Today in College Football History: Wisconsin Upsets No. 1

Wisconsin’s combined 86-17 point differential in its first two wins emphasizes what many speculated in the offseason: the reigning Big Ten Conference champions are the pace-setters in 2011. Last season’s defeat of then-No. 1 Ohio State was UW’s launching pad to its current status as the league’s hunted, but 30 years ago the Badgers were the hunter.

That OSU victory was UW’s first defeat of a top ranked team since 1981. On Sept. 12 that year, the Badgers faced a Michigan team that was the consensus No. 1 and had absolutely dominated the UW program the previous half-decade.

In fact, UW hadn’t scored a single point on the Wolverines in the previous four meetings. The point differential was enough to make even Bret Bielema blush, as UM had a 176-0 edge. The scores:

• 1977: Michigan 56, Wisconsin 0
• 1978: Michigan 42, Wisconsin 0
• 1979: Michigan 54, Wisconsin 0
• 1980: Michigan 24, Wisconsin 0

And those are only the losses in which UW didn’t score.

The Badgers’ last win against Michigan came on Nov. 3, 1962 in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines’ win streak spanned 19 years and 13 games, the Carter Years streak marking the worst stretch for UW.

Wisconsin didn’t erupt into an offensive outpouring. Jess Cole threw a pair of touchdown passes on the Wolverine defense, while the Badgers on that side of the ball shut down an offense stacked with All Big Ten talent.

Athlon described the win as the fifth-best in Wisconsin football history.