1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team

The 1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin during the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season.

1998 Wisconsin Badgers football
Big Ten co-champion
Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 38–31 vs. UCLA
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 5
APNo. 6
1998 record11–1 (7–1 Big Ten)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorBrad Childress (8th season)
Defensive coordinatorKevin Cosgrove (4th season)
Home stadiumCamp Randall Stadium
(Capacity: 76,129, Astroturf)
1998 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 2 Ohio State %+  7 –1     11 –1  
No. 6 Wisconsin $+  7 –1     11 –1  
No. 12 Michigan +  7 –1     10 –3  
No. 24 Purdue  6 –2     9 –4  
No. 17 Penn State  5 –3     9 –3  
Michigan State  4 –4     6 –6  
Minnesota  2 –6     5 –6  
Indiana  2 –6     4 –7  
Illinois  2 –6     3 –8  
Iowa  2 –6     3 –8  
Northwestern  0 –8     3 –9  
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • % – BCS at-large representative
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Wisconsin finished the regular season 10–1 overall (7–1 conference) and were co-champions of the Big Ten Conference (with Ohio State and Michigan) for the first time since 1993. They were awarded the berth in the 1999 Rose Bowl due to Big Ten Conference tie-breaking rules, at the time, which gave the Rose Bowl invitation to the tied team which had gone the longest period of time without an invitation: Michigan had been in the 1998 Rose Bowl, Ohio State had been in the 1997 Rose Bowl, while Wisconsin's last Rose Bowl was 1994.

The circumstances of this selection, the fact that Ohio State was the higher-ranked team (Ohio State was the pre-season #1 and spent most of the season with this ranking: Wisconsin did not play Ohio State or Michigan State that year, so Ohio State had the better record versus common opponents due to the Michigan loss), combined with the fact that the opponent (UCLA) was ranked #2 and headed to the national title game before a season-ending loss, led to ridicule in the national media: most notably, Craig James' declaration that Wisconsin was "the worst team to ever play in the Rose Bowl." Wisconsin went on to defeat #6 UCLA 38–31 in the 1999 Rose Bowl. Afterward, Badger coach Barry Alvarez fired back, "Well, I know we're at least the second worst."[1][2]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 58:00 p.m.at San Diego State*No. 20
W 26–1437,471[3]
September 1211:30 a.m.Ohio*No. 17
MSCW 45–074,676[4]
September 191:00 p.m.UNLV*No. 14
  • Camp Randall Stadium
  • Madison, WI
W 52–775,044[5]
September 2611:00 a.m.NorthwesternNo. 14
  • Camp Randall Stadium
  • Madison, WI
ESPNW 38–778,337[6]
October 311:00 a.m.at IndianaNo. 13
ESPN2W 24–2032,328[7]
October 107:30 p.m.PurdueNo. 12
  • Camp Randall Stadium
  • Madison, WI
ESPN2W 31–2478,782[8]
October 1711:00 a.m.at IllinoisNo. 9
ESPN2W 37–340,627[9]
October 242:30 p.m.at IowaNo. 9
ABCW 31–070,397[10]
November 711:00 a.m.MinnesotaNo. 8
ESPNW 26–778,767[11]
November 1411:00 a.m.at No. 15 MichiganNo. 8
ESPNL 10–27111,217[12]
November 212:00 p.m.No. 14 Penn StateNo. 13
  • Camp Randall Stadium
  • Madison, WI
ESPNW 24–378,964[13]
January 1, 19993:30 p.m.vs. No. 6 UCLA*No. 9
ABCW 38–3193,872[14]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Roster
1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE 81 Mark Anelli Fr
RB 29 Michael Bennett Fr
QB 5 Brooks Bollinger Fr
WR 88 Chris Chambers So
T 54 Dave Costa So
WR 3 Nick Davis Fr
RB 33 Ron Dayne Jr
G 60 Bill Ferrario So
T 79 Aaron Gibson Sr
RB 37 Cecil Martin Sr
WR 1 Ahmad Merritt Jr
T 75 Chris McIntosh Jr
C 70 Casey Rabach So
QB 10 Mike Samuel Sr
TE/LS 86 Mike Solwold Jr
G 68 Mark Tauscher Jr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DT 77 Wendell Bryant Fr
DE 74 Tom Burke Sr
FS 8 Jason Doering So
CB 36 Mike Echols Fr
CB 2 Jamar Fletcher So
LB 16 Chris Ghidorzi Jr
LB 49 Nick Greisen Fr
LB 19 Roger Knight So
DT 78 Ross Kolodziej So
LB 45 Dan Lisowski So
SS 26 Bobby Myers Jr
DE 99 Jake Sprague Fr
LB 44 Donnel Thompson Jr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K 20 Vitaly Pisetsky Jr
LS 46 Mike Schneck Sr
P 14 Kevin Stemke Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Roster

Regular starters

Game summaries

UCLA (Rose Bowl)
Wisconsin vs. UCLA
(Rose Bowl)
1 234Total
• #9 Badgers 7 1777 38
#6 UCLA 7 1473 31
Main article: 1999 Rose Bowl
See also: 1998 UCLA Bruins football team


Individual awards and honors

1999 NFL Draft
PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL Club
Aaron GibsonTackle127Detroit Lions
Tom BurkeLinebacker383Arizona Cardinals
Cecil MartinFullback6172Philadelphia Eagles

[15]

References
  1. Howard-Cooper, Scott (January 2, 1999). "After Dayne Runs Them Over, They Beat Themselves Up - UCLA Conquered and Divided After Rose Bowl Defeat". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
  2. Gurnick, Ken (January 2, 1999). "College Football: Rose Bowl; Badgers Prove Doubters Wrong". The New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
  3. "Wisconsin at San Diego St". CNN. September 6, 1998.
  4. "Ohio at Wisconsin". CNN. September 12, 1998.
  5. "UNLV at Wisconsin". CNN. September 19, 1998.
  6. "Northwestern at Wisconsin". CNN. September 26, 1998.
  7. "Wisconsin at Indiana". CNN. October 3, 1998.
  8. "Purdue at Wisconsin". CNN. October 11, 1998.
  9. "Wisconsin at Illinois". CNN. October 17, 1998.
  10. "Wisconsin at Iowa". CNN. October 24, 1998.
  11. "Minnesota at Wisconsin". CNN. November 7, 1998.
  12. "Wisconsin at Michigan". CNN. November 14, 1998.
  13. "Penn State at Wisconsin". CNN. November 21, 1998.
  14. Bagnato, Andrew (January 2, 1999). "Badgers Say Cheese". Chicago Tribune.
  15. "1999 NFL Draft".
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