It's Nov. 20, 2004. I'm at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa and ready for the Wisconsin Badgers to win a share of the Big Ten and clinch their first Rose Bowl since their 1999 campaign.
Iowa City isn't exactly your prettiest college town, but any Badger fan would be willing to brave the below freezing temperatures in the middle of nowhere if a win meant the next game would be played in southern California.
A Rose Bowl berth was not a possibility until just minutes before kickoff when the scoreboard flashed the Michigan score.
Ohio State 37, Michigan 21.
The Wolverines 13-game conference win streak had been snapped in a big upset, and a Wisconsin win now meant the cardinal and white could invade Pasadena once again.
The excitement did not stop there. Senior safety and fan favorite Jim Leonhard intercepted not one, but two passes in the first quarter, giving then-sophomore quarterback John Stocco the ball at the Hawkeyes' 32 and 35-yard line respectively. When the offense failed to score the first time, I knew they would surely score the second time. But after kicker Mike Allen missed a 51-yard field goal on the second sad excuse of a scoring opportunity, Iowa took a 7-0 lead.
At that point, it felt like Iowa was really winning 70-0.
But then Booker Stanley tied the score at seven with 1:50 left in the half. As ugly as the first half was, the Badgers were going to go to the locker room with a tied score. You could still smell the roses.
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, the beat-up Badger defense allowed Iowa to march 60 yards in three plays to regain the lead before the half. The same Badger defense that had dominated its opponents for nine straight games had given up 44 points to Michigan State the week before and now looked like it had no chance to stop Iowa in the second half.
And it didn't.
The Badgers lost 30-7, failing to put up a fight in the second half, and all Rose Bowl dreams were gone.
That day remains the worst of my Badger career, and it hurts two years later when I realize that might be the closest I come to a Rose Bowl.
Technically, the possibilities of a Pasadena trip this season are not dead, but unlikely.
As I return to Iowa City this coming weekend my main concern will be just winning the game and getting some revenge. The Badgers have already clinched third place and likely will return to the Capital One Bowl, but a win over Iowa would wrap it up.
I just want to return home from Kinnick Stadium with a different result than I did in 2004 and quite frankly I feel that it is risky to return to such a horrific place.
It was hard enough to relive the 2004 game by writing this column. I can hardly imagine what it would be like to relive the game by once again losing to a Hawkeye team that has already lost four times in the Big Ten—including to Indiana.
Iowa owns the Badgers and it looks like Stocco won't play. Not a good combination.
The bright side is that UW will have a running back this time around, as I doubt P.J. Hill will repeat the weakest display of toughness ever shown by a football player when Anthony Davis stood on the sideline fully dressed in 2004, but didn't play because his poor quadriceps hurt.
Davis essentially conceded a trip to the Rose Bowl by worrying about his leg and draft status—obviously a good choice because the former UW running back is no longer in the NFL.
You could argue that Stocco's health status this weekend is similar to Davis' in 2004 but there really is no comparison because Stocco has been nothing but tough for three years and Davis once sat out because someone poked his eye.
Someone poked me on Facebook yesterday and I still played in our intramural football playoff game last night.
The bottom line remains, however, that no matter who starts at quarterback Saturday, the only way I will get the visions of 2004 out of my head is if the Badgers win and prolong the pain Hawkeye fans have been feeling all year long.
If you would like to comfort Adam Saturday in Iowa City e-mail him at hoge@dailycardinal.com.
