Now that Badger nation has had a few days to recover from the shock of Saturday’s loss, it’s time to put the game in perspective.
The Badgers’ performance in East Lansing was far and away their worst showing of the season. The defense did almost nothing right, the offense was stuffed on the goal line twice and the Badgers were thoroughly trounced by a team that entered the game with a 4-5 overall record.
The only players that emerged from the debacle looking good were punter Ken DeBauche, who dropped two punts on the one-yard line (including one that he had to put there twice after a penalty nullified his first gem of the series) and tailback Anthony Davis, who touched the ball only twice in the second half after rushing for 126 yards by halftime.
Other than that, there was really nothing positive about Saturday’s defeat. The Badgers lost and they lost big. It’s hard to overstate the team’s futility in East Lansing. When the conference front-runner loses by 35 to a sub-.500 team, it is nothing short of humiliating.
What everyone seems to be forgetting, however, is that it was only one game. The Badgers are still 9-1. They are still ranked in the top 10 in both polls. They still have a shot at the Rose Bowl.
The season did not end in East Lansing. The Badgers can still finish 10-1 with a win over Iowa, and if Michigan falls to Ohio State in Columbus (which is certainly far from impossible), Wisconsin can still earn a trip to Pasadena. Even if the season did end in East Lansing, the Badgers would finish with one loss for just the third time since 1959.
The truth is, this is still one of the best seasons that any Wisconsin team has put together in the history of the program. Only two other UW teams have ever started a season 9-0.
The Badgers have not gone undefeated since 1912, when they went 7-0. A Wisconsin football team has never run the table in a season longer than nine games.
Ron Dayne never led an undefeated team. Neither did Wisconsin’s other Heisman Trophy winner, Alan Ameche, whose Badgers never finished better than 7-1-1.
The legendary squads of 1998 and 1999 both lost. The 1999 team lost twice — in back-to-back games. Clearly, a team can hold a prominent place in program history without going undefeated.
Did Wisconsin’s loss to Michigan in 1998 ruin the team’s legacy? Did the losses to Cincinnati and Michigan in 1999 make the Badgers’ second-straight Rose Bowl any less sweet?
Of course not. And Saturday’s loss should not diminish what this year’s squad has accomplished. Bielema’s defense will still be remembered as one of the great units in Wisconsin history. Starks’ game-winning fumble recovery against Purdue will forever hold a place in Badger lore. Bernstein’s Yom Kippur heroics against Penn State will always be one of the great stories in the UW gridiron annals.
One loss does not change that. No matter how embarrassing it was or how greatly it impacted the Badgers’ bowl outlook, the loss to Michigan State does not remove the 2004 squad from the history books.
So let’s all relax, take a deep breath and stop calling for Brian White’s immediate firing. The message boards can do without one more “Why didn’t they give it to Bernstein on the goal line?” post. It’s time to move on.
The fact that the Badgers looked like the worst team in the Big Ten Saturday does not change the fact that they were the best team in the Big Ten over the rest of the season. They lost. It happens.
“We still have an opportunity to have as good a record as any team that’s ever been here,” head coach Barry Alvarez said. “And we’ve still done a lot of things that most teams haven’t done and still can do more.”
This team is not the same as the 1998 and 1999 squads. Those teams won the Rose Bowl. Those teams had the greatest tailback in NCAA history. Those teams put up scores like 45-0 (over San Diego State in 1998), 31-0 (over Iowa in 1998) and 59-0 (over Indiana in 1999).
This team spent its season avoiding what most considered an inevitable collapse. This team barely snuck past Arizona in the early going. This team featured the least productive passing game in the Big Ten for much of the season.
But this team also featured one of the most formidable front fours in the nation (even after Saturday’s debacle). This team showcased a defense that had two safeties and a defensive touchdown in a single game. This team held their first five opponents under 10 points.
This team may not be a conference champion, but they are not a fraud, a choke artist or any of the other things they have been called in the wake of the Michigan State fiasco. This team failed to become the first in school history to post a 10-0 record, but that was their first and only failure. The ’04 Badgers may not get a shot at the Rose Bowl, but they have already earned a prominent place in the annals of UW football history.
