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
Record11–1 (7–1 Big Ten)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorBrad Childress (7th as OC; 8th overall season)
Offensive schemeSmashmouth
Defensive coordinatorKevin Cosgrove (4th as OC; 9th overall season)
Base defense4–3
MVPBob Adamov
Tom Burke
Matt Davenport
Aaron Gibson
Eric Grams
Cecil Martin
Mike Samuel
Mike Schneck
Leonard Taylor
CaptainBob Adamov
Cecil Martin
Chris McIntosh
Donnel Thompson
Home stadiumCamp Randall Stadium
Seasons
← 1997
1999 →
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

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DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 58:00 p.m.at San Diego State*No. 20W 26–1437,471[3]
September 1211:30 a.m.Ohio*No. 17MSCW 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. 13ESPN2W 24–2032,328[7]
October 107:30 p.m.Purdue No. 12
  • Camp Randall Stadium
  • Madison, WI
ESPN2W 31–2478,782[8]
October 1711:00 a.m.at IllinoisNo. 9ESPN2W 37–340,627[9]
October 242:30 p.m.at IowaNo. 9ABCW 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. 8ESPNL 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. 9ABCW 38–3193,872[14]
  • *Non-conference game
  •  Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
AP201714141312999881310896
Coaches Poll20171414131098876129885
BCSNot released989131099Not released

Roster

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1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
TE 81 Mark Anelli   Fr
WR 7 Willie Austin Jr
RB 29 Michael Bennett Fr
QB 5 Brooks Bollinger Fr
WR 17 Demetrius Brown   Jr
FB 25 Marcus Carpenter   Jr
WR 88 Chris Chambers So
G 54 Dave Costa   So
OT 66 Pat Daley   Jr
RB 39 Carlos Daniels   Fr
WR 3 Nick Davis Fr
RB 33 Ron Dayne Jr
OL 55 Jason Eck   Jr
RB 4 Eddie Faulkner   So
G 60 Bill Ferrario   So
OT 79 Aaron Gibson Sr
WR 18 Rasheed Golden So
TE 89 Eric Grams   Sr
G 78 Kevin Kampmann   Jr
QB 12 Scott Kavanagh Jr
FB 41 Chad Kuhns   Fr
FB 37 Cecil Martin (C)   Sr
OT 75 Chris McIntosh (C)   Jr
WR 1 Ahmad Merritt   Jr
C 70 Casey Rabach   So
TE 87 Dague Retzlaff   So
C, G 53 Rob Roell   Jr
QB 10 Mike Samuel   Sr
TE 85 John Sigmund So
TE 86 Mike Solwold   So
OT 68 Mark Tauscher   Jr
FB 38 Matt Unertl   So
RB 13 Tony Williams   Jr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
LB 29 Bob Adamov   Sr
S 6 Joey Boese Fr
DT 77 Wendell Bryant Fr
DE 74 Tom Burke Sr
DB 31 Carlease Clark Fr
S 8 Jason Doering   So
CB 36 Mike Echols   Fr
DE 50 Donny Eicher   Jr
DE 96 John Favret   So
CB 2 Jamar Fletcher   Fr
LB 16 Chris Ghidorzi Jr
LB 38 Pat Gill   Jr
LB 49 Nick Greisen Fr
LB 42 Ben Herbert Fr
NT 58 Chris Janek Jr
CB 24 Donte King So
LB 19 Roger Knight So
DT 78 Ross Kolodziej   So
LB 45 Dan Lisowski   Fr
NT 98 Eric Mahlik   So
S 30 Ryan Marks   So
LB 43 Delante McGrew   Fr
DE 9 Sam Mueller   So
S 26 Bobby Myers   Jr
DT 94 George Pratt   Fr
S 15 Tim Rosga   Jr
DE 99 Jake Sprague Fr
S 34 Leonard Taylor   Sr
LB 32 Bryson Thompson Fr
LB 44 Donnel Thompson (C) Jr
DT 95 Erik Waisanen   Jr
DT 92 Brandon Williams   Sr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K 28 Matt Davenport Sr
K 20 Vitaly Pisetsky Jr
LS 46 Mike Schneck   Sr
P 23 Eric Skrzypchak   Jr
P 14 Kevin Stemke So
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
  • Brad ChildressOffensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
  • Kevin Cosgrove – Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers
  • Tim DavisTight Ends
  • Phil ElmassianDefensive Backs
  • Jay Hayes – Outside Linebackers/Special Teams
  • Jim Hueber – Offensive Line
  • Henry Mason – Wide Receivers
  • John PalermoAssistant Head Coach/Defensive Line
  • Brian White – Running Backs
  • Bernie Wyatt – Director of Football Operations

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  •   Injured
  •   Redshirt

Roster

Regular starters

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Game summaries

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UCLA (Rose Bowl)

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Wisconsin vs. UCLA
(Rose Bowl)
1 234Total
#9 Badgers 7 1777 38
#6 UCLA 7 1473 31

Individual awards and honors

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Player Position Round Pick NFL club
Aaron Gibson Tackle 1 27 Detroit Lions
Tom Burke Linebacker 3 83 Arizona Cardinals
Cecil Martin Fullback 6 172 Philadelphia Eagles

[15]

References

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  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. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012.
  4. ^ "Ohio at Wisconsin". CNN. September 12, 1998. Archived from the original on January 23, 2001.
  5. ^ "UNLV at Wisconsin". CNN. September 19, 1998. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012.
  6. ^ "Northwestern at Wisconsin". CNN. September 26, 1998. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012.
  7. ^ "Wisconsin at Indiana". CNN. October 3, 1998. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012.
  8. ^ "Purdue at Wisconsin". CNN. October 11, 1998. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013.
  9. ^ "Wisconsin at Illinois". CNN. October 17, 1998. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.
  10. ^ "Wisconsin at Iowa". CNN. October 24, 1998. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012.
  11. ^ "Minnesota at Wisconsin". CNN. November 7, 1998. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012.
  12. ^ "Wisconsin at Michigan". CNN. November 14, 1998. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012.
  13. ^ "Penn State at Wisconsin". CNN. November 21, 1998. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012.
  14. ^ Bagnato, Andrew (January 2, 1999). "Badgers Say Cheese". Chicago Tribune.
  15. ^ "1999 NFL Draft". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2018.