I’ve heard a lot of sports hosts calling tomorrow’s Big Ten Championship Game the “MOST IMPORTANT GAME IN WISCONSIN BADGERS FOOTBALL HISTORY!!” I’ll grant you that the Badgers would likely clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff with a win over Ohio State and as former Vice President Joe Biden so succinctly said: That’s a Big (Expletive) Deal. And I subscribe to the attitude held by Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichik that the next game is always the “most important game ever”. But when you take a step back–and not treat what is happening right now as the only thing that has ever mattered in the history of mankind–you would see that the “Most Important Game In Wisconsin Badgers Football History” was played on December 4th of 1993–in of all places, Japan.
In that game, the Badgers took on Michigan State. With a win, they would capture a share of the Big Ten title–and their first berth in the Rose Bowl in 31-years. To this day, Athletic Director (and then Head Coach) Barry Alvarez says it was his biggest regret agreeing to move that game from what would have been an early November home date at Camp Randall Stadium to a 5000-mile road trip with so much more on the line. Fortunately, the Badgers played like a team with everything to gain that night–and Michigan State looked like they didn’t want to be anywhere near a football field. Wisconsin won 41-20 and punched their ticket to Pasadena. And the rest as they say, is history.
But consider what would have happened if Wisconsin had laid an egg in that game. A loss would have ruined what had been up until that point a Cinderella season–with a dramatic home win again Big Ten powerhouse Michigan and an equally dramatic tie the next week against Ohio State that cleared the way for a potential conference title. But blow that game against Michigan State–and it would have been the Buckeyes representing the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl–while Bucky would have gone to some second-rate bowl game in late December.
Without that win Barry Alvarez likely becomes the second coming of Don McClain–a solid coach that never really was able to build a consistent winner. Maybe Wisconsin goes to a few more bowls before Alverez heads off to Miami or Notre Dame. A loss in Tokyo probably means no pipeline of future NFL offensive linemen coming to Madison. No Ron Dayne. No Heisman Trophy season. No back-to-back Rose Bowl wins. No Miracle at the Metrodome. No highly-successful preferred walk-on program that produces All-Americans and future pros. No smooth transition to Bret Bielema. No three consecutive Big Ten titles. No JJ Watt. No Russell Wilson. And no record setting days for Melvin Gordon. Paul Chryst may still have been hired–but he would have inherited a program with little history of success and far less talent.
Yes, there is a lot on the line in tomorrow’s Big Ten Championship Game. And maybe it ushers in an even better era of Wisconsin Football. But let’s keep things in perspective and remember how we got to this point.
