Fletcher’s interception helps UW leave Bruins in ruins
With the sports world on hold, we gave you the 50 greatest moments in Wisconsin sports history over the past 50 years. What about the next 10 that just missed the list? This is No. 58.
Before he was a first-round NFL draft pick or a University of Wisconsin athletics Hall of Famer, Jamar Fletcher was a question mark.
Recruited out of Hazelwood, Missouri, to join the UW program in 1997, Fletcher spent his first season taking a redshirt, then opened some eyes heading into the 1998 season — but he was an unknown despite gaining the confidence of Badgers coach Barry Alvarez.
"We're settled on Fletcher, for sure," Alvarez said in the preseason "I really think Jamar is going to be a very good corner. We've still got some competition on the other one."
The 5-foot-10, 171-pound Fletcher showed something that had been absent in Badgers' defensive backs: ballhawking instincts.
He picked off six passes his redshirt freshman season and returned two for touchdown, including a 52-yarder against Purdue quarterback and future NFL Hall of Famer Drew Brees (he recorded another pick-six against Brees in 1999). The Badgers had eight interceptions in 1997.
"You have to have all the mental toughness in the world," Fletcher said. "You can't be tentative, because the receivers aren't scared. You have to have the confidence you can defend all receivers."
UCLA presented another challenge with a pair of 6-4 receivers. When the Badgers were a surprising matchup for the Bruins in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1999, they weren't given much of a chance. But the Badgers prevailed, 3831.
"He has played against excellent receivers all year," Alvarez said after the game. "He has answered the call all year and made big play after big play after big play."
Those two interception returns during the season tied a 50-year-old UW record. Fletcher's third set a new one, and it came on the season's biggest stage.
The 1999 Rose Bowl was a lot about offense, including Ron Dayne's 246 yards rushing to finish 1 yard short of Charles White's Rose Bowl record. But it was a play on defense that sealed the deal, when Fletcher picked off an underthrown pass by Cade McNown and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown with 14:08 left in the game, giving UW a 3828 lead.
"My man went inside and the running back on a swing pattern and I had him man-to-man," Fletcher said. "He threw the ball up. It came right to me and that was it."
UW beats national-title hopeful
The Bruins looked ticketed for the national-championship game for much of the season, ranked No. 2 starting in November, but UCLA hit a snag in its season finale against Miami, a game that had been postponed from earlier in the season because of Hurricane Georges. Miami cleared 600 yards of total offense and won, 49-45, dropping UCLA to fifth in the Associated Press rankings.
The Badgers weren't exactly a slouch, ranked No. 9 in the AP poll heading into bowl season. But Wisconsin was fortunate to be in the Rose Bowl, having tied Michigan and Ohio State for the Big Ten title at 7-1. Ohio State was ranked higher (No. 3), and Michigan had defeated Wisconsin in Ann Arbor (the Badgers and Buckeyes didn't meet), but Michigan fell to Ohio State in the final game of the season to create a three-way tie. Though the process was convoluted, Michigan was eliminated from Rose Bowl contention by virtue of having a lesser overall record (8-3 while Ohio State and Wisconsin were 10-1 each).
The Big Ten awarded the berth at the time to the program that had gone the longest without an appearance in the
Rose Bowl. Michigan had appeared in the previous Rose Bowl anyway, and Ohio State had been there two years earlier, while the Badgers had waited since 1994.
Thus, Wisconsin got the invite ... and the dubious distinction of a team many saw as the third best in the Big Ten, and certainly a team most expected would fall to UCLA.
Fletcher jumps the route
UCLA, which scored late in the third quarter to pull within 31-28, had just forced a Badgers punt. Wisconsin had led most of the game in what had become an offensive shootout, with a combined 1,035 yards that set a Rose Bowl record.
Fletcher had been burned for a 41yard touchdown pass earlier in the game that gave UCLA a brief 21-14 lead, and he had also been flagged for a pair of pass interference penalties.
But with the Bruins back on offense, McNown took the shotgun snap and threw for DeShaun Foster in the flat near midfield. Fletcher stepped up and easily picked it off, then followed his blockers to the end zone.
"He ran the right pattern," McNown said. "The guy was way off him, about 10 yards off. I threw it over him and hoped he could hold him off. I think it was a bad decision in retrospect.
"I've thrown it before where if the receiver is way down field, he comes back. That's what I was thinking. He was not wrong for doing what he did."
It wasn't Fletcher's big final play. UCLA's next drive stalled with 8:32 left at the Wisconsin 47, and the Bruins lined up to punt on 4th and 20, where UCLA coach Bob Toledo called for a fake.
Punter Chris Sailer rolled to his right and lofted a pass to Ali Abdul Azziz, who was wide open and appeared headed for the first down. But Fletcher reacted quickly and dropped Azziz 4 yards short of the first-down marker at the Wisconsin 31.
"My responsibility was their right sprinter," Fletcher said. "He just kind of jogged out there. Then I saw the punter coming around and he threw the ball. I just picked up on it and tried to make the tackle."
Coming into the game, the Bruins had coughed up the football just 17 times in 11 games and ranked second in the nation in turnover margin.
Fletcher broke up four passes overall, and Wisconsin finished off the upset even though Sailer was able to add a 30yard field goal with 6:05 to go to pull UCLA within a touchdown.
"I think we showed we can play with the big boys," said Fletcher. "We proved we're a good team and we deserved to be in the Rose Bowl."
How the moment lives on
Dayne carried the ball 27 times for those 246 yards and four touchdowns, and he was the easy choice for Rose Bowl MVP. Of course, he was on his way to an NCAA record of rushing yards and would return the following season, where he became Rose Bowl MVP one more time.
The UCLA rushing game was held largely in check with just 120 yards, an effort spearheaded by future NFL firstround pick Wendell Bryant.
Wisconsin was ranked sixth in the final AP poll. Tennessee tripped up Florida State for the national title, and UCLA finished eighth.
Fletcher was a key component of that team, and was named first-team All American in the process. He was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 2000 and won the Jim Thorpe Award for the nation's best defensive back. The Miami Dolphins drafted him with the 26th pick of the first round in the 2001 draft and remained in the NFL until 2009.
The Badgers, whose appearance in the 1994 Rose Bowl was a landmark achievement for the program, were suddenly a semi-regular contender to appear in the in the New Year's Day game, and the follow-up appearance (and win) in 2000 proved it. Alvarez rebuilt the program to previous heights with the 1994 trip, and by 1999 and 2000 the program was now a sustained Big Ten threat.
Since then, Wisconsin has been back to the Rose Bowl in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2020 but hasn't gotten another win.