# 1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team

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 StadiumSan Diego, CA | | W 26–14 | 37,471 |
| September 12 | 11:30 a.m. | Ohio* | No. 17 | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | MSC | W 45–0 | 74,676 |
| September 19 | 1:00 p.m. | UNLV* | No. 14 | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | | W 52–7 | 75,044 |
| September 26 | 11:00 a.m. | Northwestern | No. 14 | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | ESPN | W 38–7 | 78,337 |
| October 3 | 11:00 a.m. | at Indiana | No. 13 | Memorial StadiumBloomington, IN | ESPN2 | W 24–20 | 32,328 |
| October 10 | 7:30 p.m. | Purdue | No. 12 | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | ESPN2 | W 31–24 | 78,782 |
| October 17 | 11:00 a.m. | at Illinois | No. 9 | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL | ESPN2 | W 37–3 | 40,627 |
| October 24 | 2:30 p.m. | at Iowa | No. 9 | Kinnick StadiumIowa City, IA (rivalry) | ABC | W 31–0 | 70,397 |
| November 7 | 11:00 a.m. | Minnesota | No. 8 | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI (Paul Bunyan's Axe) | ESPN | W 26–7 | 78,767 |
| November 14 | 11:00 a.m. | at No. 15 Michigan | No. 8 | Michigan StadiumAnn Arbor, MI | ESPN | L 10–27 | 111,217 |
| November 21 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 14 Penn State | No. 13 | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | ESPN | W 24–3 | 78,964 |
| January 1, 1999 | 3:30 p.m. | vs. No. 6 UCLA* | No. 9 | Rose BowlPasadena, CA (Rose Bowl) | ABC | W 38–31 | 93,872 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | 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 | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 9 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 9 | Not released |

## 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)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #9 Badgers | 7 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 38 |
| #6 UCLA | 7 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 31 |

## 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 |