Meet the Badgers: Facts and Numbers about the University of Wisconsin

I enjoy these OOC, and espescially ones agains teams from other regions.

Here is some info about the Badgers and some about how the Tigers compare:

Founded in 1848, they began playing football in 1889.

Other numbers:
233,209: Madison's population in the 2010 census
42,099: Number of students enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
81st: Madison's ranking in largest cities in the United States
2nd: Madison's ranking as largest city in Wisconsin

Primary rivals are Minnesota and Iowa.

UW has two Heisman winners: 1954 Alan Amache and Ron Dayne 1999

They are a founding member of the Big 10, beginning in 1896 and credited with 14 conference championships

Record Since 1889: 653-481-53 (39th)

Best Season: 1962 8-2 and No. 2 in the AP and Coaches Polls.

Record since 1950: 378-314-20 (42nd)

Record all time vs SEC: 8-10-1 vs SEC

Record in BCS Bowl games (1998-2013): 2-3

Record vs. LSU and last regular season meeting vs. and SEC team: 0-2. LSU defeated Wisconsin in 71 and 72 in a classic home and home. The scores were 38-28 @ Madison in 1971 and 27-7 Tigers in Baton Rouge in 1972.

"This is the golden age of Wisconsin football. Aside from a solid run between 1951-62 and some dominance at the turn of the 20th century, there is nothing that compares to what the Badgers are doing right now. And they're doing it because of a combination of solid commitment and the right hires.

From 1964-92, nearly three full decades, Wisconsin finished with a winning record just six times and never won more than seven games in a season."

2004-2013

Records: 2004-2013:
Wisconsin: 96-35 (.7328), No. 10 Overall
LSU: 104-27 (.7939), No. 2 Overall

Out of Conference Regular Season games vs. BCS conferences or road/neutral
2004 @Arizona W 9-7
2005 @ North Carolina W 14-5
2006 Bowling Green W 35-14 @Cleveland
2007 Washington State W 42-2, @UNLV W 20-13
2008 @ Fresno State W 13-10
2010 @ UNLV W 41-21, Arizona State W 20-19
2011 Oregon State W 35-0, Northern Illinois W 49-7 @ Chicago
2012 @ Oregon State L 7-10
2013 @ Arizona State L 30-32
Last win over Power 5/BCS OOC team was in 2011.

Last win over ranked (end of season) BCS Conference OOC team: 2009 Champs Sports Bowl vs. No. 19 Miami 20-14

Last win over ranked (end of season ) BCS conf team in regular season: 2002, 34-17 vs. No. 22 West Virginia

Record vs. SEC: 2-3 (all bowl games)
2004: Loss, Georgia 21-24 , Outback Bowl
2005: Win, Auburn 24-10, Capital One Bowl
2006: Win, Arkansas 17-14, Capital One Bowl
2007: Loss, Tennessee 17-21, Outback Bowl
2013: Loss, South Carolina 24-34, Capital One Bowl

LSU Record vs. Big 10: 2-2
2004: Loss, Iowa 25-30, Capital One Bowl
2007: Win, Ohio State 38-24, BCS National Championship Game
2009: Loss, Penn State 17-19, Capitol One Bowl
2013: Win, Iowa 21-14, Outback Bowl

Other recent facts in last 10 years:

3 recent conference championships (2010-2012) with 3 Rose Bowl losses

2004-2013 Wisconsin was 10-26 vs. teams in the final AP or Coaches rankings.

4-12 vs top 15 teams with their best win coming over No. 5 Ohio State in 2010, 31-18 in Madison. OSU was ranked No. 1 at the time. 2/4 wins were in the Cap One Bowl over SEC teams Auburn and Arkansas (05 &06 seasons).

They finished ranked in the top 10 three times: 2006 (No. 7 AP/5 Coaches), 2010 (No. 7 AP/8 Coaches) 2011 (No. 10 AP/11 Coaches).

By comparison, LSU from 2004-2013 was 26-21 vs. Ranked teams and 16-20 vs. top 15 teams.

Other facts about the University and Madison:

September 1968 issue of Playboy, identified the University of Wisconsin at Madison as the most permissive campus (drawn from a sample of 25 universities) and dubbed it "the party school" (primarily because it served beer in the student union)—the fist known “party school” ranking

Madison is one of only 2 U.S. cities built on an isthmus, nestled between lakes Monona and Mendota.

Madison hosted the 15th annual White Privilege Conference (#WPC15) past March LINK

Buckingham U. Badger: Full name of "Bucky," the ubiquitous mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Local Notables
• Frank Lloyd Wright (architect)
• Tyne Daly (actress)
• Chris Farley (actor)
• Eric Heiden (Olympic Speed Skater)
• Thornton Wilder (Playwright)

The 1986 film, “Back to School” staring Rodney Dangerfield, was filed in 1986 in Madison and on the UW campus. LINK

In the year of 1967, the life of Otis Redding ended when his airplane of two engines crashed into the Lake of Monona. At that time, he was actually flying from Cleveland, Ohio into the city of Madison, Wisconsin. He was twenty-six years of age.

The name the “Badgers” that represent both the state of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin-Madison actually came from settlers earlier in the nineteenth-century. This group was into the mining industry, specifically for lead. They spent so much time working that they dug shelters in the shafts of old mines. This was to offer protection from any surrounding elements and made it convenient for them to sleep nearby their work. Due to how it all turned out, the “badgers” name was born and has not changed to this day.


TLDR:
Good school and history. They are in arguably the pinnacle of their program but fail to win most big games. Despite the criticism often directed at the SEC, their regular season OOC slate has been pretty soft and they've lost their marque OOC games the last two years (though in all fairness they got screwed @ASU). They seem to have a rep as battle tested team, but I don't see it. LSU's OOC schedule of late blows them out of the water.

Can't wait until Saturday!