BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — On very short notice, Jonathan Taylor demonstrated an admirable recall of Wisconsin football history.
No sooner had the Badgers been tabbed to play in the Rose Bowl for the 10th time in program history, a decision that came down Sunday afternoon, Taylor settled in behind another set of microphones and showed his readiness for the moment.
The peerless junior running back talked about Wisconsin's "rich, deep tradition" of appearing in the fabled venue and how the historic displays in and around the Camp Randall Stadium football headquarters make "you definitely want to be able to do right by this place."
Taylor then dropped a couple bits of impressive knowledge, pointing out that it's been 20 years since the Badgers last played in the "Granddaddy of Them All" and won in the gorgeous shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains.
"We'll have an opportunity to etch our place in history," he said.
Indeed.
The Badgers, slotted eighth in the final College Football playoff rankings, will face No. 6 Oregon on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, California.
Wisconsin (10-3 overall) is coming off a 34-21 loss to second-ranked Ohio State in the Big Ten Football Championship Game.
The Ducks (11-2) are fresh off a 37-15 victory over No. 11 Utah in the Pac-12 Conference title game.
Taylor, the only back in Football Bowl Subdivision history to amass 6,000 rushing yards in just three seasons, has twice been witness to the Rose Bowl legacy at Wisconsin.
In 2018, he and his teammates saw members of the 1993 team — the first from Madison to claim victory in Pasadena — celebrate their 25th anniversary reunion.
Earlier this season, he and his teammates saw members of the 1999 squad — the first Big Ten team in the modern era to win consecutive Rose Bowls — commemorate their 20th anniversary reunion.
Taylor said getting a chance to participate and share in that experience in Southern California is a gift.
"It means a lot, especially because you make the Badger alumni very proud," he said. "All they want to see you do is succeed, so the best we can do is have a great game plan, have great preparation so we can go out there and make those guys proud."
The Badgers have a distinctive resume where bowl games are concerned. They've qualified for 18 straight — the longest current streak among Big Ten schools — and won a program-record five consecutive bowls.
Wisconsin's links to the Rose Bowl are even more defined. It lost its first three (1952, '59 and '62) before winning three in a row (1993, '98 and '99). The Badgers followed that up with three straight Rose Bowl appearances (2010, '11 and '12) that ended with one-score setbacks.
Paul Chryst is the fifth Wisconsin coach to guide his club to a Rose Bowl berth — joining Ivy Williamson in 1952; Milt Bruhn in 1959 and '62; Barry Alvarez in 1993, '98 and '99; and Bret Bielema in 2010, '11 and '12 — but is the first former Badgers player to do so.
Alvarez, now the Wisconsin director of athletics, is in the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame (2009). So is Alan Ameche (2004), Ron Dayne (2011), Pat Richter (1994) and Ron Vander Kelen (1991).
What comes to mind when current Badgers players are asked about the Rose Bowl?
"Just the history of it," said senior inside linebacker Chris Orr, who hails from DeSoto, Texas. "Great games have been played there. Great plays have been made there."
Junior quarterback Jack Coan said his awareness of the Rose Bowl goes back to a middle-school memory growing up in Sayville, New York.
"One of my old lacrosse coaches, he used to always go to the Rose Bowl and he used to tell me, 'One day I'm going to come watch you play,'" Coan said. "Pretty amazing."
Senior outside linebacker Zack Baun grew up in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, but confessed he didn't get caught up watching bowl games as a kid. But he does pay attention these days when he moves about the football complex.
"There's a lot of history between the Rose Bowl and Wisconsin," he said. "You see it all over the walls. You see it walking down the hallway. You see it up in the locker room.
"You hear all the stories about how much the Rose Bowl means to the program. To be part of that is just building on a legacy."
Coan couldn't help but be struck by the celebrations of past Rose Bowl winners. All had their own personalities, memories and legacies.
"You see the history around this building and you see the Rose Bowl teams coming back to this place," he said. "To think that could be us coming back years from now would be amazing."
The matchup with Oregon is a throwback to Jan. 2, 2012, when the Badgers, led by quarterback Russell Wilson and All-America running back Montee Ball, lost an up-tempo shootout 45-38.
Taylor, the reigning Doak Walker Award winner who leads the nation in scoring, said he grew up believing the Rose Bowl is the biggest bowl you could play in. That hasn't been diminished during his time at Wisconsin.
"The Rose Bowl is very special here," said Taylor, who grew up in Salem, New Jersey. "To go out there and get a win would mean a lot to us."
The outcome is just as important as the ride.
"It's going to be an unbelievable experience," Coan said.
"One last game with the guys and this team really means a lot," Baun said.
