Walking into Camp Randall Stadium Saturday afternoon, it was impossible not to feel the aura surrounding the contest. Sure, Wisconsin had a significant amount on the line including a nearly secured trip to a January Bowl game. But even with all that was on the line, it was universally understood that the day was about legendary head coach Barry Alvarez.

Everything was in place — the video recapping a legendary career, the stage to be brought out onto the midfield "W" for the post-game festivities, the thousands of white towels thanking a retiring legend for his contributions to the program, even the announcement of a bronze statue depicting the likeness of the university's most celebrated football leader.

Everything, that is, except the victory.

In Hollywood, Wisconsin would have taken the last drive of the game 99 yards, scoring the winning touchdown just as time expired, sending players, coaches and fans alike into a state of pure ecstasy as Alvarez coached his final home game with the Wisconsin Badgers by recording a victory over the very team that gave him his first taste of coaching at the college level over 25 years ago.

Unfortunately, Hollywood is a long way from Madison, Wis., and there would be no happy ending in the Badgers' final home contest of the Alvarez era. Instead Kirk Ferentz led his Iowa Hawkeyes to a 20-10 victory over the Badgers Saturday evening.

After everything UW has accomplished because of Alvarez, a win seemed the only possibility in the contest. The loss just didn't seem right, not even to the players.

"We should have been celebrating a victory while we were watching [the tribute to Alvarez]," punter Ken DeBauche said. "I think we all take it pretty personally, because we wanted to honor coach by winning this last game at home, but it didn't work out that way."

But it wasn't just DeBauche who felt this way. To a man in the UW weight room following the game, every player admitted to feeling disappointed about sending off their leader with a loss.

But the odd thing is, despite the loss, the day hardly seemed ruined.

Sure, celebrating Alvarez's laundry list of accomplishments following a loss was not ideal, but it sure didn't seem to matter to the three-quarters of fans that stayed behind to witness the ceremony. Even the student section, who we all know is the harshest of critics following a loss, tempered their anger to break out not in a chorus of boos following the loss, but a resounding "Barry" chant.

And when Wisconsin play-by-play announcer Matt LePay took the stage, with Alvarez and his family standing in the background, the pain of the loss seemed to melt slowly away. So much so that by the time Alvarez actually took to the microphone following the praise of Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, former UW team captain Joe Panos, former Athletic Director Pat Richter, former UW chancellor Donna Shalala and a video tribute to his tenure at Wisconsin, the loss that had occurred less than an hour before seemed to have occurred in a distant arena.

There's no way to sum up Alvarez's career in this column. Hell, there probably isn't enough space in today's paper. But even more than the accomplishments, it would be impossible to relate the impact Alvarez has had on UW athletics in general. But perhaps Panos spoke for more than just himself when he described what Alvarez meant to him.

"You taught us to play the game the way it's supposed to be played — with great pride and passion," Panos said during the post game ceremony. "You taught us life lessons as well. You taught us the true meaning of the words love, trust, commitment and belief. Through your leadership, you made us believe in ourselves when no one else would."

And really, nothing more needs to be said.

It's a shame that a victory didn't come to fruition in Alvarez's final game. However it doesn't diminish the accomplishments of his 16 years at UW. Alvarez may not have gotten a win in his final Camp Randall contest, but standing on the field during his post-game ceremony, it's impossible not to realize that his mark on the stadium and the program is one that will never be forgotten, even if they never built a bronze statue in his likeness. And that is the true mark of greatness.