Dayne, Badgers Win Rose Bowl

For the first time all season, Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez put the weight of a football game on the shoulders of his offensive unit in Friday's Rose Bowl against high-scoring UCLA.

Even though Badgers tailback Ron Dayne has only one good shoulder, his right, he has two locomotive-powered legs. And he used those oak stumps to punish the Bruins for 246 yards and four touchdowns in Wisconsin's 38-31 victory.

He finished 2 yards from setting the Rose Bowl record USC's Charles White set in 1980.

Asked when he ever had so much running room, Dayne smirked.

"Freshman year," he said.

"I hadn't done that all season," Alvarez said of Wisconsin's game plan. "It was the first time we had to emphasize offense, because of UCLA's offense. We told them that we had to move the ball, we had to put points on the board and we had to start fast. We're not accustomed to shootouts."

"It's very difficult to win a bowl game at someone else's home field."

Not if you have some of the best fans in college football traveling with you. The Bruins might have worn their home powder-blue uniforms and played on familiar grass, but they dressed in the tiny visitors' locker room. But it was the very vocal Badgers fans who truly made the Bruins feel like foreigners.

Next year's Heisman race has already begun and Wisconsin's Ron "Great" Dayne is leading the pack. (AP)

"You coud definitely see it in their faces," Wisconsin cornerback Jamar Fletcher said of the huge amount of fans that made it difficult for UCLA's offense at key moments. "Our fans were fired up. They were getting into it. You could see the UCLA players thinking, 'Damn, when is this going to stop?'"

Wisconsin barreled over the Bruins here for the second time in five New Year's Days with the power performance by Dayne and two critical defensive plays by freshmen. The pair now must think they'll play most every game of their college careers before a sea of red-clad fans.

Maybe 20 minutes after the game, UCLA's band played its alma mater for the few fans left on the east side of the stadium. It was completely drowned out, however, by the Badgers' rambunctious band and tens of thousands of Wisconsin fans.

From Roll out the Barrel, that throng made a smooth transition to On Wisconsin. Five years ago, Wisconsin dominated the Rose Bowl atmosphere with about 70,000 fans. Stung by a ticket scam, fewer Badgers fans reportedly filled the stadium Friday. But not by many.

Quarterback Cade McNown couldn't lift the Bruins because he was being Badgered by the Wisconsin defense. (AP)

The Badgers fans crowded both end zones and the entire west side. The whole north end roared six minutes into the second half, when Wisconsin led 31-21 and UCLA had the ball on the 6-yard line. It was so loud, Bruins quarterback Cade McNown was forced to call a timeout.

On the ensuing play, McNown called an audible but his tailback, DeShaun Foster, couldn't hear the switch. Thinking he had to block right, Foster wasn't ready for a pitch from McNown. And Badgers linebacker Chris Ghidorzi flopped on the ball at the 3.

Threat extinguished.

"I guess he didn't hear the signal," McNown said of Foster. "I should have called a timeout, but I didn't think it was a big deal. There were a lot of Wisconsin people out there."

UCLA snuck to within 31-28 and had the ball. But with the start of the fourth quarter, the Bruins were flipped to the north end of the field for a second-and-9 play at its 26. But that's where the Wisconsin fans rose again.

Wisconsin left end Tom Burke responded by tackling McNown for no gain. On third-and-9, McNown was pressured to his right by tackle Wendell Bryant, and McNown's ugly lob was picked off by Fletcher and returned for a 46-yard touchdown.

Camp Randall Stadium West erupted.

"I never thought I could feel like this in my whole, entire life, or in my wildest dreams," Bryant said on the field as Alvarez accepted the Rose Bowl trophy. "This is the best thing to happen to me in my entire life, besides being bor."

Bryant and Fletcher were two of five freshmen who played an abundance of downs on Wisconsin's defense, and Bryant's sack of McNown with a minute left sealed a victory.

Bryant gave UCLA sophomore left guard Oscar Cabrera a move left, and Cabrera went with him. Then Bryant caught a glimpse of McNown to the right, bulled his way through and took McNown down for a 5-yard loss.

"Madison is a great town. I love the place," Bryant said. "It's the best place in the world. Wisconsin is one of the best states in America, and I'm just glad I'm there. I just want people to know that I love Wisconsin."

AP

Ron Dayne celebrates after Wisconsin's 38-31 win over UCLA.

And Wisconsin loves its Great Dayne, a 5-foot-10, 253-pound junior who has said he will return to chase the NCAA career rushing record Ricky Williams of Texas set this season. That would probably net Dayne the Heisman Trophy.

"He's hard to bring down and he's a great back," UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. "I am happy that he is coming back. That makes me feel good. My hat's off to him and the coaching staff for giving him the ball like they did."

Dayne said he had rare difficulty sleeping Thursday night, but he finally dozed off at about midnight. He awoke Friday at 8 a.m., watched some bowl games and was itchy upon arriving at the Rose Bowl. Before leaving the locker room, he said he glanced at the Rose Bowl rushing records in the game program.

But he didn't set any goals.

Dayne ran 54 yards untouched down the left sideline for his first touchdown in the first quarter, had 7- and 10-yard bursts for scores in the second quarter and finished his scoring with a 22-yarder, again untouched and with a sweet juke on corner Marques Anderson, early in the third.

"He's the real thing, and people can't criticize him," Wisconsin center Casey Rabach said. "He came out today and ran his ass off. He's the real thing. Before the game, I knew he was ready for anything. He wanted to prove himself again to show the nation he is the real thing."

Before UCLA took over for its one final shot, Dayne gained 14 yards on three plays. On a second-and-5, Badgers quarterback Mike Samuel kept on an option to the left for two yards. On the ensuing play, he was halted at the line. Dayne was outside on both of those plays. Alvarez said he didn't know Dayne so close to White's record.

"Mike was supposed to pitch it," said Alvarez, drawing laughs.

This game was supposed to be a laugher for UCLA, with the underdog Badgers considered the third-best team from the Big Ten and maybe the worst team to lay in the Rose Bowl.

"At the very least," Alvarez said, "we're the second worst."

Having lost to Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl for the second time in five years, the Bruins were in no position to argue.

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