1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team

American college football season February 2026 August 2023 1998 Wisconsin Badgers football Wisconsin Badgers logo.svg 125 Big Ten Conference Big Ten 5 6 11–1 7–1 Barry Alvarez 9th Brad ChildressSeptember 2025 7thSeptember 2025 SmashmouthSeptember 2025 Kevin CosgroveSeptember 2025 4thSeptember 2025 4–3September 2025 Bob Adamov Tom Burke Matt Davenport Aaron GibsonEric GramsCecil MartinMike SamuelMike SchneckLeonard TaylorSeptember 2025 Bob Adamov Cecil Martin Chris McIntosh Donnel ThompsonSeptember 2025 Camp Randall Stadium Big Ten co-championRose Bowl champion Rose Bowl W 38–31 vs. UCLA The 1998 Wisconsin Badgers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their ninth year under head coach Barry Alvarez, the Badgers compiled a 11–1 record (7–1 in conference games), finished in a three-way tie for the Big Ten championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 344 to 112.1962 Wisconsin Badgers Schedule and Results Sports Reference LLC SR/College Footbal June 26, 2025 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/wisconsin/1962-schedule.htmlWisconsin Football 2020 Fact Book University of Wisconsin 184 June 26, 2025 https://archive.org/details/wisconsin_202303/Wisconsin%20Football%2C%202020%20Media%20Guide/page/145/mode/1up They were awarded the Big Ten's berth in the 1999 Rose Bowl under Big Ten tie-breaking rules. Wisconsin went on to defeat No. 6 UCLA, 38–31, in the Rose Bowl.After Dayne Runs Them Over, They Beat Themselves Up - UCLA Conquered and Divided After Rose Bowl Defeat Scott Howard-Cooper https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jan-02-sp-59800-story.html Los Angeles Times January 2, 1999 April 4, 2009College Football: Rose Bowl; Badgers Prove Doubters Wrong Ken Gurnick https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/02/sports/college-football-rose-bowl-badgers-prove-doubters-wrong.html The New York Times January 2, 1999 April 4, 2009 Running back Ron Dayne led the Big Ten with 1,279 rushing yards on 268 carries for an average of 4.8 yards per carry.1998 Wisconsin Badgers Stats Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football June 25, 2025 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/wisconsin/1998.html He received first-team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Offensive tackle Aaron Gibson and defensive end Tom Burke were consensus first-team All-Americans. Schedule 1998 AP Central September 5 8:00 p.m. w y y 20 San Diego State Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA 26–14 37,471 Wisconsin at San Diego St. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/09/05/finalbox.san_diego_st.wisconsin.html https://archive.today/20120714102912/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/09/05/finalbox.san_diego_st.wisconsin.html dead July 14, 2012 CNN September 6, 1998 September 12 11:30 a.m. w y 17 Ohio Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI MSC 45–0 74,676 Ohio at Wisconsin http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/09/12/finalbox.wisconsin.ohio.html https://web.archive.org/web/20010123075400/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/09/12/finalbox.wisconsin.ohio.html dead January 23, 2001 CNN September 12, 1998 September 19 1:00 p.m. w y 14 UNLV Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI 52–7 75,044 UNLV at Wisconsin http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/09/19/finalbox.wisconsin.unlv.html https://archive.today/20120721092709/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/09/19/finalbox.wisconsin.unlv.html dead July 21, 2012 CNN September 19, 1998 September 26 11:00 a.m. w 14 Northwestern Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ESPN 38–7 78,337 Northwestern at Wisconsin http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/09/26/finalbox.wisconsin.northwestern.html https://archive.today/20120714144014/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/09/26/finalbox.wisconsin.northwestern.html dead July 14, 2012 CNN September 26, 1998 October 3 11:00 a.m. w y 13 Indiana Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN ESPN2 24–20 32,328 Wisconsin at Indiana http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/10/03/finalbox.indiana.wisconsin.html https://archive.today/20120717023158/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/10/03/finalbox.indiana.wisconsin.html dead July 17, 2012 CNN October 3, 1998 October 10 7:30 p.m. w y 12 Purdue Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ESPN2 31–24 78,782 Purdue at Wisconsin http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/10/10/finalbox.wisconsin.purdue.html https://web.archive.org/web/20131023015127/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/10/10/finalbox.wisconsin.purdue.html dead October 23, 2013 CNN October 11, 1998 October 17 11:00 a.m. w y 9 Illinois Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL ESPN2 37–3 40,627 Wisconsin at Illinois http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/10/17/finalbox.illinois.wisconsin.html https://archive.today/20130119145729/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/10/17/finalbox.illinois.wisconsin.html dead January 19, 2013 CNN October 17, 1998 October 24 2:30 p.m. w y 9 Iowa Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA rivalry ABC 31–0 70,397 Wisconsin at Iowa http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/10/24/finalbox.iowa.wisconsin.html https://archive.today/20120721102123/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/10/24/finalbox.iowa.wisconsin.html dead July 21, 2012 CNN October 24, 1998 November 7 11:00 a.m. w 8 Minnesota Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI rivalry ESPN 26–7 78,767 Minnesota at Wisconsin http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/11/07/finalbox.wisconsin.minnesota.html https://archive.today/20120722102325/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/11/07/finalbox.wisconsin.minnesota.html dead July 22, 2012 CNN November 7, 1998 November 14 11:00 a.m. l y 8 Michigan 15 Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI ESPN 10–27 111,217 Wisconsin at Michigan http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/11/14/finalbox.michigan.wisconsin.html https://archive.today/20120715095018/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/11/14/finalbox.michigan.wisconsin.html dead July 15, 2012 CNN November 14, 1998 November 21 2:00 p.m. w 13 Penn State 14 Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ESPN 24–3 78,964 Penn State at Wisconsin http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/11/21/finalbox.wisconsin.penn_st.html https://archive.today/20120721095544/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/scoreboards/1998/11/21/finalbox.wisconsin.penn_st.html dead July 21, 2012 CNN November 21, 1998 January 1, 1999 3:30 p.m. w y y 9 UCLA 6 Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA Rose Bowl ABC 38–31 93,872 Badgers Say Cheese Andrew Bagnato https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/01/02/badgers-say-cheese/ Chicago Tribune January 2, 1999 Rankings 1998 NCAA Division I-A football rankings AP 0 15 20 17 14 14 13 12 9 9 9 8 8 13 10 8 9 6 Coaches Poll 0 15 20 17 14 14 13 10 9 8 8 7 6 12 9 8 8 5 BCS 8 14 9 8 9 13 10 9 9 Game summaries UCLA (Rose Bowl) Wisconsin vs. UCLA(Rose Bowl) #9 Badgers #6 UCLA 7 17 7 7 7 14 7 3 January 1, 1999 Rose BowlPasadena, California PST 12:30 93,872 74 F, Sunny Keith Jackson and Bob Griese ABC 1 WIS Ron Dayne 54-yard run (Matt Davenport kick) WIS 7–0 yes 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 yes 1999 Rose Bowl 1998 UCLA Bruins football team Personnel Roster 1998 Wisconsin Badgers f 81 Fr Mark Anelli TE y y 7 Jr Willie Austin WR 29 Fr Michael Bennett Michael Bennett (running back) RB y 5 Fr Brooks Bollinger QB y 17 Jr Demetrius Brown WR y 25 Jr Marcus Carpenter FB y 88 So Chris Chambers WR y 54 So Dave Costa Dave Costa (offensive lineman) G y y 66 Jr Pat Daley T y 39 Fr Carlos Daniels RB y 22 Fr Nick Davis Nick Davis (American football) WR y 33 Jr Ron Dayne RB y 55 Jr Jason Eck OL y y 4 So Eddie Faulkner RB y y 60 So Bill Ferrario G y y 79 Sr Aaron Gibson T y 18 So Rasheed Golden WR 89 Sr Eric Grams TE y 78 Jr Kevin Kampmann G y 12 Jr Scott Kavanagh QB 41 Fr Chad Kuhns FB y 37 Sr Cecil Martin FB y y C 75 Jr Chris McIntosh T y y C 1 Jr Ahmad Merritt WR y y 70 So Casey Rabach C y y 87 So Dague Retzlaff TE y 53 Jr Rob Roell C G y 10 Sr Mike Samuel QB y 85 So John Sigmund TE 86 So Mike Solwold TE y y 68 Jr Mark Tauscher T y y 38 So Matt Unertl FB y 13 Jr Tony Williams RB y 29 Sr Bob Adamov LB ynote=C 6 Fr Joey Boese S y 77 Fr Wendell Bryant DT y 74 Sr Tom Burke Tom Burke (American football) DE y 31 Fr Carlease Clark DB 8 So Jason Doering S y y 36 Fr Mike Echols Mike Echols (American football) CB y y 50 Jr Donny Eicher DE y 96 So John Favret DE y 2 Fr Jamar Fletcher CB y y 16 Jr Chris Ghidorzi LB 38 Jr Pat Gill LB y 49 Fr Nick Greisen LB y 42 Fr Ben Herbert LB y 58 Jr Chris Janek NT 24 So Donte King CB 19 So Roger Knight Roger Knight (American football) LB y 78 So Ross Kolodziej DT y y 45 Fr Dan Lisowski LB y 98 So Eric Mahlik NT y 30 So Ryan Marks S y 43 Fr Delante McGrew LB y 9 So Sam Mueller DE y 26 Jr Bobby Myers Bobby Myers (American football) S y y 94 Fr George Pratt DT y 15 Jr Tim Rosga S y 99 Fr Jake Sprague DE 34 Sr Leonard Taylor S y 32 Fr Bryson Thompson LB 44 Jr Donnel Thompson LB y C 95 Jr Erik Waisanen DT y 92 Sr Brandon Williams DT y 28 Sr Matt Davenport K 20 Jr Vitaly Pisetsky K 46 Sr Mike Schneck LS y y 23 Jr Eric Skrzypchak P y 14 So Kevin Stemke P y https://web.archive.org/web/19990505060804/http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/sfc/big10/sfcd11ra.htm *Barry Alvarez 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 September 2025 Regular starters PositionPlayerQuarterbackMike SamuelRunning backRon DayneFullbackCecil MartinWide receiverChris ChambersWide receiverAhmad MerrittTight endDague Retzlaff/Eric GramsLeft tackleChris McIntoshLeft guardBill FerrarioCenter Casey RabachRight guardDave CostaRight tackleAaron Gibson PositionPlayerDefensive endTom BurkeDefensive tackleRoss KolodziejNose GuardEric MahlikDefensive endJohn FavretOutside linebackerBob AdamovInside linebackerDonnel ThompsonOutside linebackerChris GhidorziCornerbackMike EcholsFree safetyJason DoeringStrong safetyLeonard TaylorCornerbackJamar Fletcher September 2025 Statistical achievements The Badgers gained an average of 100.8 passing yards and 187.3 rushing yards per game. On defense, they gave up an average of 165.6 passing yards and 82.2 rushing yards per game. Running back Ron Dayne led the Big Ten with 1,279 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 268 carries (4.8 yards per carry). Quarterback Mike Samuel completed 81 of 155 passes (52.3%) for 1,021 yards, six touchdowns, four interceptions, and a 115.2 passer rating. Samuel also tallied 317 rushing yards. Kicker Matt Davenport led the team in scoring with 99 points, converting 37 of 39 extra point kicks and 18 of 20 field goal attempts. Wide receiver Chris Chambers was the team's leading receiver with 26 catches for 537 yards. His average of 20.7 yards per receptions was the highest in the Big Ten. Awards and honors Defensive end Tom Burke and senior offensive tackle Aaron Gibson were consensus first-team picks on the 1998 All-America college football team. Burke was a unanimous pick.Football Award Winners National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 2016 October 21, 2017 10 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2016/awards.pdf Burke also received the Bill Willis Trophy as the best defensive lineman in college football,September 2025 and was selected by the media as the Big Ten defensive player of the year and by the coaches as the Big Ten defensive lineman of the year.All-Big Ten teams Chicago Tribune December 1, 1998 7 (section 4) https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-all-big-ten/180301017/ Newspapers.com Junior tailback Ron Dayne was selected as a first-team All-American by the WCFF.Badger trio named to All-America teams The Capital Times November 26, 1998 5B https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-capital-times-badger-trio-named-to-a/180301190/ Newspapers.com He was also named the player of the game in the 1999 Rose Bowl after gaining 246 yards and scoring four touchdowns.Roses are red-again! The Capital Times January 2, 1999 1 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-capital-times-roses-are-red-again/180301970/ Newspapers.com Eight Wisconsin players received first- or second-team honors on the 1998 All-Big Ten Conference football team: Dayne (Coaches-1, Media-1); senior kicker Matt Davenport (Coaches-1, Media-1); Burke (Coaches-1, Media-1); Gibson (Coaches-2, Media-1); sophomore punter Kevin Stemke (Coaches-1, Media-1); freshman cornerback Jamar Fletcher (Coaches-2, Media-1); center Casey Rabach (Coaches-2, Media-2); and offensive tackle Chris McIntosh (Coaches-2).Alvarez, Burke honored Wisconsin State Journal December 1, 1998 1D https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal-alvarez-burke-h/180301833/ Newspapers.com Barry Alvarez was also selected as the Big Ten coach of the year.Alvarez named Big Ten coach of the year Kenosha News December 1, 1998 B1 https://www.newspapers.com/article/kenosha-news-alvarez-named-big-ten-coach/180301541/ Newspapers.com 1999 NFL draft Wisconsin Badgers Player Position Round Pick NFL club Aaron Gibson Tackle 1 27 Detroit Lions Tom Burke Linebacker 3 83 Arizona Cardinals Cecil Martin Fullback 6 Philadelphia Eagles https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1999.htm 1999 NFL Draft Pro-Football-Reference.com 2018-03-28 2007-12-21 https://web.archive.org/web/20071221231907/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1999.htm dead References Wisconsin Category:Wisconsin Badgers football seasons Category:Big Ten Conference football champion seasons Category:Rose Bowl champion seasons Wisconsin Badgers football