Goal: To thoroughly experience gameday at every FBS college football stadium. STADIUM COUNT: 108/134
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.
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.
Call it a come from behind victory without the dramatics of the 1997 season. UNLV came in to Camp Randall Stadium wearing a Boise State outfit, but you can’t copy an original. Everyone (except the newly hazed freshmen) thought of last year’s dreadful game with Boise State when on Wisconsin’s opening drive, QB Mike Samuel had his pass intercepted at the line of scrimmage and returned half of the field for a touchdown. Against Boise State, the opening play was a fumble return TD for the Broncos and it took three quarters for the Badgers to recover.
Home openers in Madison are a blast…especially when your team is already 1-0 and well oiled. The Badgers had just defeated San Diego State a week earlier out in California. It was a typical 80-degree and humid September day in Wisconsin and the stadium was crammed with many shirtless cheeseheads.
The day before this game, I walked down to Camp Randall Stadium to watch ABC set up their cameras and get ready for the big game. I walked inside the stadium and ventured to the upper deck to get a wider view. Essentially, I was the only one in the stands making up one of the near eighty thousand that would pack the stadium tomorrow.
The last time I saw Iowa play Wisconsin, I learned a lesson. I understood why Badger fans have such a sour feeling for the Hawkeyes. Wisconsin coach, Barry Alvarez worked for Iowa coach Hayden Frye and the student had yet to beat the teacher. In fact, Wisconsin hadn’t defeated Iowa since 1976 – an ugly streak.