Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.
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Badgers-Spartans rivalry high on drama THE VOICE MATT LEPAY • VOICE OF THE BADGERS T here is the Wisconsin- Minnesota rivalry, known as the Battle for Paul Bun- yan's Axe. There is Wisconsin-Ohio State, which has had no shortage of drama, especially in the last couple of years. The same can be said of Wiscon- sin-Michigan State. When it comes to football and men's basketball, we might be hard pressed to name another pair of programs that have traded thrilling victories and rip- your-heart-out losses quite like these two schools. The Hail Mary pass from Kirk Cousins off the facemask of B.J. Cunningham and into the hands of Keith Nichol is the latest and the craziest, but it is hardly the only wild ending between the pro- grams. In 2000, a Jim Sorgi 45-yard pass to Lee Evans in the final half- minute gave the Badgers a 17-10 victory in East Lansing. Not quite a Hail Mary, but it was close. In 2007, the Badgers and Spar- tans had a shootout as the teams combined for 1,025 yards of of- fense. Yet it was a fourth-down stop with a little more than one minute to play that helped Wisconsin hold off MSU, 37-34. A year later, Sparty rallied from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit in East Lansing to beat Wisconsin on a last-second field goal, 25-24. Now onto basketball, where there also has been some tremen- dous theatre. Take Bo Ryan's first year, when Wisconsin snapped 54 » VARSITY DECEMBER 1, 2011 Michigan State's home-court winning streak at 53, thanks to a Freddie Owens shot, followed by a Spartans' buzzer-beating bucket that was disallowed because the ball was shot and not tipped with two-tenths of a second remaining. In 2004, there was the famous "Banner Night" at the Breslin Center. Michigan State was making plans for a Big Ten title celebration, only to see the Badgers ruin the evening with a 68-64 overtime de- When it comes to the Big Ten's most high-profile sports, is there really a better rivalry going on today than Wisconsin and Michigan State? cision. Eleven days later, Wisconsin beat State in the Big Ten tourna- ment in Indianapolis (an omen?), 68-66. In 2008, Indy again was the location for another Badgers- Spartans thriller. Trailing most of the game, and down 12 with about eight minutes to play, Wisconsin fought its way back. A Michael Flowers steal and layup gave the Badgers a two-point lead, and in the closing seconds, MSU sharp- shooter Drew Neitzel missed what would have been a game-winning shot. Final score: Wisconsin 65 Michi- gan State 63. To be fair, the Spartans have had their moments as well. In 2007, the Badgers went into East Lansing as the nation's top-ranked team. MSU ended that with a 64-55 win. Not quite two weeks later, Kam Taylor's 3-pointer in the closing seconds helped the Badgers to a 52-50 win on Senior Day at the Kohl Center. Last year at the Breslin Center, the Badgers looked to be in great shape, but the Spartans scored the final nine points of regulation, then went on to beat Wisconsin in overtime, 64-61. A few weeks ago I repeated what I have long believed to be the case -- the Wisconsin vs. Minnesota series is the most underrated ri- valry in college football. That is my story, and I am sticking to it. However, it may be fitting to add another nugget. When it comes to the Big Ten's most high-profile sports, is there really a better rivalry going on today than Wiscon- sin-Michigan State? I will make the wild assumption that if you are reading this, you have a strong rooting interest in the game. But even if you do not, I would strongly urge you to tune in Saturday night. I am not smart enough to predict a winner, but recent history tells us it should be a heck of a show. For the first ever Big Ten cham- pionship game, could the script be any better?