1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team

1998 Wisconsin Badgers football
Big Ten co-champion Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 38–31 vs. UCLA
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 6
Record	11–1 (7–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Barry Alvarez (9th season)
Offensive coordinator	Brad Childress (7th as OC; 8th overall season)
Offensive scheme	Smashmouth
Defensive coordinator	Kevin Cosgrove (4th as OC; 9th overall season)
Base defense	4–3
MVP	Bob Adamov Tom Burke Matt Davenport Aaron Gibson Eric Grams Cecil Martin Mike Samuel Mike Schneck Leonard Taylor
Captain	Bob Adamov Cecil Martin Chris McIntosh Donnel Thompson
Home stadium	Camp Randall Stadium

1998 Big Ten Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 Ohio State %+		7	–	1					11	–	1
No. 6 Wisconsin $+		7	–	1					11	–	1
No. 12 Michigan +		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 24 Purdue		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 17 Penn State		5	–	3					9	–	3
Michigan State		4	–	4					6	–	6
Minnesota		2	–	6					5	–	6
Indiana		2	–	6					4	–	7
Illinois		2	–	6					3	–	8
Iowa		2	–	6					3	–	8
Northwestern		0	–	8					3	–	9
$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin during the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season.

Wisconsin finished the regular season 10–1 overall (7–1 conference) and were co-champions of the Big Ten Conference (with Ohio State and Michigan) for the first time since 1993. They were awarded the berth in the 1999 Rose Bowl due to Big Ten Conference tie-breaking rules, at the time, which gave the Rose Bowl invitation to the tied team which had gone the longest period of time without an invitation: Michigan had been in the 1998 Rose Bowl, Ohio State had been in the 1997 Rose Bowl, while Wisconsin's last Rose Bowl was 1994.

The circumstances of this selection, the fact that Ohio State was the higher-ranked team (Ohio State was the pre-season #1 and spent most of the season with this ranking: Wisconsin did not play Ohio State or Michigan State that year, so Ohio State had the better record versus common opponents due to the Michigan loss), combined with the fact that the opponent (UCLA) was ranked #2 and headed to the national title game before a season-ending loss, led to ridicule in the national media: most notably, Craig James' declaration that Wisconsin was "the worst team to ever play in the Rose Bowl." Wisconsin went on to defeat #6 UCLA 38–31 in the 1999 Rose Bowl. Afterward, Badger coach Barry Alvarez fired back, "Well, I know we're at least the second worst."

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	8:00 p.m.	at San Diego State*	No. 20	Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA		W 26–14	37,471
September 12	11:30 a.m.	Ohio*	No. 17	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	MSC	W 45–0	74,676
September 19	1:00 p.m.	UNLV*	No. 14	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI		W 52–7	75,044
September 26	11:00 a.m.	Northwestern	No. 14	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN	W 38–7	78,337
October 3	11:00 a.m.	at Indiana	No. 13	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	ESPN2	W 24–20	32,328
October 10	7:30 p.m.	Purdue	No. 12	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN2	W 31–24	78,782
October 17	11:00 a.m.	at Illinois	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN2	W 37–3	40,627
October 24	2:30 p.m.	at Iowa	No. 9	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA (rivalry)	ABC	W 31–0	70,397
November 7	11:00 a.m.	Minnesota	No. 8	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (Paul Bunyan's Axe)	ESPN	W 26–7	78,767
November 14	11:00 a.m.	at No. 15 Michigan	No. 8	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	ESPN	L 10–27	111,217
November 21	2:00 p.m.	No. 14 Penn State	No. 13	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN	W 24–3	78,964
January 1, 1999	3:30 p.m.	vs. No. 6 UCLA*	No. 9	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	ABC	W 38–31	93,872
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Rankings

See also: 1998 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	20	17	14	14	13	12	9	9	9	8	8	13	10	8	9	6
Coaches Poll	20	17	14	14	13	10	9	8	8	7	6	12	9	8	8	5
BCS	Not released								9	8	9	13	10	9	9	Not released

Roster

1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 81 Mark Anelli  Fr WR 7 Willie Austin Jr RB 29 Michael Bennett Fr QB 5 Brooks Bollinger Fr WR 17 Demetrius Brown  Jr FB 25 Marcus Carpenter  Jr WR 88 Chris Chambers So G 54 Dave Costa  So OT 66 Pat Daley  Jr RB 39 Carlos Daniels  Fr WR 3 Nick Davis Fr RB 33 Ron Dayne Jr OL 55 Jason Eck  Jr RB 4 Eddie Faulkner  So G 60 Bill Ferrario  So OT 79 Aaron Gibson Sr WR 18 Rasheed Golden So TE 89 Eric Grams  Sr G 78 Kevin Kampmann  Jr QB 12 Scott Kavanagh Jr FB 41 Chad Kuhns  Fr FB 37 Cecil Martin (C)  Sr OT 75 Chris McIntosh (C)  Jr WR 1 Ahmad Merritt  Jr C 70 Casey Rabach  So TE 87 Dague Retzlaff  So C, G 53 Rob Roell  Jr QB 10 Mike Samuel  Sr TE 85 John Sigmund So TE 86 Mike Solwold  So OT 68 Mark Tauscher  Jr FB 38 Matt Unertl  So RB 13 Tony Williams  Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 29 Bob Adamov  Sr S 6 Joey Boese Fr DT 77 Wendell Bryant Fr DE 74 Tom Burke Sr DB 31 Carlease Clark Fr S 8 Jason Doering  So CB 36 Mike Echols  Fr DE 50 Donny Eicher  Jr DE 96 John Favret  So CB 2 Jamar Fletcher  Fr LB 16 Chris Ghidorzi Jr LB 38 Pat Gill  Jr LB 49 Nick Greisen Fr LB 42 Ben Herbert Fr NT 58 Chris Janek Jr CB 24 Donte King So LB 19 Roger Knight So DT 78 Ross Kolodziej  So LB 45 Dan Lisowski  Fr NT 98 Eric Mahlik  So S 30 Ryan Marks  So LB 43 Delante McGrew  Fr DE 9 Sam Mueller  So S 26 Bobby Myers  Jr DT 94 George Pratt  Fr S 15 Tim Rosga  Jr DE 99 Jake Sprague Fr S 34 Leonard Taylor  Sr LB 32 Bryson Thompson Fr LB 44 Donnel Thompson (C) Jr DT 95 Erik Waisanen  Jr DT 92 Brandon Williams  Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 28 Matt Davenport Sr K 20 Vitaly Pisetsky Jr LS 46 Mike Schneck  Sr P 23 Eric Skrzypchak  Jr P 14 Kevin Stemke So	Head coach Barry Alvarez Coordinators/assistant coaches Brad Childress – Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Kevin Cosgrove – Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Tim Davis – Tight Ends Phil Elmassian – Defensive Backs Jay Hayes – Outside Linebackers/Special Teams Jim Hueber – Offensive Line Henry Mason – Wide Receivers John Palermo – Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Brian White – Running Backs Bernie Wyatt – Director of Football Operations Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Regular starters

Position	Player
Quarterback	Mike Samuel
Running Back	Ron Dayne
Fullback	Cecil Martin
Wide Receiver	Chris Chambers
Wide Receiver	Ahmad Merritt
Tight End	Dague Retzlaff/Eric Grams
Left Tackle	Chris McIntosh
Left Guard	Bill Ferrario
Center	Casey Rabach
Right Guard	Dave Costa
Right Tackle	Aaron Gibson

Position	Player
Defensive End	Tom Burke
Defensive Tackle	Ross Kolodziej
Nose Guard	Eric Mahlik
Defensive End	John Favret
Outside Linebacker	Bob Adamov
Inside Linebacker	Donnel Thompson
Outside Linebacker	Chris Ghidorzi
Cornerback	Mike Echols
Free Safety	Jason Doering
Strong Safety	Leonard Taylor
Cornerback	Jamar Fletcher

Game summaries

UCLA (Rose Bowl)

Wisconsin vs. UCLA
(Rose Bowl)

1 2 3 4 Total • #9 Badgers 7 17 7 7 38 #6 UCLA 7 14 7 3 31 Date: January 1, 1999 Location: Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Game start: 12:30 PST Game attendance: 93,872 Game weather: 74 °F (23 °C), Sunny TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Bob Griese

Scoring summary 1 WIS Ron Dayne 54-yard run (Matt Davenport kick) WIS 7–0 1 UCLA Jermaine Lewis 38-yard pass from Cade McNown (Chris Sailer kick) Tied 7–7 2 WIS Dayne 7-yard run (Davenport kick) WIS 14–7 2 UCLA Durell Price 61-yard pass from Freddie Mitchell (Sailer kick) Tied 14–14 2 UCLA Danny Farmer 41-yard pass from McNown (Sailer kick) UCLA 21–14 2 WIS Dayne 10-yard run (Davenport kick) Tied 21–21 2 WIS Davenport 40-yard field goal WIS 24–21 3 WIS Dayne 22-yard run (Davenport kick) WIS 31–21 3 UCLA Lewis 10-yard run (Sailer kick) WIS 31–28 4 WIS Jamar Fletcher 46-yard interception return (Davenport kick) WIS 38–28 4 UCLA UCLA – Sailer 30-yard field goal WIS 38–31

Main article: 1999 Rose Bowl

See also: 1998 UCLA Bruins football team

Individual awards and honors

• Tom Burke: All-America (unanimous consensus), Bill Willis Trophy, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, All-Big Ten (First Team, coaches & media)
• Aaron Gibson: All-America (consensus), All-Big Ten (First Team, media; Second Team, coaches)
• Ron Dayne: All-America (WCFF), 1999 Rose Bowl player of the Game, All-Big Ten (First Team, coaches & media)
• Matt Davenport: All-Big Ten (First Team, coaches & media)
• Kevin Stemke: All-Big Ten (First Team, coaches & media)
• Jamar Fletcher: All-Big Ten (First Team, media; Second Team, coaches)
• Casey Rabach: All-Big Ten (Second Team, coaches & media)
• Chris McIntosh:All-Big Ten (Second Team, coaches)
• Barry Alvarez: Big Ten Coach of the Year

1999 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Aaron Gibson	Tackle	1	27	Detroit Lions
Tom Burke	Linebacker	3	83	Arizona Cardinals
Cecil Martin	Fullback	6	172	Philadelphia Eagles