Dream Season: Five Things to Remember vs. Purdue
October 06, 2020 | Football, Andy Baggot
Which future NFL hall of famers faced the Badgers in storied season?
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Decades later, the history of the moment catches your eye.
Wisconsin won back-to-back Big Ten Conference football titles in 1998 and '99 while facing two future first-ballot NFL Hall of Fame quarterbacks.
The Badgers won both meetings with Purdue and Drew Brees, who now, at the age of 41, owns the NFL career records for passing yards, completions and touchdown passes while playing for New Orleans.
Wisconsin lost both encounters with Michigan and Tom Brady, who now, at the age of 43, has a record six Super Bowl rings and three NFL Most Valuable Player awards playing for New England and Tampa Bay.
In 1998, the Badgers survived an epic duel with Brees at Camp Randall Stadium. He set NCAA and Big Ten records on a night when he completed 55 of 83 passes for 494 yards and two touchdowns. Wisconsin prevailed 31-24 in part because Brees threw four interceptions.
Five weeks later, the Badgers were 9-0 overall when they absorbed a 27-10 loss at Michigan, where Brady was 15-for-24 for 202 yards and a TD.
Wisconsin proceeded to face another highly regarded quarterback to close out the '98 season. During its 38-31 victory over UCLA in the Rose Bowl, Cade McNown threw for 340 yards and two TDs. He subsequently was chosen by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the NFL draft in 1999.
Here are five more things to remember:
Timing Is Everything
During that record-setting encounter in 1998, Purdue ran 103 plays from scrimmage to 63 for the Badgers, who nonetheless finished with a slight lead in time of possession (30:16 to 29:44). No Wisconsin opponent has had an outing with 100-plus plays since then.
Amazing Stat, Part I
Brees completed only one pass of 20-plus yards. That was a 21-yarder to wide out Isaac Jones late in the second quarter. The game-changing pick-six by Wisconsin redshirt freshman cornerback Jamar Fletcher, which broke a 17-all tie in the third quarter, covered 52 yards.
Were you there the night when "Jump Around" tradition was born?
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) October 6, 2020
More on the night of historic firsts for Wisconsin in both football and fan tradition
Saturday, we'll relive the classic as part of the #UWDreamSeasonhttps://t.co/P23XvNRHTx
Amazing Stat, Part II
Wisconsin senior quarterback Mike Samuel didn't throw his 83rd pass or register his 55th completion until the seventh game of the 1998 regular season. He never threw for more than 200 yards that season. Brees, meanwhile, had 206 at halftime at Camp Randall.
Bend, Don't Break
Purdue amassed 570 yards of total offense in that '98 duel. The Badgers have allowed at least that many yards four times since then. All were losses: 631 to Indiana in 2001 (63-32); 570 to Illinois in '01 (42-35); 674 to Northwestern in 2005 (51-48); and 621 to Oregon in the 2012 Rose Bowl (45-38).
Seeing Double
Wisconsin senior linebacker Bob Adamov was credited with 23 tackles, including 16 solos, while junior linebacker Chris Ghidorzi had 22 with 11 solos. The last time the Badgers had two players with 20-plus tackles was in 1973 when Mark Zakula had 25 and Richard Jakious had 23 during a 36-34 Big Ten win over Northwestern.
