Badgers’ challenge is far from over
October 31, 2016 | Football, Andy Baggot
Wisconsin looks to snap losing streak vs. Wildcats at Ryan Field
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — One of the funkiest rivalries in Wisconsin football history is about to unfold against a backdrop of wishful thinking.
The eighth-ranked Badgers take their act to Northwestern on Saturday, trying to stay in the Big Ten Conference title hunt and win at Ryan Field for the first time since 1999.
That's not a misprint.
Seventeen years have passed since UW last pulled away from the picturesque lakeshore campus in Evanston, Illinois, feeling good about itself.
That's when Nick Saban was a head coach in the Big Ten, not at defending national champion Alabama, and Paul Chryst was an assistant in the NFL, not running the show at Wisconsin.
That's when LeBron James was a freshman in high school, not an NBA icon, and Vince Biegel was 6 years old, not a standout outside linebacker for the Badgers.
UW was ranked 11th in the nation and on its way to a second-straight Big Ten championship in 1999 when it went on the road and walloped the Wildcats 35-19.
Since then the neighboring clubs — separated by 142 miles and the Illinois state line — have faced one another 10 times with Northwestern winning six. That includes all four meetings at the smallest football stadium in the league (47,330).
"It's a strange thing," UW senior tailback Dare Ogunbowale said Monday. "We've had some great teams here. For that to be a thing just shows how big of a game this is for us and how well they play against us."
Though the Badgers (6-2 overall, 3-2 in the Big Ten) still don't control their destiny in their quest to represent the West Division in the conference championship game Dec. 3 in Indianapolis, none of their next three opponents have a winning record overall, including the Wildcats (4-4, 3-2). That's triggered a collective sigh from some UW followers who believe the worst is over.
Wisconsin has famously faced five top-10 teams in its first eight games, winning three times on the way to becoming bowl eligible for the 15th-consecutive season. Since that gauntlet has run its course, some think the stress will ease.
"I think it is easy to buy into what people may be saying on the outside as far as getting through the gauntlet and this being the easy part of the schedule," UW senior cornerback Sojourn Shelton said.
One problem.
"No part of playing college football games are easy," Shelton said. "Our whole thing is just not getting complacent. I think we've played pretty good football. Now it's just staying consistent."
Long before the season began, fans and media members obsessed over the perceived difficulty of Wisconsin's schedule. The season opener with No. 5 LSU gave way to assignments versus No. 8 Michigan State, No. 4 Michigan, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Nebraska.
The Badgers more than held their own in each. They knocked off LSU 16-14, Michigan State 30-6 and Nebraska 23-17 in overtime. They endured close losses to Michigan (14-7) and Ohio State (30-23 in OT).
At every step along the way, Chryst has calmly preached focus.
"That's one of the things that we knew going into the season, that there would be a lot of outside noise and it doesn't help you as a player and us as a team," he said.
"You've got to try and ignore all the outside noise because none of it matters. We know this is a tough stretch."
So much of Wisconsin's recent history against the Wildcats boggles the mind and not in a good way.
This is the fifth straight time UW has traveled to Evanston ranked in the top 20 — 20th in 2003; 14th in '05; 17th in '09 and 17th in '14 — to face an unrated opponent.
The Badgers lost at Ryan Field in 2005 despite cranking out 48 points and in 2009 even though they scored 31.
Some perspective: Dating back to 1889, Wisconsin is 151-2 when scoring 40 or more points. The only losses were to the Wildcats in 2000 (47-44 in double OT) and in 2005 (51-48).
UW has lost in Evanston with a 200-yard rusher: Melvin Gordon had 259 in 2014.
The Badgers have fallen at Ryan Field with a 300-yard passer: John Stocco had 326 in 2005.
Wisconsin has failed to win in Evanston despite allowing 73 yards rushing (2009) and despite coming to town unbeaten (5-0 in 2005).
You can see why UW players and coaches roll their eyes when people talk about the schedule getting easier, especially with their next assignment. "I don't know if I've ever been around a football season where November was an easy month," Chryst said.
"We didn't look at the gauntlet like a gauntlet," Ogunbowale said. "We looked at the whole season as a challenge, an opportunity to do good things. That still goes on.
"We don't look at anything differently now that the gauntlet, as people have said, is done."
Since 1999, the Big Ten has expanded twice to 14 members and seen six schools change football coaches five times.
Since their victory in Evanston 17 years ago, the Badgers have won 154 games and four Big Ten titles.
Wisconsin has its eyes on another league championship and, perhaps, a berth in the four-team College Football Playoff.
"All our goals are still in front of us, but we've got to take care of business," junior tight end Troy Fumagalli said.
As for those who think the Badgers are temporarily out of the woods with games against Northwestern, Illinois (2-6, 1-4) and Purdue (3-5, 1-4) leading up to a season-ending duel with Minnesota (6-2, 3-2)?
"I would say that they're very wrong," Biegel said, "because the rest of the schedule still poses a lot of challenges."
