Senior linebacker DeAndre Levy's reaction was probably similar to most fans when he found out in February the Wisconsin Badgers had scheduled a football game against Cal Poly.

"Never heard of them — at all," Levy said. "Kind of joked it off, like, 'Who is this team?'"

But after he started watching tapes of the Mustangs, Levy has had a change of heart. "They've got good players and guys that can make plays," he said. "They've put up a lot of good numbers, a lot of yards. It's going to be a fun challenge for us."

It's the job of UW coach Bret Bielema this week to educate both his players and the fans about the caliber of opponent the Badgers face in their final regular-season game on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.

Cal Poly is 8-1 overall, having won seven straight, and is ranked third in both the media and coaches' polls among Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) schools.

Bielema began the process of informing his players on Sunday and started with the fans at his Monday press conference, although the general public is probably a tougher sell.

"We know we've got a very good football team coming in here for Senior Day," Bielema said. "Our kids, we tuned them into it (Sunday) night, just watching film and having them take a peek at Cal Poly as early as we could."

Levy believes the Badgers, after watching the tapes, will respect their opponent this week.

"Definitely, definitely, they've got quality athletes and a good scheme, to make guys look bad on film," Levy said of the Mustangs' triple-option offense. "It's going to be fun for us."

Cal Poly has a prolific offense that is averaging 46.4 points, 303.6 rushing yards and 493.7 total yards per game. It also has a 6-foot-6 receiver, Ramses Barden, who has caught 55 passes for 1,066 yards, with 15 touchdowns, and could be one of the top skill players at the FCS level.

Of course, that may not matter to some UW fans, who have complained bitterly about this game since it was scheduled. To refresh memories, the chain of events that led to this game started when UW backed out of a scheduled home game against Virginia Tech to create a bye on Sept. 20.

Bielema did that because the Badgers did not have an open date during conference play and opened Big Ten play against Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State.

UW officials said previously they contacted more than 20 schools from other Bowl Championship Series conferences with mutual open dates. They were thought to have worked out a deal to play Texas-El Paso, but Conference USA didn't want one of its teams playing a non-conference game that late.

Bielema said he checked the remaining five or six teams that could fill the date and took the strongest one, which was Cal Poly.

"I believe they've been 7-4 the last two years," Bielema said. "I knew that they had a senior quarterback (Jonathan Dally) and a big-time receiver coming back. I actually YouTubed them because I didn't know a lot about their offense and just basically tried to get us the best competition at that time, and they're more than that.

"They're a tremendous football team that knows how to win football games."

From the infirmary

The injury news is mostly good this week, although sophomore wide receiver Kyle Jefferson almost certainly won't play after suffering a concussion against Minnesota.

"The thing about concussions, there's varying degrees," Bielema said. "(Linebacker) Jaevery McFadden had a concussion in a ballgame and returned the next week. It wasn't that severe. Kyle had some pretty significant test results from his initial (injury), so he'd probably be doubtful to unlikely."

Senior right tackle Eric Vanden Heuvel, who missed the last game with an ankle injury, worked out on Sunday and should play.

Running back Zach Brown, who missed the last game with bruised ribs, and strong safety Jay Valai, who left the game with a bruised shin, are both expected to be full go this week.

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Fewer than 200 tickets, which were part of those returned by Cal Poly, remained unsold as of Monday afternoon. ... Defensive tackle Mike Newkirk was the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Week after finishing with seven tackles and two sacks, including a safety, against the Gophers.