In 2010, Travis Frederick was redshirted due to the Badgers’ surplus of talented offensive linemen. Wisconsin made the Rose Bowl that year, and after three starting offensive linemen graduated and were selected in April’s NFL Draft, Frederick had a prized opportunity staring him right in the face. When the Badgers returned from the summer for fall camp, Frederick lined up at left guard, directly next to the center, as if he hadn’t missed any games at all.

“He’s really, really smart,” offensive line coach Bob Bostad says. “He takes coaching and understands. Those kind of guys to have are priceless because they can right a lot of things.”

That last part, about pricelessly righting a lot of things along the offensive line, ultimately became an incredible instance of foresight by Bostad, who gave that quote just a few days before Wisconsin’s first road game of the season at Michigan State. The Badgers, a perfect 6-0 at that point and quickly gaining steam in the national title picture, fell to the Spartans on a stunning 44-yard Hail Mary as time expired. The loss was utterly deflating – especially considering that Wisconsin went on to lose in nearly identical fashion the next week at Ohio State.

Three weeks and three wins later came another road trip, this time to Illinois, a once-promising team starving for a win after dropping its last six games. With a top-20 defense, the Fighting Illini just hadn’t been able to muster enough consistent offense without suffering turnovers, penalties and overall miscues to string together any wins. Nevertheless, Illinois mustered 224 yards of offense to Wisconsin’s 93 in the first half and held a 17-7 lead after two quarters.

After a 12-play, 30-yard drive right out of halftime, the Badgers punched the ball in the end zone with a five-yard pass to running back Montee Ball that trimmed their deficit to three points. Illinois quarterback Reilly O’Toole threw an interception four plays later, and Wisconsin appeared set to take the lead. But on a 3rd-and-12 near midfield, with redshirt sophomore Ryan Groy filling in for Peter Konz at center after the junior dislocated his ankle the week prior, Groy snapped the ball high over quarterback Russell Wilson’s head. Wilson, who had lined up in the shotgun a few yards behind Groy, alertly scrambled backwards and fell on the ball 19 yards back down the field.

The Badgers were fortunate to recover the football, but having a strong drive ruined by the miscue was too close to being a disaster that Bostad decided to move Groy to left guard and have Frederick take over at center. Six minutes later, Wilson ran the ball in the end zone to put Wisconsin ahead for good.

“When Ryan put that one over [Wilson’s] head, I think that [Bostad] just kind of felt that it was time to make a switch,” Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said after the game. “He thought that would calm him down a little bit. [Frederick’s] pretty calm under pressure, and it obviously ended up working out very, very well.”

Bielema didn’t say it right there, but Frederick ended up staying at center for the Badgers’ next game, a 45-7 trouncing of Penn State back at Camp Randall, and the one after as well, a 42-39 thriller in the inaugural Big Ten Championship game against, of all teams, Michigan State.

Frederick wasn’t able to share his thoughts on winning the conference’s first title game with the media – or on his being named a consensus second-team All-Big Ten player by coaches and media this week. Fittingly, he had an exam during the assigned media availability for offensive players.

With the specter of the Rose Bowl hanging over the final days of the fall semester, integer divider co-processors wouldn’t seem to be on the minds of too many Badgers. But they are on Frederick’s, a task that remains daunting even after three years of doubling as a double-major engineering student and an elite college football player.

“I would say almost weekly,” Frederick says when asked if he ever feels overwhelmed. “Almost weekly, I get those moments. It kind of keeps growing, and you’re like, ‘Oh man, what am I doing?’ Then you sit down and make your lists, all those things and that kind of helps. You just power through it, and you get used to it.”