Wisconsin’s upcoming bowl game will be played in Southern California against a Pac-12 opponent. Why not look back at a Paul Chryst bowl game which enhanced Wisconsin’s stature and reputation while giving ballast to the current coach of the Badgers, who has only gotten better since his first year in Madison?
As the 2019 college football season winds to a close, Badgers Wire thought it would be fun to look back upon the 2015 Holiday Bowl and how the game affected both teams involved. The Badgers won their division and will return to the Rose Bowl for the first time in seven years. The USC Trojans, their opponent in the 2015 Holiday Bowl, are also ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings and, interestingly enough, will return to the Holiday Bowl this season against Iowa, one of the better bowl matchups among the 39 for 2019 and 2020.
The Trojans made the choice to retain coach Clay Helton for the upcoming season, which has not been received well by the local fan base. Interestingly enough, Helton took over as USC’s head coach in the 2015 season, relieving Steve Sarkisian in October of that campaign. Helton coached USC to the Pac-12 Championship Game that season, losing to Christian McCaffrey and Stanford. When Helton faced Chryst in that 2015 Holiday Bowl, college football fans were looking at two head coaches whose futures seemed impossible to predict.
Wisconsin got the better end of the deal, not just in that Holiday Bowl, but in the ensuing four years. USC did win a Rose Bowl in January of 2017, but Wisconsin has been much more consistent and has two New Year’s Six bowl wins in that same period of time.
Wisconsin just finished another superb regular season under Chryst. Whatever head coaching turmoil USC is facing, Wisconsin has no such issues. The former Badger who was born and raised in Madison did not do well at Pittsburgh, raising legitimate concerns about his head-coaching chops. Yet, his familiarity with Wisconsin football under Barry Alvarez created a hand-in-glove fit when continues to this day. Chryst has Badger blood flowing through his veins, but more than that, Chryst has ably translated his passion for UW football into quality results.
Through a connection, I reached out to a Badger fan, Lucas Rucks, who offered his assessment of the Chryst hire following Gary Andersen’s departure for Oregon State.
“In a lot of ways it was the most perfect hire,” Rucks said. “We knew he could play ‘Barry ball’ and there was optimism that he could continue to build on in-state recruiting of linemen and then finding East Coast running backs. Maybe the Badgers will never have the Anderson gimmicks or spread offense, but just like that we were assured of consistent top-ten finishes and bowl appearances in a known system where they recruit three-star athletes and develop to compete against the best in the count.”
That’s what Chryst provided when he took over. He gave Wisconsin a confidence and swagger the Badgers took into the Holiday Bowl against USC. Chryst’s ability to put it all together allowed the Badgers to play a tough USC team to the very wire and then pull out the win. The name value of the opponent wasn’t lost on fans, either. Beating USC was no small thing. Fans took notice when Chryst stepped in and beat the Trojans in his first year.
“Of course the brand recognition of USC wasn’t lost on us,” Rucks said. “The bright lights, the biggest stage, against a team that is truly elite. They have all of the resources and scandals and rich history. If it had been a mediocre team in the Kraft Fight Hunger bowl game it wouldn’t have been as big of a deal. But when a guy can step in and scheme against the Trojans in a big bowl, it is something special. As much as fans were nervous about the recruiting implications of losing [Andersen], it was equally huge that we were able to beat USC with the guy taking over.
“There’s almost no other team where this would have been as big. Wisconsin had recently beaten Auburn and Florida schools in bowl games past, so I honestly can’t name a team where this would have been a bigger deal for the university. With all that was going on and the recent success regarding national championships and Heisman trophies for USC, it was this win over USC that kept everything on track, and that’s only because it was a win over a program like USC.”