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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

MADISON, Wis. — When the Wisconsin football team makes its school-record 15th-consecutive appearance in a bowl game next month, it will do so against the backdrop of some quirky intrigue.

This is the first time the eighth-ranked Badgers (10-3 overall) will appear in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, which will be staged on Jan. 2 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

This is the third time UW will face an unbeaten opponent to close out the season, taking on the Mid-American Conference titlist in 12th-ranked Western Michigan (13-0).

Strangely, Wisconsin is not the first school from the state to appear in the Cotton Bowl, nor is Paul Chryst the first native son to coach in the game.

This marks the 15th-consecutive bowl game for the Badgers, the longest active streak among Big Ten Conference schools and the sixth-longest among Football Bowl Subdivision teams behind Florida State (34), Virginia Tech (23), Georgia (19), Oklahoma (17) and LSU (16).

To commemorate the feat, here are 15 items of interest about the latest Cotton Bowl matchup:

1. The first school from the state to play in the Cotton Bowl? That distinction belongs to Marquette, which was known as the Golden Avalanche when it lost to TCU in the inaugural matchup in 1937. A college football power in the 1920s and '30s, Marquette dropped football in 1960 in part because of a reported $50,000 budget deficit in the athletic department.
    
2. Chryst, in his second season as head coach at his alma mater, is not the first Madison product to guide his team to the Cotton Bowl. Rick Neuheisel, born in Madison in 1961, led Colorado to a victory over Oregon in 1996.
    
3. Barry Alvarez, the Wisconsin director of athletics, took part in the 1988 Cotton Bowl. He was the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame when the Irish endured a 35-10 loss to Texas A&M.
    
4. The Badgers have never lost a bowl game in Texas. They knocked off UCLA in the 2000 Sun Bowl in El Paso and toppled Colorado in the 2002 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.
    
5. Facing unbeaten opponents in a bowl game has not gone well for Wisconsin. It fell to USC (11-0) in the 1963 Rose Bowl and lost to TCU (13-0) in the 2011 Rose Bowl.
    
6. Three former Cotton Bowl participants have served as head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Bart Starr was a quarterback for Alabama in 1954 when it lost to Rice. Dan Devine coached Notre Dame to wins over Texas in 1978 and Houston in '79. Mike Sherman coached Texas A&M when it lost to LSU in 2011.
    
7. Speaking of that Devine-led Notre Dame club in 1979, it closed out the season with a remarkable performance in subzero temperatures. The Irish trailed 34-12 in the fourth quarter, but famously rallied to win 35-34. Quarterback Joe Montana was the star in the comeback, but the tide began to turn when defensive back Steve Cichy latched onto a blocked punt and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown. Cichy's son, Jack, is a junior inside linebacker for the Badgers.
    
8. Prior to last year's game on Dec. 31, 2015, the last time the Cotton Bowl was staged prior to New Year's Day was in 1967. The game was moved to New Year's Eve to accommodate the NFL championship game between Green Bay and Dallas. The Packers prevailed to advance to Super Bowl I.
    
9. Wisconsin senior tailback Corey Clement has topped 100 yards rushing eight times this season, including the last five games. Another would tie him for the third-most for a single season in program history. It would also put him among an impressive collection of legends to rush for 100 yards in the Cotton Bowl, including Jim Brown of Syracuse in 1957, Earl Campbell of Texas in 1978, Bo Jackson of Auburn in 1986 and Eric Dickerson of SMU in 1983.
    
10. UW is the third member of the Big Ten Conference to appear in the Cotton Bowl, joining Ohio State (1986 season) and Michigan State (2014, '15 seasons). The Buckeyes knocked off Texas A&M, while the Spartans followed up a win over Baylor with a College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Alabama.
     
11. The current cumulative record for Wisconsin's 14 opponents is 124-60 (.674). Two claimed league titles (Penn State and Western Michigan). Four earned berths in New Year's Six bowls (Penn State, Western Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan). Six were ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll when the Badgers faced them (No. 5 LSU, No. 8 Michigan State, No. 4 Michigan, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 7 Nebraska and No. 8 Penn State). Seven go into their bowl assignments ranked in the AP Top 25 (Ohio State No. 2, Penn State No. 5, Michigan No. 6, Western Michigan No. 12, LSU No. 19, Iowa No. 21 and Nebraska No. 24).
     
12. The only other time in program history the Badgers faced six top-25 opponents was 1999. That club won the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl.
     
13. Chryst can become the third coach in UW history to win 11 or more games in a season. Alvarez did it in 1998 (11-1). Bret Bielema did it in 2006 (12-1), '10 (11-2) and '11 (11-3).
     
14. This is the 18th time the Badgers have played in a bowl on New Year's Day or later. They are 7-10, but won their most recent assignment over Auburn in the 2015 Outback Bowl.
     
15. UW is 3-1 all-time vs. Western Michigan. This will be the third encounter in which the Badgers are ranked in the AP top 10. They were seventh in 1963 and won 41-0. They were fourth in 2000 and won 19-7. The lone loss for Wisconsin came in 1988. The Broncos prevailed 24-14 on the way to winning the MAC title.