Wisconsin Led by a Great Dayne

The Wisconsin Badgers, unhappy about the past, put a positive spin on the future in the Copper Bowl.

Freshman Ron Dayne rushed for 246 yards and three touchdowns Friday night as the Badgers (8-5) completed a roller-coaster season with a flourish by routing Utah, 38-10.

Wisconsin won three nonconference games, then a 0-4 start in Big Ten Conference play, including three-point losses to Penn State and Ohio State, left them without hope of a major bowl bid. But they recovered with five victories in their last six games, the last three by lopsided scores.

“We overcame what happened in October. That’s in the past, and this was the best way to finish it,” said Tarek Saleh, who deflected a pass by Utah’s Mike Fouts that Cyrill Weems turned into an 82-yard interception return for a game-turning score.

The Badgers’ show of strength highlighted the 260-pound Dayne on offense. Meanwhile, the defense set a Copper Bowl record with four interceptions.

“The seniors kept focused,” said coach Barry Alvarez, who has led the Badgers to three bowl victories in four years. “They gave us good leadership. They could have rolled over and played dead when the adversity came. It was a very difficult year.”

He was speaking mainly of the defense. Saleh and Neil Miklusak, who deflected another pass into the hands of a teammate, are seniors, along with Weems, Pete Monty and Pete Diatelevi, who got the first three interceptions.

Quarterback Mike Samuel ran 38 yards for Wisconsin’s first touchdown, Dayne scored on runs of 40, 3 and 1 yards, and John Hall kicked a 38-yard field goal.

Utah (8-4) got its points on a 24-yard field goal by Daniel Pulsipher and one-yard run by Juan Johnson.

The game was decided before halftime, when the Badgers led 31-3 after blunting both ends of Utah’s attack.

The Utes had virtually no running game after 275-pound tailback Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala sprained his left ankle nine minutes into the game and watched the second half on crutches.

After the injury, Fouts kept a 16-play drive going for Pulsipher’s field goal, cutting Wisconsin’s lead to 7-3 with 3:53 left in the quarter.

Dayne scored two plays after the ensuing kickoff, racing 37 yards to the Utah 40 on his first carry and covering the remaining distance after breaking off tackle on the next.

“He is a tough guy and a great runner,” Utah Coach Ron McBride said of Dayne, whose bowl numbers gave him season totals of 2,109 yards and 21 touchdowns.

“I love my line,” Dayne said.