Cotton Bowl

Chryst is finalist for Coach of the Year

December 15, 2016 By Bill Scott

Paul Chryst

Wisconsin football coach Paul Chryst, who helped lead the Badgers to a number-8 ranking and berth in the January 2nd Cotton Bowl, was named a finalist for a national coach of the year award.

Chryst join’s Western Michigan’s P.J. Fleck, Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre, Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo and Washington’s Chris Peterson as finalists for the Dodd Trophy. The Dodd trophy is named after former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd. The winner will be announced during the week of the Peach Bowl, which will be played Dec. 31 in Atlanta.

Wisconsin (10-3) won the Big Ten West Division title before suffering a 38-31 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Championship game.

Former Badgers coach and current Athletic Director Barry Alvarez won the award in 1993.

The Badgers will face number-14 Western Michigan (13-0) in the Cotton Bowl.

Badgers headed to Cotton Bowl, face Western Michigan

December 4, 2016 By Bill Scott

The Wisconsin Badgers will make their 15th-straight bowl appearance against Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl on January 2, 2017 in Arlington, Texas.

Kickoff is set for noon (CT) at AT&T Stadium and will air on ESPN. It’s the first appearance for the Badgers in the Cotton Bowl, which dates back to 1937.

The 8th-ranked Badgers (10-3 overall, 7-2 Big Ten) fell to Penn State on Saturday night, 38-31, in the Big Ten Championship game.

Number-12 ranked Western Michigan (13-0, 8-0 MAC) comes in with an unbeaten record.

The game will mark Wisconsin’s seventh matchup this season with a team ranked among the top 12 of the Associated Press poll. [Read more…]

Badgers collapse in second half, fall in Big Ten title game

December 4, 2016 By Bill Scott

Wisconsin used a powerful running game and their usual stellar defense to jump out to a 28-7 lead. Penn State scored a touchdown just before halftime and added 24 additional points in the second half to pull out a come-from-behind 38-31 win over the Badgers in the Big Ten Championship game on Saturday night.

Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley completed 22 of 31 passes for 384 yards and four touchdowns, taking advantage of a Badger secondary that played not only their worst game of the season, but possibly of their career.

The big play Nittany Lions got to the Badgers with six big plays totaling 228 yards, five through the air and one on the ground. It was characteristic of Penn State, but uncharacteristic of the Badgers, who were one of the better big play defenses in college football.

But even with a 14-point halftime lead, Badger fans went into halftime wondering what would come in the second half. Penn State, which outscored the Badgers 24-3 in the second half, outscored their opponents in the second half on the season 280-105. [Read more…]