Better Off Red: Bigger than the Biggest Ever

I could barely speak for the first few days immediately following Wisconsin’s victory over Ohio State a little less than a year ago. It was a combination of not knowing how to describe what I had witnessed, plus a pair of vocal cords that had been ravaged by a few hours of unabated screaming in the chilly October air. I screamed until I literally could scream no more, at which point I clapped my hands as loud as I could, simply because it felt like I needed to make noise of any sort.

But it’s no joke that I really didn’t know what to say. It was as transcendent an experience as a football game could possibly provide, hearkening back to the ever-present theme of college sports: the cohesiveness, the unity, the altered state of consciousness that results when you lose yourself in a crowd of similarly-garbed spectators whipped into a frenzy by 22 men in helmets. High in section P, astonished students spun like tops, exchanging glances that screamed as loud as their lungs.

At the time, it seemed like a night that would go forever unchallenged, an absolute maximum in the timeline of Wisconsin football, at least for those of us who still couldn’t drive cars when the Badgers captured back-t0-back Rose Bowl championships. Things could only go downhill, not because the team or program or experience was sure to fall off, but because the cliff was just too high to achieve again. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like to me, ever doubting Wisconsin’s ability to break through to that upper echelon of success and keep hold of it. But here I am, here we all are, a day away from a game that could render my resignation moot (and completely idiotic). This Saturday, the bar gets raised again.

The number in front of Bucky’s opponent this Saturday falls seven spots below the one those Buckeyes carried into Camp Randall last fall, but don’t expect a correspondingly subdued environment on campus. College GameDay will be in town again, filming on Bascom Hill (a much better spot than last year’s location inside Camp Randall) Saturday morning. Fans will have plenty of time to “prepare” for the 7:00 pm kickoff. Tickets are already changing hands for over ten times face value, a figure that will only rise as the hour approaches. The atmosphere would border on insanity if the Madison borders were sealed to any and all outsiders–such is not the case. By Barry Alvarez’s estimation, the city may have to accommodate up to 30,000 Nebraska fans making the trek for their team’s first ever Big Ten Conference game. Madison will be a shrine at the end of a college football pilgrimage.

In actuality, this game probably means more to the Badgers than knocking off Ohio State did, in that Wisconsin has a lot more to lose. At this point, despite some continually impressive performances from the top-ranked teams in the country, the Badgers’ National Championship hopes are still breathing, labored though they might be. Unfortunately, one loss is about all it will take to put them to rest. Winning this game will do a lot of “cementing” and make a lot of “statements” regarding Wisconsin’s place among the elite programs in college football, not just this season, but of this era. It’s obvious to everyone that this is a really, really good football team, with a dynamism and–dare I say it–swagger hitherto unknown around these parts. Sometimes I imagine Wisconsin football purists watching this offense with a guilty satisfaction; it’s a lot tougher to stick to your “we’re not a sexy team” guns when you’ve got a quarterback that can throw a 60-yard touchdown one play, then scramble for a 40-yard score on the next drive. Get’s the job done, but is it the Wisconsin Way?

To that I say…screw that. The old Wisconsin Way was making alumni and boosters happy because they got to watch what they were used to: big burly dudes knocking each other over and running in alternating directions. It’s true, that method got the Badgers a few Rose Bowl titles and a lot more national attention, but it was doomed, tied inexorably to the demise of power football as the dominant style in the college game. In the kinda-newly immortalized words of Billy Beane, “adapt or die”. That’s what Russell Wilson did for Wisconsin, and people are noticing. And they’re scared.

Last season was dotted with monumental achievements that fans won’t soon forget, and beating Ohio State was almost definitely the biggest of all. But this Saturday could bigger. This Saturday is all about the new Big Ten, the new college football landscape, and the new Wisconsin. Russell Wilson might not be replicated for many years after this season, but his legacy is sure to linger. Keep in mind, it’s his first Big Ten Conference game too. He’s not likely to forget it, and neither will the 100,000-plus people (!) who turn their gaze toward Camp Randall Stadium this weekend.