Building A Rivalry: Wisconsin Football vs. Michigan Wolverines

“They better get season tickets right now because, before long, they probably won’t be able to.”

Barry Alvarez’s statement during his introductory 1990 press conference announcing him as the head football coach of the University of Wisconsin was viewed as either bold visionary or complete buffoonery. After all, UW was coming off five consecutive losing seasons, was a combined 6-27 in the three seasons under previous head coach Don Morton and was a program that had its fans giving away tickets to the 1989 season opener against No.3 Miami (spoiler, UW lost 51-3).

Many fans likely thought Alvarez was in over his head when the Badgers went 1-10 his first season, but the groundwork was being laid that season for what has been – for the most part – 30 years of success.

Starting with Alvarez’s 16 seasons (1990-2005) and extending to Bret Bielema’s seven years (‘06-‘12), Gary Andersen’s brief tenure (‘13-‘14) and, now, Paul Chryst (‘15-present), Wisconsin has been one of the more successful programs in the Big Ten. The program has won six conference championships, been to seven Rose Bowls and won 15 bowl games. Most importantly, the Badgers have either swung momentum in Big Ten series, completely dominating conference teams or closed the gap against some of the league’s heavyweights.

To understand how impressive Wisconsin’s run of success has been in the Big Ten, BadgerBlitz will examine UW’s series against 11 Big Ten opponents, looking at where it was and how it has evolved over four different Badgers coaches (Note: for this exercise, we are not including UW’s conference games against Maryland and Rutgers. The Badgers are 3-0 against each school and have outscored them a combined 137-71 in those six games).

Today, we examine UW’s series against the Michigan Wolverines.

When the Badgers knocked off the Wolverines in Chicago (a one-sided 17-5 victory) in 1899, Wisconsin led the all-time series, 2-1. That was the last time the Badgers have enjoyed that distinction.

Michigan went 10-0-1 against UW over the next 27 years, including eight victories by shutout. A modest three-game winning streak from ’59-’62 showed some hope, only to have the Wolverines win 22 of the next 23 meetings. From that stretch from ’65-’90, Michigan was ranked in the top 20 20 times and in the top 10 13 times. On the flip side, Wisconsin was ranked in only one of those meetings and, as the 14th-ranked team in the country, lost 56-0 to No.1 Michigan in Ann Arbor in ’77.

The only moment of glory during that futile stretch was the unranked Badgers toppling No.1 Michigan, 21-14, in the 1981 season opener. The Badgers had lost the previous four matchups by a combined total of 176-0.

UW held the edge in yardage, 439-229, and first downs, 23-8, John Williams scored the winning touchdown on a 71-yard screen pass and safety Matt Vanden Boom had three interceptions, the last in the final seconds to seal the win.

“I told the guys before the game, 'We're the only ones who believe we can win — nobody else in the stadium gives us a chance,'” Wisconsin coach Dave McClain said afterward. “This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me.”

Alvarez’s first Wisconsin team didn’t much of a chance against No.3 Michigan in 1990, losing 41-3, but the Wolverines went off the schedule the following two years. When they returned in ’93, UW was ready. The Badgers’ 13-10 victory made the Rose Bowl a reality and gave UW its first win in the series since that ’81 upset. When UW won the following year in Ann Arbor at No.10 Michigan, it was UW’s first two-game winning streak in the series since ’60-‘62. But after Michigan went off the schedule for another two years, momentum vanished. the Wolverines – ranked in the top 15 each meeting - won the next six matchups from as many as 17 points to as few as three.

Since that point, Michigan winning streaks have been things of the past. Starting with Alvarez’s final meeting against the Wolverines, the Badgers won four of the next six. Even with no meetings between the schools from ’11-’15 (completely missing the Andersen era for UW and the Brady Hoke era for Michigan), Chryst and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh have split the four meetings over the last four seasons with the home team winning each contest.

Michigan had beat Wisconsin six straight years and had won 23 straight Big Ten openers, but a raucous night atmosphere in September 2005 was one of the more memorable games in the history of Camp Randall. Brian Calhoun rushed for 155 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries, but the memorable run was quarterback John Stocco’s 4-yard quarterback draw with 24 seconds left, giving UW a 23-20 win.

Trailing 16-13 in the fourth quarter, the Badgers rode the legs of Calhoun to set up a first-and-goal from the Michigan 4. After two failed pass attempts, UW wide receivers coach Henry Mason astutely noticed the Wolverines rushing hard on the edges to get pressure on Stocco, who was rarely a running threat.

With the middle of the field open, Mason relayed that opinion to Alvarez.

“Henry mentioned that maybe we can get a quarterback run rather than handing it to Brian (Calhoun) because they're going to be keying on him," Alvarez told reporters. “And if we don't get it (with Stocco), we've got a timeout and another throw. I thought we'd have a chance with it.”

Alvarez had been 0-6 against Michigan coach Lloyd Carr but the victory gave the Badgers a ninth-straight home win for the first time since the early ‘60s.

With the continued rise of the Wisconsin program the last 15 years coinciding with Michigan no longer being what it once was, the Badgers have been able to have much better showings. UW is 6-4 since Stocco’s sneak and are 2-2 in the last four meetings. UW continues to struggle in Michigan (7-29 all-time) but the Badgers are starting to register convincing wins. The Badgers’ last five wins have been by 16, 21, 20, 14 and 21. Before 2007, UW had beaten Michigan by at least 14 points only twice.

While the two teams reside in separate divisions, UW will face Michigan each of the next two seasons (including a slated matchup in Ann Arbor this September) before a two-year hiatus. It’s unlikely UW will ever win enough to lead the all-time series, but the fact the Badgers are now competitive with Michigan on an annual basis on the field and on the recruiting trail is a massive improvement.

Wisconsin’s overall record vs Michigan pre-Alvarez: 8-40-1

Wisconsin’s record vs. the Wolverines since 1990: 8-11

The Alvarez Years: 3-7

The Bielema Years: 3-2

The Andersen Years: 0-0

The Chryst Years: 2-2