Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.
Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/143421
all knew that we had a chance to be pretty dog-gone good. Am I going to lie to you and say Rose Bowl-good before we even played a game? "No. But everyone on that team knew we were going to a bowl game. "We just didn't know which one it was going to be.'' Along the way, there were speed bumps and adversity on the road to Pasadena. Following a 35-17 win over Nevada in the '93 opener ― quarterback Darrell Bevell set a schoolrecord with five touchdown passes ― the Badgers traveled to Dallas for a night game against SMU (five years removed from the NCAA Death Penalty) at Owenby Stadium, a 23,000-seat facility. Remembering that the visiting team dressed in a neighboring recreation building and SMU event security held up traffic before the game to allow the players to cross a campus street, Panos said, "It seemed like we had to walk a country mile to get to the stadium and it was hot, just miserable.'' It was 94 at kickoff and it felt much hotter at halftime since the Badgers trailed, 13-0. "I'm not surprised that we struggled,'' Panos said. "We still didn't know how to win, we still didn't know how to take care of business and we still didn't know how to beat the teams that we needed to beat.'' But this was not the "same old, same old'' Wisconsin. Not only did the Badgers rally for a 24-16 victory at SMU but the next day they were ranked No. 24 (Associated Press) and No. 25 (USA Today/ Coaches Poll). It was the first time in nine years the UW had been recognized in the Top 25. However, the first real measuring stick was still ahead: the Big Ten opener at Indiana. The Hoosiers were 3-0 and boasting they had turned the corner on the strength of their defense: ranked No. 6 nationally against the run. On the average, they "Why not Wisconsin?'' Panos asked. "We haven't shown a reason yet that we can't play with the big boys. Anything can happen in the Big Ten. Why not us?'' were giving up 86. The Badgers rushed for 354 yards. Wisconsin outmuscled Indiana, 27-15, and improved to 4-0, the school's best start since 1978. For more historical context, it was just the second Big Ten road triumph since 1986. Panos was asked afterward if he thought the Badgers should be taken seriously as a conference title contender. He saw red again. "It's wide open and why not Wisconsin?'' Panos posed rhetorically to a disbelieving media corps. "We haven't shown a reason yet that we can't play with the big boys. Anything can happen in the Big Ten. Why not us?'' Twenty years later, Panos reflected on answering a question with a question. "We knew how good we were and I was getting irritated that no one else did,'' he said. "Barry kept pounding us on how we were getting zero respect, 15