The rivalry between Wisconsin and Michigan needs no explanation.
“When you play a team like Michigan, you have to play your best,” said senior tight end Mark Anelli.
UW’s head football coach Barry Alvarez has lost his last two encounters with the Wolverines, which included a frustrating 13-10 loss in Ann Arbor last year following a stunning loss to Northwestern the week before.
“To lose a really tough one to Northwestern, and then get up, have all our guys back from the whole suspension thing, and go out and just I don’t think play as well as we’re capable of playing,” UW quarterback Brooks Bollinger said. “And [then to] lose a close one to Michigan, I think those two weeks kind of back-to-back made it even worse.”
The loss to Michigan last year knocked the Badgers out of contention for a second-straight Big Ten Championship as the team finished the season out of the Top 25 and fifth in the conference.
This time, the stakes are higher and it’s late in the season. A loss now probably means no postseason. If Alvarez’s team to play in a bowl game, this is the week to prove it.
But even if there were no bowl bid implications for this matchup, there would still be excitement surrounding this game. So why do players get so hyped up when the Badgers play the Wolverines?
For one, whoever goes to certain bowls is not decided by overall rankings as much as rankings within each conference. Michigan, as the team in the Big Ten who has had the most football success over the years, presents the Badgers with the biggest obstacle in the road to the postseason.
The Wolverines (7-2 overall, 5-2 Big Ten) are currently No.11 in the AP Top 25 poll and are tied for first in the conference with Illinois. They are also a perennial football powerhouse that has finished with a ranking in the Top 25 in every season in the 1990s and the second most winningest school in college football history.
“They’ve [Michigan] always recruited well, and the fact that the league is so balanced, I think that just shows their consistency over the years, and continued consistency,” Alvarez said. “But when you know the players they have and how they’ve recruited, it doesn’t surprise me that they’re one of the top teams again.”
For many players on Alvarez’s team, the chance to knock Michigan off its lofty pedestal gives them motivation to play harder. After coming off a strong win against Iowa and a bye week, Alvarez and his team still have their sights set on playing in a bowl game, regardless of Michigan’s success-laden history against UW.
“[Michigan’s] a good football team,” Alvarez said. “They’ve been able to make plays. I think last year was a prime example of that. It was a tight ball game back and forth. They made some plays down the stretch when it counted.”
Despite not having good experiences against Michigan in the past, however, the Badgers (5-5 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) have two clear advantages this weekend that could shift the odds in their favor. First of all, it’s at home. And secondly, it’s Michigan.
“They’re Michigan,” Anelli said in attempts to explain what makes the Wolverines the team to beat. “They’re there every year. They get top recruiting, they play well, they’re Michigan.”
Perhaps with the Badgers’ new momentum coming into Saturday’s game, history will be kind and not repeat itself.