconsin 42, UNLV 14

Scott Tolzien: 12/15 213 2 TD's

Jon Budmayr: 8/13 134 1 TD, 1 INT.

John Clay: 10 carries, 62 yards TD.

Montee Ball: 20 carries 104 yards TD.

James White: 12 carries 70 yards TD.

Nick Toon: 4 catches 50 yards TD.

David Gilreath: 3 catches 40 yards TD.

Jared Abbrederis: 5 catches 70 yards TD.

The Wisconsin Badgers open up their 2010 campaign tonight under the lights of Las Vegas, Nevada against the UNLV Running Rebels.

What's going on with all this Big Ten division talk?

Today, the Big Ten Conference begins a new era with the release of their new divisional alignment. The decision to separate into two divisions comes with the conference's plan to create two, even divisions in order to host a Big Ten Conference Championship Game, which will match the winners of each division against one another.

With the recent addition of the conference's 12th team (Nebraska), the Big Ten will now be divided up into two, six-team conferences.

The Big Ten Conference has yet to release division names, but Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany assures that details are on their way soon.

What do the new divisions look like, and which is Wisconsin in?

Divisions were separated and chosen based on (in no particular order): geography, competitive balance and rivalries.

The Big Ten released their "new look divisions" Wed, Sept. 1st at 7PM ET.

Division 1:

Iowa

Michigan

Michigan State

Minnesota

Nebraska

Northwestern

Division 2:

Indiana

Illinois

Ohio State

Penn State

Purdue

Wisconsin

Our biggest rivals (Minnesota and Iowa) are not in our division. Are the rivalries dead?

Do not worry, the rivalries are not dead!

The Big Ten has determined that each team will play six division games, one protected cross-over game and two rotated cross-over games.

The protected cross-over games include:

Ohio State vs. Michigan

Illinois vs. Northwestern

Indiana vs. Michigan State

Penn State vs. Nebraska

Purdue vs. Iowa

Wisconsin vs. Minnesota

So as you can see the Badgers and Gophers will be able to keep their rivalry, one of the oldest rivalries in college football history, alive.

The two rotated cross-over games will also allow for Wisconsin to still have chances to play Iowa, even though Iowa is in the opposite division.

Who will Wisconsin play next year in the Big Ten?

I’ll do ya one better. Here’s Wisconsin’s 2011 and 2012 Big Ten Conference Schedules:

2011 Conference Schedule:

Oct. 1 Nebraska (Wisco has honor of hosting Nebraska's first Big Ten game)

Oct. 15 Indiana

Oct. 22 @ Michigan State

Oct. 29 @ Ohio State

Nov. 5 Purdue

Nov. 12 @ Minnesota

Nov. 19 @ Illinois

Nov. 26 Penn State

2012 Conference Schedule:

Sept. 29 @ Nebraska

Oct. 6 Illinois

Oct. 13 @ Purdue

Oct. 20 Minnesota

Oct. 27 Michigan State

Nov. 10 @ Indiana

Nov. 17 Ohio State

Nov. 24 @ Penn State

How do Athletic Director Barry Alvarez and Head Coach Bret Bielema feel about the changes?

Here are the official statements of Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema (released by UW officials):

Alvarez said: "The Big Ten staff and directors of athletics focused on three criteria as we discussed the divisional alignments: competitive equality, maintaining traditional rivalries and geography. A lot went into this and there was a lot of give and take amongst all the schools in the conference. I'm happy with the way things have turned out for our program and our department."

Bielema said: "This is an ever-changing world in college football and we are excited to be a part of it. I know a lot of different scenarios were discussed at the administrative level and we are pleased with the results. It was important to us to keep the longest running continuous rivalry in college football history alive so we are happy that we will play Minnesota every year. And we'll be part of history when we host Nebraska in its first Big Ten Conference game next October. Also, I think the addition of a championship game will be tremendous for the league and a fantastic opportunity for our players."

contributions from Brandon Harrison