ROSE BOWL / DAILY REPORT : WISCONSIN : Badgers Gladly Flee Minus-25 Chill

The plane trip Saturday from Madison, Wis., to Los Angeles was a happy one for the Wisconsin Badgers. They would love to make the return trip even more pleasurable.

“The windchill was minus-25, so this was a great day for us to get out of Madison,” Coach Barry Alvarez said with a laugh moments after the team arrived for its first Rose Bowl appearance in 31 years.

The ninth-ranked Badgers (9-1-1) return to Pasadena on New Year’s Day for the first time since its 1962 season ended with a 42-37 loss to USC. It was the third time in as many tries that Wisconsin has lost in the Rose Bowl.

“If we went on history, or some of the old Wisconsin tradition, we wouldn’t be here,” said Alvarez, the first Big Ten coach of the year in Wisconsin history. “They’re tired of telling those stories back there, and it’s time for someone else to carry the baton for them. We set out this season to set our own standards for the school.”

This is the Badgers’ first postseason game of any kind since a 20-19 loss to Kentucky in the 1984 Hall of Fame Bowl. Saturday morning, offensive tackle and co-captain Joe Panos received some encouragement by phone from former Badgers Butch Kellogg and Albert Piraino, who were at Wisconsin the last time the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl.

“They told me that there are three teams that we have to play for besides ourselves,” Panos said. “So, we know what’s at stake here and we know how big this game is.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’re going to be playing for ourselves first and them second. But it’s just nice to hear them behind us. We’ve been waiting for this a long, long time, so I’m glad we’re finally here.”

Wisconsin made its Rose Bowl debut in 1953 and lost, 7-0, to USC on a 22-yard scoring pass from Rudy Bukich to Al Carmichael. The Badgers returned to Pasadena in 1960 and were beaten, 44-8, by Washington, led by quarterback Bob Schloredt.

In the 1963 loss, they fell behind by 42-14 before scoring 23 points in the fourth quarter. Badger quarterback Ron VanderKelen shared most valuable player honors with Trojan quarterback Pete Beathard and became one of only three Rose Bowl MVPs since 1929 to play for the losing team.

A Wisconsin victory over UCLA would leave Indiana and Penn State as the only teams in the Big Ten without a Rose Bowl victory. Penn State, which joined the conference this season, lost by 14-3 to USC in 1923 in its only Rose Bowl appearance.