Wisconsin social media weighs in on what makes Badger football so special

What’s your favorite thing about Wisconsin Badgers football?

College football is a special sport. It, in a large way, is the only reason this website and our network exist.

It’s hard to explain to a non-college football fan what the atmosphere the sport creates is like. It’s inherently different from the professional game, which is what makes it so special. The hundreds of intricacies would take hours to explain, and then years for people to fully come to understand.

Related: Which Big Ten football team has the toughest conference schedule in 2024?

That said, there is a lot of hand-wringing these days about the state of college football and college athletics as a whole. There’s concern about NIL, the transfer portal, conference realignment, gigantic television deals and a future that nobody can accurately predict.

But all of those issues seem to go away when the ball is kicked off every Saturday afternoon or evening, especially when the Wisconsin Badgers are on one of the sidelines. That’s the beauty of the sport.

So, to dig into this, we posted the following on our Facebook page after CBS Sports’ Josh Pate did the same with the sport as a whole:

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Here are some of the best responses:

WATCH: Iowa blasts ‘Jump Around’ in locker room after win over Wisconsin

WATCH: Iowa blasts ‘Jump Around’ in locker room after win over Wisconsin

Saturday was not a good day for the Wisconsin Badgers. The team outgained Iowa by nearly 100 total yards, yet was unable to find the end zone the entire day, turned the ball over twice and lost the crucial contest 15-6.

The loss drops Wisconsin to 4-2 on the 2023 season and 2-1 in Big Ten play. Notably, it bumped Iowa to 6-1 (3-1 Big Ten), giving the Hawkeyes the tiebreaker and the prohibitive edge in the division.

To add injury to the insult, Wisconsin lost starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai late in the second quarter with a hand injury. Head coach Luke Fickell said postgame “It doesn’t look good for a little while. He couldn’t grip the ball,” pointing toward an extended absence. A worst-case scenario.

And then, to add insult to the injury, here’s the postgame scene outside the Iowa locker room where you can hear the Hawkeyes blasting ‘Jump Around’ as they celebrated the win:

Buffalo has played ‘Jump Around’ all week at practice: “We’re going to try to make it our song”

If bulletin board material is possible for a Week 1 out-of-conference, here it is:

The Wisconsin Badgers and Buffalo Bulls are set to open their 2023 football seasons on Saturday. Buffalo will enter Camp Randall after a 7-6 2022 campaign in the MAC, and as SP+’s No. 97 team in the nation.

Buffalo head coach Maurice Linguist knows a thing or two about football in the Big Ten, as he coached defensive backs at Minnesota in 2017. While he’s gone up against the Badgers once (a 31-0 loss), he’s never made the trip to Madison to play them on the road.

Jonathan Acosta of WGRZ in Buffalo noted earlier this week Linguist and his staff are installing an interesting tactic ahead of the trip to Madison this weekend: playing House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’ all day at practice.

“Pay a visit to the University at Buffalo football practice this week, and you’re likely to hear one song in particular played over and over,” Acosta writes. “That song would be ‘Jump Around’ by House of Pain, a song that’s blasted over the speakers at Camp Randall and is a tradition at Wisconsin Badgers football games.”

Related:

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*Final Wisconsin football 2023 game-by-game predictions

*Five takeaways from Wisconsin’s Week 1 depth chart

Buffalo defensive leader safety Marcus Fuqua was asked whether he and the team have grown tired of the song. To which he responded: “Nah, you can’t…I like the song, it’s cool as fun.”

Jump Around will be played for the first time this year entering the fourth quarter on Saturday, as it normally is. The biggest question here is whether a competitive football game is still being played on the field below, or if backups are in to go through the motions until the clock hits zero. At that point, it’s worth wondering if the song is still ‘fun.’

Acosta notes the senior safety later added “That’s their song. We’re going to try to make it our song.”

I don’t know if true bulletin board material is possible entering a Week 1 out-of-conference game with a point spread nearing 30. But if it is, this headline serves it up on a platter.

COLUMN: We’ve waited all summer

That’s what makes this sport what it is. The intensity never gets old. We return to the same places expecting the same thing and yet, we never grow tired. 

Football is back.

We’ve waited all summer for this.

Once again, we will take to the fields to tailgate. Lose our lungs on the third down. Check the Wi-Fi on Saturday morning to make sure we’re ready for the day. Sneak that one earbud in so we can listen to the game on the radio at a wedding we didn’t want to attend.

We’ll step outside as the sun is setting and smell the fall smoke in the air. See those leaves falling from the trees. We’ll hear those drumlines marching through campus. We’ll listen to a drunk friend explain why his favorite team is about to pull off the upset of the century.

We’ll get our hopes up just to be let down again. Or maybe, our expectations will be met, and we’ll make the memories of a lifetime.

We’ll sit down and forget about what else is going on in the world. For a few hours, we’ll never be alone, because there’s thousands, maybe millions, watching the same game, rooting for the same team.

For three hours, our family won’t be determined by who we share blood with, but by the colors we wear. We will see things we’ve never seen before. Spectacular plays and thrilling comebacks.

But for all the moments that shock and surprise us, we’ll still have our traditions. Things we’ve seen a hundred times before but still leave us in awe every time.

Maybe, that’s what makes this sport what it is. The intensity never gets old. We return to the same places expecting the same thing and yet, we never grow tired.

Whether it’s a tiger who roams in Baton Rouge, an eagle who flies in Auburn, or a Bulldog that patrols the sideline in Athens.

Metallica will blare in Blacksburg, Virginia. Students in Wisconsin will jump around and cowbells will ring out in Mississippi.

Legends will be made. New eras will begin and some will come to an end.

No matter how we consume this sport or which transitions we embrace, it’s back. So, friends, once again, let’s get together. Let’s go on this joy ride that is the college football season. Feel all of it, victory or heartbreak.

We’ve waited all summer for this. Now, it’s here.

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Notre Dame celebrates Wisconsin win with ‘Jump Around’

I came to get down…

A wild scene unleashed at Soldier Field at the start of the fourth quarter Saturday when Wisconsin’s tradition of playing “Jump Around” took place.  As is the case at each Badgers home game the crowd went nuts.

With Drew Pyne in at quarterback and the Wisconsin defense swarming it seemed like the Irish were entering dangerous waters, but things quickly turned as a 13-10 deficit with 14:14 to play turned into a 41-13 Notre Dame victory.

In his on the field interview with Fox immediately after breaking Knute Rockne’s all-time Notre Dame wins record, Kelly stated that the Irish thought “Jump Around was their own fight song.”

The best photos from Notre Dame-Wisconsin at Soldier Field

The Irish must have liked it quite a bit because after the game it was one of the songs of choice in the locker room.

Not long after the game the Notre Dame social media team got in on the fun.

Well played by all.

And for the record the “Jump Around” tradition is pretty cool.  I wish more Notre Dame fans would have participated in the fun instead to start the fourth quarter at Soldier Field. It’s a catchy tune and makes one want to jump around.

Especially after scoring 31 straight fourth quarter points.

Related:

Notre Dame puts it On Wisconsin: 5 Instant Takeaways

5 Stars: Best and Worst of Notre Dame’s win over Wisconsin

Brian Kelly becomes Notre Dame’s all-time winningest coach

Latest on Notre Dame’s quarterback situation after Wisconsin win

Will ‘Jump Around’ play this Saturday at Soldier Field?

I came to get down…

In 1998 Wisconsin was taking on a Drew Brees-led Purdue team and before the fourth quarter the song “Jump Around” by House of Pain was played.  The instant result was a madhouse at Camp Randall and soon after a great college football tradition was born.

Will that song that has become as much a part of Wisconsin football as brats and beer are at a tailgate be played in Saturday’s neutral site game at Soldier Field?

According to Kori Finley of the Chicago Tribune the answer to that question is yes.

I’m all for traditions being carried out but you know where the “Jump Around” tradition and entire Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin experience would be better than Soldier Field?

At Camp Randall in Wisconsin.

I’ve only been to one game ever at Wisconsin but it was plenty memorable back in 2010 when J.J. Watt and the Badgers knocked off No. 1 Ohio State that night and “Jump Around” in person lived up to the hype.

College football is best played on college campuses and you’ll never convince me otherwise.  Nonetheless that tradition will take place Saturday during this Badgers “home game”.

Yet with this and the game not being on NBC, Notre Dame is still calling it a Shamrock Series game despite the original idea of that series being to essentially take a home game to a neutral location.

Alrighty then.

Related:

Notre Dame tweaks depth chart ahead of Wisconsin showdown

Notre Dame-Wisconsin: 5 things to know

Notre Dame-Wisconsin: Comparing Quarterback Stats

Will Soldier Field play Jump Around after the 3rd quarter on Saturday?

Will Soldier Field play Jump Around after the 3rd quarter on Saturday?

For Wisconsin Badger fans visiting Chicago for Saturday’s showdown between the No. 18-ranked Badgers and No. 12-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, we have an answer about whether Soldier Field will play Jump Around after the 3rd quarter.

According to the Chicago Tribune’s Kori Finley, that answer is yes.

We obviously do not see Jump Around played during Wisconsin’s road games and rarely during their neutral-site contests. But with this being a technical home game for the Badgers, we now have confirmation that Soldier Field will honor Wisconsin’s most famous tradition.

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WATCH: Former Wisconsin F Nate Reuvers leads Jump Around at graduation

Although former Badgers’ forward Nate Reuvers was known for his prowess in the paint in his time at Wisconsin, he led the tradition of Ju…

Although former Badgers’ forward Nate Reuvers was known for his prowess in the paint in his time at Wisconsin, he led the tradition of Jump Around for the Wisconsin Graduate Degree Ceremony on Saturday. In addition, Reuvers earned his M.S in Supply Chain Management over the weekend.

The Lakeville, Minnesota, native finished his Wisconsin basketball career with 1078 points, 429 total rebounds and a program-record 184 blocks. Reuvers also made the decision over the weekend to hire an agent and pursue a professional basketball career.

Here is the clip from the graduation ceremony on Saturday:

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