The Best Wisconsin Football Games by Week: Week One

MADISON, Wis. – With no football games on the schedule (yet), BadgerBlitz.com is turning back the clock to pick the best/most meaningful Wisconsin regular-season games each Saturday.

To make it more interesting, we’re picking the best games of a specific week: the best season openers, the best week two games, week three, etc, of the modern era (since 1947). Some weeks won’t be a fair fight, as the number of games has increased over that time (nine games until 1965, 10 games until 1971, 11 games in 1997 and mostly 12 since) with the addition of more non-conference games, but the impact these games had for Wisconsin can’t be disputed.

To begin, our pick for Wisconsin’s best season opener of the modern era: September 3, 2016 against No. 5 LSU.

Season openers always come with a lot of hype and anticipation but few – if any – could compare to what Wisconsin was facing to begin 2016. Not only were the unranked Badgers facing fifth-ranked LSU (the same program that escaped with a season-opening victory in the season opener two years ago in Houston), the two schools were meeting at iconic Lambeau Field.

The on-the-field task was significant. Defensively, the Badgers had to stop tailback Leonard Fournette (who rushed for 1,953 yards the previous season) and a pair of talented wide receivers in Travin Dural (19 yards per catch last season) and Malachi Dupre (16.2 ypc). Offensively, Wisconsin had to curtail an LSU defensive line that combined for 15 sacks and 20 tackles for loss the previous season. A subplot to all of this was the interworking of Wisconsin’s offense and defense from LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, who had left Madison for a seven-figured contract in Baton Rouge during the off-season.

Off-the-field, the game marked the start of a tough overall schedule. In addition to LSU, Wisconsin’s schedule had the Badgers traveling to Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa and Northwestern and hosting Ohio State and Nebraska by mid-October (five of those teams were ranked in the top 15).

I wrote prior to the game that beating LSU at Lambeau was a “must win” for the program, somewhat of a controversial topic. After all, Wisconsin had won at least 10 games five times in the seven previous years, going 70-24 (.745) over that span. Highlighted in the span were three consecutive three Big Ten championships and extending its league-leading bowl appearance streak to 14 consecutive seasons.

However, the program was not routinely talked about nationally, at least not outside the Midwest, because the Badgers lost three Rose Bowls and were not in the national title conversation. If UW wanted to make a real splash in the world of college football, it had to beat a premier non-conference opponent after failing to do so the previous two seasons (LSU in 2014 and Alabama in 2015).

“There’s plenty of story lines going into this game, playing at Lambeau Field, College GameDay, Dave Aranda leading LSU against Wisconsin,” linebacker Vince Biegel said. “The story lines are endless, but at the end of the day, the product we want to put on the field does not stop and the standard we have on Wisconsin football as high. We want to go out there, perform and do what we always do, and that’s play hard-nosed Wisconsin Badger football and hard-nosed Wisconsin Badger defense, which we plan on doing.”

Wisconsin fans had seen the story play out several times before: building a lead against a high-ranked opponent only to cough it up by stumbling over itself on the way to a disheartening loss. Thankfully, Wisconsin’s players were young enough not to care about the past.

Blowing a 13-0 lead in the third quarter, Wisconsin clawed back against No.5 LSU thanks to a suffocating defense and a resilient offense to earn a landmark 16-14 victory.

Wisconsin’s dominated in every category in the first 30 minutes (holding LSU to only 64 yards on 21 plays and forcing two turnovers) but only could manage a 6-0 lead at halftime after shooting itself in the foot. That changed coming out of the locker room.

After the Badgers’ defense continued to swarm LSU and Fournette, Wisconsin scored the game’s first touchdown in only five plays and in less than two minutes, energizing the portion of the 77,823 decked out in cardinal and white. Then the turnovers happened, and momentum changed in only 67 seconds.

Quarterback Bart Houston – making his first career start – stared down a receiver and allowed Tre’Davious White to jump the route and return it 21 yards for a score. Two plays later, Wisconsin wasted great field position when junior receiver George Rushing got greedy after making a first down, resulting in him coughing up the ball.

Two plays later the Tigers were in the end zone, and the Badgers’ offense was dazed. Following the 13-0 lead, UW ran 13 plays, generating only 49 yards and made two turnovers.

Corey Clement looked refreshed after an injury-plagued junior season and finished with 86 yards and a five-yard touchdown. Tight end Troy Fumagalli registered career highs in both catches (seven) and yards (100), including gains of 20 and 11 yards on a critical fourth-quarter drive that gave UW its final points.

After an up-and-down sophomore year, Rafael Gaglianone delivered by going a perfect 3-for-3.

Thanks to Wisconsin’s defense, being coached for the first time by defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox, the Badgers out-gained LSU, 339-257, ran 70 plays to LSU’s 50 and overcame three turnovers by forcing three turnovers of its own. None of the Tigers’ 12 drivers went more than 50 yards.

“We knew they would take some shots and definitely come out running the ball first,” said then-sophomore safety D’Cota Dixon, who delivered the game-clinching interception with 57 seconds left. “Coach Wilcox just executed on his play calling, and I think our defense executed on our job.”

The back-to-back third-quarter turnovers that erased UW’s 13-0 lead left the older players thinking back two years when Wisconsin blew a 24-7 third quarter lead in a 28-24 loss to LSU in Houston.

“I was like, “Oh my gosh, don’t let this happen again,’” Dixon said.

“I was like, ‘What are we doing?’” tailback Clement added.

Only difference between those two games was the defense was better and deeper the second time around. UW still had to deal with injuries (Ryan Connelly stepped in when Chris Orr was knocked on with a torn right ACL the first play of the game), but the Badgers’ steady rotation on the defensive line kept alleys open for the linebackers.

After the offense imploded following their 13-0 lead, registering only 49 yards on its next four series that included the two turnovers, Houston and the offense marched 48 yards in eight plays and set up Gaglianone’s third made field goal – a 47-yard strike - to retake the lead with 3:47 remaining.

After being unranked to start the season, the victory pushed the Badgers all the way to No.10 in the AP poll, their highest ranking since the end of the 2011 season. More importantly, Wisconsin kept its momentum, for the most part, throughout the season. Never dipping below No.11 in the AP poll, the Badgers went 4-3 against the seven teams that were ranked in the AP Top 11 at time of the meeting. The three losses – all by a touchdown - were bitter pills (at No.4 Michigan, vs. No.2 Ohio State in overtime, vs. No.8 Penn State in Indianapolis), but Wisconsin finished the season on a high note with a victory in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

On the flip side, LSU struggled to recover from the loss to Wisconsin. Long-time head coach Les Miles was fired after a 2-2 start and the Tigers finished the season 8-4 and ranked 13th in the AP poll.

The event was so successful both for Wisconsin and the Green Bay Packers that a second game at Lambeau Field with the Badgers was scheduled this year against Notre Dame, which has since been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After beginning 2016 off the radar, the Badgers have not been overlooked at the start of the season since – ranked No.9 in 2017, No.4 in 2018, No.19 in 2019 and No.12 this season. Perhaps that’s in small part to that victory over LSU, one of the most notable victories in the program’s history.