Today's Tidbit... The 1901 Wisconsin-Nebraska Slugfest

Anyone who knows football understands that Wisconsin's visit to Nebraska is the top game this weekend. Two teams best known for pounding the rock have their fans pounding their heads as they search for their identities in their 18th meeting. The teams have met eight times in Madison, seven times in Lincoln, and once in Indianapolis for the 2012 Big Ten Championship game. Their first meeting, however, came in the city of Brotherly Suds, Milwaukee, in 1901.

Back then, teams often played in larger cities rather than on campus, hoping to attract a bigger crowd and gate. While Wisconsin played Beloit in Milwaukee earlier in the season, the Nebraska game would test whether games in Milwaukee could attract the fans needed to justify playing bigger games there. For the 1901 game, however, Nebraska received a guaranteed gate that allowed them to bring only 15 players on the trip. They also economized by taking the return train on Saturday evening to avoid a second night of hotel fees.

Played at the Lloyd Street Grounds, also known as Milwaukee Baseball Park, the home of the Milwaukee Brewers (now Baltimore Orioles); 7,000 fans paid the admission fee to check on the mighty Badgers.

The Lloyd Street Grounds (Wooden Grandstands)

Wisconsin entered the game 5-0, having outscored opponents 201-5, while Nebraska had shut out four opponents and lost to Minnesota 19-0. Wisconsin, coached by three-time Princeton All-American Phil King, employed the Princeton system that emphasized speed and sweeps rather than the line plunges most teams employed.

(1903 Wisconsin yearbook)

Unfortunately for the Badgers, Nebraska's strong ends held them at bay for most of the first half, stopping their end runs while also outpunting them all game. But the men of corn were husked with four minutes left in the half as the Badgers took a 6-0 lead.

1901 Nebraska football team (Wiki)

Though tightly contested, the Badgers got the better of Nebraska in the second half. Halfback Eddie Cochems had a mini-Melvin Gordon performance on runs of 45 and 30 yards, helping Wisconsin to two second-half scores and an 18-0 win. Post-game, the team managers agreed to repeat the process in Milwaukee in 1902 and to split the gate evenly, but that game never materialized.

Upon returning home, the Nebraska reporters criticized referee Evert Wrenn for overruling a first down granted by the linesman and eight other decisions they considered unfair. Among the issues, they claimed that when Wrenn measured for first downs, he placed the ball with the points toward the goal lines for Wisconsin but had the points aimed at the sidelines for Nebraska.

('Gossip Of The Gridiron,' Lincoln Journal Star, November 4, 1901. )

After beating Nebraska, Wisconsin continued winning, shutting out Iowa State, Minnesota, and Chicago to claim a share of the Western Conference championship with Michigan. Michigan's 1901 team later agreed to travel west to play Stanford in Pasadena on January 1 in a game that was not recognized as the first Rose Bowl until the 1930s. Wisconsin's 1902 team earned an invite to the 1903 Rose Bowl, only to have Stanford and Cal refuse to play the game, so they waited until the 1950s to make their first visit.

How We Forgot, Then Remembered The 1902 Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl Game That Never Was: 1903 Wisconsin vs. Cal

The successful season gave Wisconsin's Phil King his third Western Conference championship in his eight years helming the Badgers. His 66 career wins topped all Badger coaches until Barry Alvarez came along. Bret Bielema led the Badgers to two more wins than King, and Paul Chryst bettered King by one.

Wisconsin's left halfback, Eddie Cochems, was mentioned for his second-half end runs. He went on to coach St. Louis U. for several seasons, including in 1906, the first year the forward pass was legal. He developed the nation's top passing attack, based on his passers using the little-known overhand spiral technique. Of course, word got around, and now everyone uses the overhand spiral; even ground-pounding Nebraska and Wisconsin have picked up on the idea, though they have yet to hone the technique as they might like.

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