Arguably more snowballs were thrown than footballs in Camp Randall Saturday.
What started off as a few harmless snowballs aimlessly lobbed into the air quickly grew into a wild frenzy of students sending icy snow chunks soaring through the stadium, at each other, onto the field, into the band stand and toward a few cheerleaders.
This led University of Wisconsin Police Department to eject about 50 students from the game on the basis of “throwing hard objects,” according to a UWPD incident report.
Save the snowballs for Bascom Hill. Anyone caught throwing snow on the field will be cited and ejected by @UWMadisonPolice
— UW–Madison (@UWMadison) November 21, 2015
But what was fun and games for some was not for others.
Snowballs hit UWPD officers, event coordinators, marching band members and UW spirit squad cheerleaders, who were eventually forced to leave the field.
Even UW’s beloved mascot was not spared from the onslaught of snowballs; students quickly turned their aim toward Bucky as he ran in front of the student section.
VIDEO: Wisconsin cheerleaders pelted with snowballs by own fans https://t.co/QOHuwjzHbN pic.twitter.com/kDbTrYdO67
— Wisconsin Badgers (@Wisconsin) November 21, 2015
Eventually the snowballs finally stopped as students turned their attention back to the game.
Yet at the end of the game, a controversial reversal of a last-second Badger touchdown sent fans to turn their anger and aim at the referees, who quickly ran inside for cover.
https://badgerherald.com/sports/2015/11/21/football-breakdown-wisconsin-loses-in-heartbreaking-fashion-to-northwestern/
https://twitter.com/BR_Badgers/status/668262256715542528
The Badgers lost the game to Northwestern 13-7 that Saturday, as well as the respect of some of their peers.
UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez condemned the snowball fight in a statement.
“It is never acceptable to throw anything from the stands onto the playing surface or at another person,” Alvarez said. “It endangers the safety of the teams, officials and personnel involved … We’re better than that.”
A letter to #Badgers fans: pic.twitter.com/sHDcCg6qVh
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) November 23, 2015