Goal: To thoroughly experience gameday at every FBS college football stadium. STADIUM COUNT: 113/134
Wisconsin’s loss to lowly Cincinnati last week raised eyebrows nationally and gnarled teeth locally. Prior to last week’s defeat, ESPN’s number one pre-game show, “College Gameday,” was all set to air their broadcast from Madison. They ordinarily choose the game of the week, but with the stunning failure by the Badgers, “College Gameday” almost turned the truck around and set up shop in a more worthy location.
Wisconsin had some deep wounds in their playing style. An inept offense was being covered by a band-aid of special teams, defense, and a heavy reliance on their Heisman trophy candidate, Ron Dayne. For Wisconsin’s last two opponents, the band-aid was strong enough to hold. However, the Cincinnati Bearcats not only located the protective covering, they clawed it off and dug deeper into the wound.
After devouring Murray State last week, the Badgers were clearly ready for seconds as Ball State wandered into Madison. With Wisconsin’s flimsy non-conference schedule, many hoped tailback Ron Dayne would continue to accumulate yards toward the nation’s rushing record. However, the Badgers were forced to rely more on special teams and defense in the first half due to an offense that appeared to be in a haze.
Every new season ushers in a new batch of questions. After last season’s Rose Bowl championship team, Wisconsin fans had plenty to wonder. Would the Badgers repeat as Big Ten champions? Can Ron Dayne get the 1,717 yards needed to surpass Ricky Williams and become the nation’s leading rusher? Will Dayne win the Heisman trophy? Who the hell is Murray State and where are they from?
The Badgers skidded last week and found their pants around their ankles. The bully? Michigan. Wisconsin fell from the ranks of the undefeated and now needed assistance to be Rose Bowl bound. Everyone knew what had to happen: Ohio State had to defeat Michigan and the Badgers had to take care of business at home against Penn State.
Is Wisconsin for real? Most critics labeled the Badgers as the worst undefeated team in the country due to their 98th ranked and rather feeble schedule. Nevertheless, a mythotical offense and suffocating defense has resulted in a slow and steady climb to the top ten.
With no Wisconsin games on the schedule, a trip to Purdue was scheduled to ameliorate the symptoms of withdrawal. On this Halloween day, parking was not terribly difficult to find, but my father insisted on using our grandmother’s handicapped parking permit to be closer to Ross-Ade Stadium. However, the handicap lot was quite a distance from the venue and we learned that disabled individuals received a golf cart ride up to the stadium. We all got a laugh as dad, featuring a Wisconsin hat, hopped aboard the S.S. Cripple and buzzed up the hill toward the game.
Last season, the Badgers ended a double decade losing streak to the Hawkeyes. The game was in Madison and Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez defeated his first boss, Hayden Frye. This year, the battle between these border states would be in Iowa City, where the streak still had a pulse knowing that UW has not won there since “Bennie and the Jets” was a #1 single.
This aint your daddy’s Purdue. Boilermaker coach Joe Tiller infested the Big Ten with an open aerial attack that turned three yards and a cloud of dust into eighty yards and a streak of steam. Due to the success of his system, led by pilot Drew Brees, the rest of the conference has been forced to conform and break from the conservative mold manufactured by the likes of Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler.
Starting a game with an onside kick raises questions. Northwestern coach Gary Barnett has stamped his program with moves like these and it has led him to back-to-back Big Ten championships. However the magic that “took the purple to Pasadena” has been flickering and his bag of tricks has become less ingenious and more a means of survival. He must have known that his Wildcats were outmatched.