Dayne’s rushing record included roses
He set NCAA mark while Badgers clinched Big Ten
With the sports world on hold, we present a countdown of the 50 greatest moments in Wisconsin sports history over the past 50 years. This is No. 9.
It’s not Donnel Pumphrey’s fault, but Badgers fans have a hard time hearing his name without a pang of irritation.
The San Diego State running back from 2013-16 rushed for 6,405 yards to land third on the unofficial career rushing leader board in NCAA history. But when he ran for 115 yards in the Las Vegas Bowl against Houston in his final game, he moved into first place, even though Wisconsin legend Ron Dayne racked up 720 more yards in his career. How is that possible?
The NCAA didn’t begin counting bowl game statistics in the “official” career ledger until 2002, two years after Dayne wrapped up his legendary fouryear Badgers career. Even nearly two
decades later, the NCAA has declined to make revisions, preferring to preserve the historical record as it stood.
Pumphrey already played seven more games than Dayne in his career. That number increases to 11 more — almost a full extra season — when you subtract Dayne’s bowl game performances. And those showings aren’t anything to sneeze at.
Dayne racked up 246 yards in one Rose Bowl and 200 in another, plus 246 yards in the Copper Bowl as a freshman against Utah. Even with a relative dud thrown in (36 yards against Georgia in the Outback Bowl), that’s 728 yards that aren’t acknowledged in the NCAA record book. Dayne’s official career total is 6,397. He has 7,125 yards rushing, 599 ahead of second-place Tony Dorsett with all games considered.
Preposterous as the NCAA’s resistance to recalculating its record books may seem, the day Dayne broke the record will forever be one of the biggest moments in Wisconsin history.
On Nov. 19, 1999, Dayne and Wisconsin obliterated Iowa, 41-3. The Badgers secured a seventh straight win, a berth in their second consecutive Rose Bowl and, with a 31-yard run with just more than 4:30 left the second quarter, a record that (arguably, I guess) lives to this day.
“I can’t express, I can’t put in words how I feel,” UW coach Barry Alvarez said. “Back-to-back championships. Ron breaking the record. The Rose Bowl. I mean, it just doesn’t get any better than this.”
‘23 zone’ gets the 23 (and more)
Dayne entered the regular-season finale needing 99 yards to catch Texas running back Ricky Williams, whose record of 6,279 yards was only one year old. On the record-setting run, he needed just 23 yards, and he rumbled down the field for 31 yards.
It was a basic play called “23 zone,” and it put Dayne’s unique athleticism on display. The 252-pound battering ram took the handoff from Brooks Bollinger on the Badgers’ 17-yard line. After cutting through the line, he made safety Shane Hall whiff, then left cornerback Joe Slattery grasping at his ankles. Finally, Tarig Holman took him to the
ground at the Badgers 48.
“It was a base zone play, where he just reads it and reacts,” Alvarez said. “It really was a fitting way for him to break the record. He reads it, he makes a cut, he breaks a tackle and breaks out on the back end.”
With that, as the 79,404 fans cheered and waved white and red towels bearing Dayne’s name and number, a banner reading “33 Dayne” was unveiled at Camp Randall Stadium.
“I didn’t know whether to cry, to laugh, to run off the field and jump around,” Dayne said later after rushing for 216 yards on 27 carries.
“This is the best,” Dayne said. “I couldn’t imagine it being better.”
Penn State loss opens door
Badgers fans were already in a good mood when a first-quarter announcement came that Penn State had fallen to Michigan, an outcome that gave the Badgers an inside track to secure a second straight Rose Bowl berth. All Wisconsin needed was to beat Iowa.
At that point, Wisconsin had yet to score.
“They flashed it up on the board and everybody was cheering,” center Casey
Rabach said. “If anything it made us focus harder. We wanted to get Ron that record and win that game.”
Dayne’s record run was the first play of a seven-play, 83-yard drive that finished with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Bollinger to Chris Chambers with 1:18 left in the half. At that point, Wisconsin had a 27-3 lead, and the rout was on.
The ninth-ranked Badgers won their seventh consecutive game to finish the regular season at 9-2 overall and 7-1 in the Big Ten. Penn State, which lost for a second straight week, fell to 5-2 in league play.
“Going back to the Rose Bowl,” Dayne said when asked which part of the day was best. “We get a ring for that. I just get my name on the books for breaking the record.
“Last year we were co-champs and this year we went out and defended it. It felt great.”
“What better story could we have?” guard Dave Costa asked. “Ron breaking the record. Winning the Big Ten title outright and going to the Rose Bowl. It was a perfect day.”
The greatest Dayne
Dayne was a heralded recruit coming out of Overbrook High School in Pine Hill, New Jersey, as a freshman in 1996, but he was initially slated to get only a portion of the carries in a three-headed rushing attack that featured Carl McCullough and Aaron Stecker.
The junior McCullough had rushed for 1,038 yards the year before despite injury issues, but the Badgers had finished an uncharacteristic 10th in rushing within the Big Ten.
“We’re going to try to keep them all healthy,” Alvarez said.
Dayne’s first career action came with 13:34 left in the fourth quarter of the 1996 season opener against Eastern Michigan in a 24-3 win. Dayne took the ball five straight carries, racked up 23 yards and scored a touchdown.
McCullough’s own 107 yards that day moved him into 18th on the Badgers’ alltime list, but he was in the process of passing the torch.
In a 14-0 win over Stanford in Week 3, Dayne stepped into the game during a crucial fourth-quarter drive against Stanford’s first-string defense with Wisconsin nursing a seven-point lead. The result was a 55-yard drive, with eight straight Dayne carries punctuated by a 1-yard touchdown sneak from Mike
Samuel.
By the end of September, Dayne had done enough to become the starter. Even though Wisconsin lost to thirdranked Penn State on Sept. 28, falling by a 23-20 count when John Hall’s 58-yarder missed the mark, Dayne was spectacular with 129 yards rushing on 24 carries and two scores. That included a 50yard run that marked UW’s longest run from scrimmage in two years.
Four weeks in, Dayne led the Badgers in rushing and hadn’t even been officially named the starter yet. But against Penn State, McCullough had just nine carries and Stecker none, so it was obvious where the Badgers were headed.
Dayne won over his teammates with his unassuming demeanor.
“I tell people he is probably the most humble person I know,” said Badgers left tackle Chris McIntosh, who blocked for Dayne all four seasons. “I can’t even relate to the success he has had, the publicity. He is always congratulating guys, his blockers, and sharing the success he has and all the rewards.
“It tells you a lot about the person he is.”
“Personally,” said UW junior left guard Bill Ferrario, “I’ve never heard him mention one word about the record or the Heisman. Unless somebody else got him talking about it, dragged it out of him. And we don’t even talk to him about it.”
How the moment lives on
Dayne went on to win the Heisman Trophy in a landslide after the 1999 season, racking up 586 votes. Second-place Joe Hamilton of Georgia Tech had 96. For the year, Dayne finished with 2,034 yards in his senior season with 20 touchdowns.
Wisconsin went on to win the Rose Bowl over Stanford, 17-9, buoyed by 200 yards from Dayne. It was the first time a Big Ten team won back-to-back Rose Bowls.
He was taken 11th overall by the New York Giants in the 2000 NFL Draft. McIntosh was taken 22nd by Seattle.
Dayne’s record remains the stuff of legend. As Journal Sentinel columnist Dale Hoffman put it: “The best way to describe his physique would be to say that once he reaches the secondary, the enemy’s only hope is that he’ll leave the 10-pin.”