The 2011 Wisconsin Badgers weren’t the last Wisconsin football team to make the Rose Bowl, but the 2011 Badgers did meet the Oregon Ducks in that season’s Rose Bowl game, the January 2012 edition. As we continue a month filled with Rose Bowl stories — what a happy task for us at Badgers Wire! — one small part of a much larger Wisconsin Rose Bowl story is that the 2011 and 2019 Badgers both arrived in Pasadena against Oregon after making similar regular-season journeys.
You know the 2019 Badgers’ progression under Paul Chryst and quarterback Jack Coan. What about the 2011 team under Bret Bielema and Russell Wilson?
Wisconsin won its first six games of 2011 by large margins: 51-17, 35-0, 49-7, 59-10, 48-17, 59-7. Huh. Sounds familiar, does it not?
49-0. 61-0. 35-14. 24-15. 48-0. 38-0. Those were the first six scores of Wisconsin’s games in 2019.
Wisconsin’s combined point differential in its first six games of 2011: 223 points. Wisconsin’s combined point differential in its first six games of 2019: 226 points.
Huh.
The 2011 Wisconsin team suffered a two-game losing streak in the last two weekends of October. The 2019 Wisconsin team suffered a two-game losing streak in the last two weekends of October.
The 2011 Wisconsin team endured its two-game losing streak on the road. The 2019 Wisconsin team endured its two-game losing streak on the road.
The 2011 Wisconsin team lost the second of its two midseason games at Ohio State. The 2019 Wisconsin team lost the second of its two midseason games at Ohio State.
The 2011 Wisconsin team went 4-0 in November to rebound and make the Big Ten Championship Game. The 2019 Wisconsin team went 4-0 in November to rebound and make the Big Ten Championship Game.
The obvious difference between 2019 and 2011 is that Wisconsin won the Big Ten Championship Game in 2011, unlike 2019. Wisconsin scored 42 points in the 2011 Big Ten title game, only half (21) in 2019. Yet, when looking at the 12-game regular-season schedules which sent Wisconsin to Indianapolis and then to Pasadena against Oregon, these journeys contained a lot of common elements. It shows how consistent Wisconsin is, and has been — at the start and end of a very successful decade.