ESPN sent its GameDay crew to Florida last weekend to televise the Gators' spring game, which drew a crowd of 61,000.

Alabama had 78,200 fans for its game last week, on the heels of a record crowd of 92,138 a year ago.

And at Nebraska, scalpers are doing brisk business, reportedly getting $95 for a $10 ticket for Saturday's sold-out spring game, the debut of coach Bo Pelini.

Spring fever appears to be busting out all over college football, but not at the University of Wisconsin.

Despite UW coach Bret Bielema beating the drum for last year's spring game, the Badgers drew 18,020 on a picture-perfect day with sunny skies and a game-time temperature of 73 degrees.

Undaunted by that experience, Bielema once again is doing what he can to push the attendance for Saturday's game at Camp Randall Stadium. Admission is free for the game, which will start at 1 p.m.

"It's hard to change a mode of thinking," Bielema said. "You go to some stadiums we are better than on game day, (yet) we don't have that same (spring) culture.

"I think people can't make definite plans because of weather. I don't know if there's anything we can ever do about that."

The rise in popularity of spring games at some schools is tempered by a rash of injuries at UW and other places in the Big Ten Conference, which had some coaches scaling back spring game plans.

The Badgers had as many as eight injured defensive linemen at one point, which had Bielema toying with the idea of using half-line skeleton drills for part of the game.

Those drills include three offensive linemen and two defensive linemen, plus the full complement of other players.

With the team's health improving recently, Bielema might not have to resort to that, but he reserved the right to change his mind based on how things go.

There's also the concern about injuries during the game. Who can forget UW receiver Lee Evans suffering a torn ACL in the 2002 game that forced him to miss the entire season? Bielema insisted those thoughts don't enter his mind.

"I never approach things that way," he said. "I can't think that way. Now, I will say this, if someone's a pretty significant player for us, I wouldn't scrimmage him beyond the first half."

The only player Bielema said he might consider limiting even more than that is senior defensive end Matt Shaughnessy.

Bielema also has come up with a couple of promotions, which he hopes will draw more UW students to the game. He has put up $2,000 of his own money, with a $500 drawing each quarter to go to a student for books. Also, a student will have the chance to win season tickets to every UW sport for the 2008-09 school year, if he or she is able to catch at least one of two punts from a Badgers punter.

"I just said, 'I've got to get a punter, to make sure we give them a legitimate shot,' " Bielema said of the team's punting problems in the spring.

Students can register for both contests Saturday at a table on the main concourse inside Gate 5. Students must present a valid UW student ID to participate. Bielema still believes interest in the spring game can grow, which would benefit the program in two ways.

"I'd love to get to 30,000 (or) 40,000 people," he said. "Two-fold: First off, exposure for our program. I'll do anything for exposure.

"But for us, we've got two kickers in our program, who will probably kick our first PAT or field goal next (season), who have never kicked in a live-game situation. I'm trying to create as big an atmosphere for them as possible."