
Few settings in college football carry the weight of Camp Randall Stadium, the fourth-oldest stadium in college football and the home of Wisconsin Badgers football since 1917. More than 76,000 fans fill the bowl in Madison on fall Saturdays to watch a program that sits among the 26 in college football history to win 700 or more games. Wisconsin has competed in the Big Ten Conference since the league formed in 1896, the same year the Badgers became its first champion. That blend of setting, history, and conference stakes is a big part of what fans get with Wisconsin Badgers football tickets.
The nickname comes from the state's mining days, when lead prospectors in the 1820s and 1830s wintered in tunnels burrowed into hillsides and lived like badgers. The football team first took the field in 1889 and posted undefeated seasons in 1901 and 1912. The 1942 squad knocked off the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes at Camp Randall and earned a Helms Athletic Foundation selection as national champion. Alan Ameche won the program's first Heisman Trophy in 1954, and the 1962 team upset top-ranked Northwestern on the way to a No. 2 finish in the AP poll. The modern era took shape under Barry Alvarez, who arrived in 1990 with the program at a low point and left 16 seasons later with a 118-73-4 record, three Big Ten titles, and three Rose Bowl victories. Today the playing field at Camp Randall bears his name.
The football itself has an identity. Wisconsin has built its reputation on physical, run-first offense, and the school record book reads like a history of the college running back, with NCAA and Big Ten marks set by Ron Dayne, Montee Ball, Melvin Gordon, and Jonathan Taylor. In the stands, Camp Randall runs on rituals: students and fans bounce to "Jump Around" between the third and fourth quarters, the marching band closes every home game with the Fifth Quarter, and Bucky Badger works the sidelines. Trophy games against Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska give the schedule its rhythm. That combination of power football and ritual makes a Saturday in Madison feel different from anywhere else in the Big Ten.
7 events
Iowa · 1 events
Wisconsin · 3 events
California · 1 events
Indiana · 1 events