A physical football program with strong successes over the last few decades, Wisconsin is at the start of a new era. The Badgers are another of the original programs in the Big Ten Conference.
“People want good football in Wisconsin. People have to be patient. They have to understand that things aren't going to turn over overnight.But let me say this: They better get season tickets right now, because before long they probably won't be able to.”
The University of Wisconsin-Madison was founded when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848. Madison is the official state university and the flagship campus for the University of Wisconsin System, but its beginnings go back to the Wisconsin Territory.
In 1838, the territorial legislature passed a law incorporating a University of the Territory of Wisconsin, but their version of a board of regents never accomplished anything until statehood was achieved. The first classes were held in 1849, with 17 students in attendance at the Madison Female Academy.
In the early 1900s, UW-Madison President Charles Van Hise began the tradition of “the Wisconsin Idea”. The tradition influences research, teaching, and service at the university as ways to solve problems and improve lives across the state.
Wisconsin was a founding member of the Association of American Universities, or AAU. The school receives more than a billion dollars in research and development funding annually.
Today, the public research university boasts nearly 50,000 students on its flagship campus. In the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings, Indiana is No. 35 among national universities and No. 12 among public schools.
Wisconsin football began with two games so wildly different, you’d have to wonder why anyone wanted to keep playing the game. The program’s first victory came in 1889, a 106-0 hammering of Whitewater Normal School (now Wisconsin-Whitewater). The very next week, Minnesota drubbed them 63-0. That defeat was the beginning of a rivalry that has been played 133 times, with only 1906 missing through the years.
An original member of the Big Ten Conference, then the Western Conference, Wisconsin won the first league title in 1896 with a 7-1-1 record. The Badgers won four more through 1912. Despite several winning seasons, including an unclaimed national title in 1942, they fell off for the next three decades.
Thus began an ebb and flow for Wisconsin’s program. With Ivy Williamson and Milton Bruhn at the helm, the Badgers posted eight top-25 finished in the 1950s and 60s. Those two decades saw three more Big Ten titles and Alan Ameche taking the 1954 Heisman Trophy, though the Badgers lost in the Rose Bowl each time.
Following the 1962 Rose Bowl loss to USC, Wisconsin managed just one winning record in the next 18 seasons. Dave McClain got the Badgers to three bowls in four seasons in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until Barry Alvarez took the keys that the Badgers took off.
Alvarez led Wisconsin to three top-10 finishes in the 1990s, including three Rose Bowl wins. From 1990 to 2005, Wisconsin went 118-73-4 and had Ron Dayne grab the 1999 Heisman Trophy.. Bret Bielema followed Alvarez with four 10-win seasons over his seven in Madison. Bielema’s teams made three straight Rose Bowls, falling in all three.
Wisconsin was a dominant force in the Big Ten West under Gary Anderson and Paul Chryst, winning four division titles in six seasons. Despite eight bowl wins in nine years, and a bowl streak going back to 2002, the Badgers are still waiting to enter the national championship conversation.
This fall, the Luke Fickell era heading into year two.
Claimed National Championships: None
Conference Titles: 14
Heisman Trophy Winners: Alan Ameche (1954), Ron Dayne (1999)
Oregon is set to join the Big Ten Conference in 2024. For information on the league as a whole and where to read about the other programs, refer to Oregon Football's New Big Ten Conference Opponents: Rich History, Distance.
KALEB HENRY
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