Some Nebraska flavor in Wisconsin football program

Even before fans with Husker football tickets got a chance to warm up to their new Big Ten Conference, they will get a taste of their own medicine when they open up conference play this Saturday as the Huskers take on the top ten-ranked Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium.
Nebraska fans will find some eerily similarities to the program they have come to love and share so much passion for, from the team's colors to some of its offensive traditions.
The kinship starts at the top with the school's athletic director, Barry Alvarez. Longtime Husker football fans will remember Alvarez, who is a 1969 graduate of the University of Nebraska. He played his college football under legendary coach Bob Devaney, and was an assistant and head football coach at two Nebraska high schools before he entered the college ranks as an assistant to Hayden Fry at Iowa in 1979.
Alvarez was a part of the coaching staff at Notre Dame during their national championship season in 1988 before he moved to Wisconsin, where he turned the Badgers into a Big Ten powerhouse and a perennial nationally-ranked program. Before his arrival, the Badgers had gone 9-36 in their previous four seasons. In the next 16 years, he went 118-73-4, won eight of 11 bowl games and coached three Big Ten and Rose Bowl champions. His back-to-back Big Ten championship teams in 1998-1999 were the school's first in more than a century, and he is one of 10 coaches in conference history to have won 100 games at one institution.
While not as prevalent in the history books, Wisconsin has had more than its share of high-profile award winners. Ron Dayne won the Heisman Trophy at Wisconsin, one of three Badger  players to win major awards during the Alvarez era.
As far as the history between Alvarez' alma mater and his current employer, the two teams have played each other five times, with Nebraska holding a 3-2 edge. Wisconsin won the first meeting between the teams in 1901 (18-0), but Alvarez' former coach beat Wisconsin in 1965 (37-0) and 1966 (31-3). Current Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne split two games against Wisconsin during his first two years as head coach, beating the Badgers 20-16 in 1973 and losing a 21-20 heartbreaker in Madison the following year. Saturday's matchup between Wisconsin and Nebraska will be the first meeting between the two teams in 37 seasons.
A lot of experts have designated this matchup as the potential matchup for the first Big Ten Conference Championship game this December in Indianapolis. Both teams will be playing their first conference games of the season in this Saturday's matchup, and the two teams are ranked seventh and eighth, respectively, in the latest AP top 25 poll.
Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema has the Badgers playing at a very high level after taking over for Alvarez as head coach five years ago. He won his 50th game as head coach in last week's win over South Dakota, and his 50-16 record is among the top five winning percentages among active coaches with at least four seasons of experience in the FBS division.
The Badgers are capable of putting up a ton of points. Last year, they finished the season by scoring 201 points in their final three regular season games, including an 83-20 pasting of Indiana and a 70-23 walloping of Northwestern. They finished the season last year with an exciting matchup against TCU in the Rose Bowl, coming up short as the Horned Frogs rallied for a 21-19 win.
Don't miss out on what will be a historic and exciting first Big Ten Conference matchup for the Husker football team. Get your tickets to see Nebraska take on Wisconsin this Saturday afternoon in Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisc. Great seats are available for the Nebraska vs. Wisconsin game now at Ticket Express -- where no Husker football game is ever sold out.