BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — No one can accuse tight end Troy Fumagalli of not having both oars in the water. Especially when it comes to respecting Wisconsin's opponent in the Cotton Bowl.
Fumagalli knows a little something about Western Michigan from an insider's perspective that should bode well in preparation for the Broncos, because he certainly won't take them lightly.
As a point of reference, he said, "I grew up playing with some of their guys."
One of them is Austin Guido, a special teams player for the Broncos. Guido and Fumagalli are both alums of Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois, 40 miles west of Chicago.
Fumagalli also is very familiar with Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis, who's from Wheaton Warrenville South High School, a 30-minute drive from Aurora.
"He's a very good player," Fumagalli said.
How good? The 6-foot-3, 213-pound Davis is the career Football Bowl Subdivision leader in receiving yards with 5,212. The previous record-holder was Nevada's Trevor Insley, who collected 5,005 yards between 1996 and 1999.
Davis has 326 career receptions and 51 touchdowns. For context, Brandon Williams and Jared Abbrederis are Wisconsin's all-time co-leaders in catches (202) and Lee Evans holds the school mark in receiving yards (3,140).
This season, Davis has caught 91 passes for 1,427 yards and 18 touchdowns. For more context, UW's wide receivers have combined for a total of 93 catches (Peavy, Wheelwright, Rushing, Cephus, Taylor).
"It will be an exciting challenge for us as a secondary," said Wisconsin cornerback Sojourn Shelton. "He runs good routes, solid routes. He can go get the ball no matter where you put it."
Davis was not only the Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Year — Randy Moss and Greg Jennings are previous winners — but he was the offensive MVP of the MAC championship game. Davis had eight catches for 144 yards and one TD — a 70-yard pass from quarterback Zach Terrell — in Western Michigan's 29-23 win over Ohio at Ford Field in Detroit.
After rattling off all of Davis' qualities, such as size, strength, speed after the catch, Ohio coach Frank Solich said, "He obviously is a great player. There's no question about it. He's a big-time receiver."
Western Michigan fans have definitely warmed to Davis and Terrell, who has been honored as the top scholar-athlete in college football with the Campbell Trophy, the "academic Heisman." Terrell is the second MAC player to win the award. Marshall's Chad Pennington was the first. Terrell, a three-time captain, is currently working towards his master's degree in business administration.
Based on his stats, he got all passing grades during the season. Terrell completed 71 percent of his throws for 3,376 yards and 32 touchdowns. He was intercepted only three times in 349 attempts.
Terrell, a fifth-year senior from Fort Wayne, Indiana, has thrown for 11,943 yards and 95 TDs during his career. Fumagalli is no stranger to the success of Terrell and Davis and the 13-0 Broncos.
"I've followed them any chance that I could watch them," he said. "They play sometimes during the week (twice on Tuesdays against Ball State and Kent State), and I watched the MAC championship."
The Western Michigan campus in Kalamazoo is two hours from Detroit, factoring into a record crowd of 45,615 at Ford Field. The previous attendance mark for the MAC title game was 25,483.
"Another thing about them," Fumagalli said of the players, "is they believe, they really do. They've all bought into Coach (P.J.) Fleck and everything with rowing the boat. They're excited."
The genesis for the "Row the Boat" mantra was adversity. When Fleck was coaching wide receivers at Rutgers, he lost his second son, Colt, to a heart condition shortly after his birth in 2011. Looking for something to rally his spirit, Fleck came up with "Row the Boat," which had nothing to do with football and everything to do with shaping his mindset at the time.
After taking the Western Michigan job in December of 2012, at age 32, after going 1-11 in his first season, Fleck adopted the "Row the Boat" theme as the foundation of his fledgling program.
The concept was players all working in unison to reach a goal. According to Fleck, the oar symbolizes energy and strength and the boat is the sacrifice. The direction is up to the individual.
All of Fleck's motivational phrases are part of "Bronconese 101." Possessing the ball is viewed as sacred; "The ball is the program," in his words. The Broncos didn't have a turnover in their first six games.
Overall, Western Michigan has only seven turnovers, the fewest in the country. The Broncos are No. 2 in turnover ratio with a plus-19. Wisconsin is No. 8 with a plus-11. The Badgers have 16 giveaways.
"You look at what they've done, now they're 13-0, and where they were a few years ago — 1-11 — they've come a long way," Fumagalli reasoned. "They're going to be pumped up to play in this game."
But what about the Badgers? Especially after raising the bar throughout the season to the point where they were in the discussion for the College Football Playoff.
"Obviously, there was a lot of emotion coming off that game," Fumagalli said of the loss to Penn State in the Big Ten championship game, a crushing one because the Badgers squandered a 28-7 lead.
"But I'm still excited (about the Cotton Bowl). We've put a lot of work into this season and we got rewarded with a New Year's Six bowl. I'm pumped up about it.
"We started this journey at the beginning of August and we have an outstanding opportunity to finish it right. I think a lot of people on this team will realize that and come together.
"We don't want Penn State to beat us twice."
That was the sentiment of his teammates who spoke with the media this week.
"Honestly, the way in which we lost, I don't really think we have to worry about that," Wisconsin's senior safety Leo Musso said of the potential for a Penn State hangover.
"I know our guys are going to come out with a chip on their shoulder and play angry and try to avenge that loss because obviously that left a sour taste in our mouth.
"It was just the way they beat us more than anything — coming back on us when we had that comfortable lead. That definitely stings, so I think the guys will be motivated off that alone."
Musso has the utmost respect for Western Michigan.
"It's hard at any level —Division II, Division III —it's hard to be undefeated," he said. "And we're going to be the team that gets the opportunity (to hand them their first loss)."
Full team practices will resume next week.
"It starts with being prepared and knowing who we are up against," said tailback Corey Clement. "We can't take this team lightly. They're undefeated for a reason."
Shelton is anxious to get back on the practice field.
"The reason that it's so tough now," he said of the lingering impact of the Penn State loss, "is that you have so much free time to replay that game in your head and think what you could have done."
To this end, Shelton will show up to watch the younger UW players practice on Friday and Saturday. "I just want to be around football and around the team," he explained.
That's how Fumagalli feels about getting back into a football routine.
"When we come back together next week, we'll get back to work," he said. "We've done a good job coming back all year from adversity and I don't think it's going to be any different now."
While the defense has come under scrutiny after giving up so many big plays, Fumagalli knows the offense didn't hold up its end of the bargain, either, by scoring only three points in the second half.
"Everybody is talking about the defense and how good it was all year and how they gave up 38," he said. "But as an offensive player, and as an offense, we could have done a better job of executing."
That will be on his mind as he prepares for Western Michigan. As far as his working knowledge of Cotton Bowl history, he recalled watching the 2015 game between Michigan State and Baylor.
Trailing by 20 points in the fourth quarter, the Spartans rallied for a 42-41 win. Fumagalli is also aware of the Cotton Bowl connection for Wisconsin linebacker Jack Cichy.
In the 1979 classic, staged at the original Cotton Bowl stadium on the state fairgrounds, Notre Dame trailed Houston 34-12 with 7:37 remaining in what would later be billed as the "Chicken Soup" game.
Irish quarterback Joe Montana was battling the flu and fighting off hypothermia, and he was so sick at halftime that he didn't come out right away for the third quarter. But after getting some of his strength back, thanks to a bowl of chicken soup, Montana sparked Notre Dame to a 35-34 comeback victory, one of the more notable chapters in the legacy of the "Comeback Kid."
The key play in the rally came on special teams. Down by 22 points, Tony Belden blocked a punt and Steve Cichy — Jack's dad — returned it 33 yards for a touchdown, a memorable scoop and score.
Fumagalli has heard the story. Now, he wants to write a happy ending to Wisconsin's.
"We've got another shot," he said resolutely.
