Huskers and Badgers Meet at 2:30 p.m. on ABC

GAME 10: NEBRASKA at WISCONSIN
NOV. 15, 2014 | CAMP RANDALL STADIUM
MADISON, WIS. | 2:30 p.m. (CT)

BROADCAST INFO
TV - ABC
RADIO - Husker Sports Network
SATELLITE RADIO - Sirius Channel 91, XM 91
INTERNET RADIO - Huskers.com

HUSKERS
Record: 8-1, 4-1
Rankings: CFP-16; AP-11; Coaches-11
Last Game: def. Purdue, 35-14
Coach: Bo Pelini
Career/NU Record: 66-25/7th year 
vs. Wisconsin: 1-2

BADGERS
Record: 7-2, 4-1
Rankings: CFP-20; AP-22; Coaches-22
Last Game: def. Purdue, 34-16
Coach: Gary Andersen
Career/UW Record: 46-37, 7th year/16-6, 2nd year
vs. Nebraska: 0-1

The Matchup
Nebraska begins a tough three-game stretch to complete the regular season on Saturday when the Huskers take on Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. CT and the contest will be televised nationally by ABC. 

Nebraska enters the game with an 8-1 overall record, and a 4-1 mark in the Big Ten Conference. The Huskers are tied with Wisconsin and Minnesota atop the Big Ten West standings, with Nebraska set to face the other two co-leaders in the division over the next two games. Following Saturday’s matchup, the Huskers play host to Minnesota, before finishing the regular season at Iowa.

The Huskers posted a 35-14 victory over Purdue on Nov. 1 in their most recent outing, before enjoying a bye last Saturday. Nebraska will enter Saturday’s showdown in Madison ranked 11th in both the Associated Press Poll and the USA Today Coaches poll. The Huskers were ranked 13th in the College Football Playoff ranking last week, with the next poll scheduled to be released on Tuesday evening.

Wisconsin comes into the matchup at 7-2 overall, having won each of its past four games, including a 34-16 victory at Purdue on Saturday. The Badgers have played their best football in recent weeks, outscoring their past three opponents by a 123-23 margin. Wisconsin is ranked 22nd in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls this week. The Badgers were 25th in last week’s College Football Playoff ranking.

The Series
The series between the schools is tied at four wins apiece. Wisconsin holds a 2-1 advantage in matchups since Nebraska joined the Big Ten, most recently a victory in the 2012 Big Ten Championship Game. The schools each won on their own home field in 2011 and 2012. Prior to the Huskers joining the Big Ten, the two schools had not met since 1974.

The Coaches
Nebraska: Bo Pelini (Ohio State, ‘90) owns a 66-25 record (.725) in his seventh season as head coach. He has guided NU to nine or more wins in each of his first six seasons as head coach, joining Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne in accomplishing that feat at Nebraska. His 66 wins trail only Osborne and Devaney on the NU wins list. Pelini joins Alabama’s Nick Saban as the only head coaches in the nation to win nine or more games each of the past six seasons.

WISCONSIN: Gary Andersen (Utah, ‘86) is in his second season as Wisconsin’s head coach and owns a 16-6 record with the Badgers. Andersen is 46-37 overall in seven seasons as head coach, previously serving as head coach at Utah State for four seasons (2009-12) and for one season at Southern Utah (2003). He was an assistant coach for 11 seasons at Utah.

Nebraska Football
Nebraska is 873-358-40 all-time, one of just eight schools with 800 all-time victories 
- Nebraska has won five national championships (1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997).
- The Cornhuskers have won 43 conference championships.
- NU’s 50 all-time bowl appearances rank third nationally.
- Since 1970, NU has 439 wins, 26 more than any other school.
- Nebraska’s 107 football Academic All-Americans lead the nation.
- The Huskers have 110 All-Americans in school history.

Scouting Wisconsin
Wisconsin brings a 7-2 record into Saturday’s matchup, and the Badgers are tied with Nebraska and Minnesota atop the Big Ten West Division standings with a 4-1 record in conference play. Wisconsin has won four straight games and the Badgers’ two losses this season are by a combined 10 points.

Wisconsin boasts one of the nation’s top rushing attacks and one of the country’s best defenses. Led by Melvin Gordon, the Badgers ranks fourth nationally with an average of 325.7 rushing yards per game. Gordon leads the nation with 1,501 rushing yards and is second nationally in rushing (19) and total (21) touchdowns. In his career, Gordon is averaging 7.8 yards per carry, a mark which would be the highest total in FBS history among backs with at least 415 carries (Reggie Bush, 7.3). Corey Clement is one of the nation’s top backup running backs, as he has rushed for 720 yards and seven touchdowns.

With the strong rushing attack, Wisconsin averages only 152.7 passing yards per game. Tanner McEvoy has played in every game and is completing 58.0 percent of his passes while throwing for 709 yards and five touchdowns and six interceptions. Joel Stave, who ranks in the top 10 in Wisconsin history in career starts by a quarterback, made his season debut last month and has started four straight games. In those four games, Wisconsin is 4-0 and the Badgers are averaging 40.3 points per game. Stave threw for a season-high 219 yards last week at Purdue.

Defensively, Wisconsin is the national leader in total defense (251.1 yards per game), while ranking third in scoring defense (14.3 points per game), third in passing defense (156.8 yards per game) and fifth in rushing defense (94.3 yards per game). The Badgers have allowed only 23 points in their last three games.

Series History
The all-time series between Nebraska and Wisconsin is tied, 4-4. The teams have split their two conference games with the home team winning each time, but the Badgers have won two of the three meetings since Nebraska joined the Big Ten including Wisconsin’s victory in the 2012 Big Ten Championship Game. 

Both teams enter the matchup ranked for just the second time in nine all-time meetings. The only previous meeting of ranked teams was in 2011, when No. 7 Wisconsin beat No. 8 Nebraska, 48-17, in Madison. The Badgers lead the series 2-1 at Camp Randall Stadium, with Nebraska’s lone win coming in 1966.

Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini
Bo Pelini is in his seventh season as Nebraska’s head coach and owns a 66-25 record with the Huskers. Pelini has won or shared four divisional titles in his first six seasons as head coach, including the 2012 Big Ten Legends Division crown. He guided NU to three straight Big 12 North Division crowns from 2008 to 2010, becoming the first coach in the history of the Big 12 to win at least a share of a division title in each of his first three years. 

He has guided Nebraska to at least nine wins each of his six seasons, and three 10-win seasons. Pelini is third on the Nebraska career victories list, trailing only Tom Osborne and Bob Devaney. Pelini is one victory from reaching nine wins for a seventh straight season.

Pelini took charge of the Huskers after a highly successful five-year run as a collegiate defensive coordinator, including orchestrating NU’s defensive efforts in 2003. Pelini picked up his first college head coaching victory as NU’s interim coach in the 2003 Alamo Bowl against Michigan State.

Following his one season at Nebraska, Pelini served as the co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2004, helping the Sooners to the Big 12 title and BCS title game. He then followed with three seasons as the defensive coordinator at LSU. With the Tigers, Pelini led three consecutive defenses to No. 3 national rankings in total defense. He culminated his time in Baton Rouge by helping the Tigers to the 2007 national championship.

In addition to his five seasons as an assistant at the collegiate level, Pelini coached in the NFL for nine seasons, serving three years each with the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers. Pelini was a team captain and four-year letterman as a safety at Ohio State from 1987 to 1990.

Wisconsin Head Coach Gary Andersen
Gary Andersen is in his second season at Wisconsin. After a 9-4 campaign in his first season, Andersen seeks a second straight nine-win season in 2014. The Badgers are 7-2 this fall and Andersen will face Nebraska for the first time in 17 seasons as an FBS assistant or head coach.

Andersen came to Wisconsin after spending four seasons as the head coach at Utah State. He led the Aggies to a 26-24 record from 2009 to 2012, including an 11-2 record and a conference title in his final season. Andersen’s first head coaching job was at Southern Utah in 2003, when he led the Thunderbirds to a 4-7 record.

Andersen was an assistant coach at Utah for five seasons - including four as the Utes’ defensive coordinator - in between his head coaching stints at Southern Utah and Utah State. He also served on the Utah defensive staff from 1997 to 2002. His previous collegiate coaching stops include two years at Northern Arizona, two years at Idaho State and three years at Ricks College, where Andersen was a junior college All-American as a player. Andersen also served as the head coach for Park City (Utah) High School in 1994.

Huskers Bidding for Seventh Straight Nine-Win Season
Nebraska stands at 8-1 heading into the season’s final three games. The Huskers need just one victory to reach nine wins for the seventh straight season under Head Coach Bo Pelini. Nebraska’s six straight nine-win seasons entering 2014 put Nebraska in elite company. 

» Nebraska is one of three schools that has won at least nine games each of the past six seasons, joining Alabama and Oregon.

» Pelini has guided Nebraska to 10-win seasons in three of his six seasons. With one more victory in 2014 Pelini would become just the sixth coach to win nine games in each of his first seven seasons at a Power Five Conference school. The others in the group include Tom Osborne (Nebraska), Barry Switzer (Oklahoma), Earle Bruce (Ohio State), Steve Spurrier (Florida) and Mack Brown (Texas).

» The six straight years with at least nine wins marks the first time NU has accomplished that since its NCAA record streak of 33 straight nine-win seasons from 1969 to 2001.

» Nebraska has 48 nine-win seasons in school history, including 40 since 1969. The Huskers’ 27 all-time 10-win seasons are third-most in college football history.

Huskers-Wisconsin to Debut Freedom Trophy on Saturday
The newest trophy game in the tradition-rich Big Ten Conference is Nebraska-Wisconsin. The teams will be playing for the Freedom Trophy for the first time this Saturday when the schools meet at Camp Randall Stadium. With the reconfiguration of divisions in the Big Ten beginning this season, NU and Wisconsin will now meet each season as members of the West Division.

The Freedom Trophy, designed and sculpted by Harry Weber of Wright City, Mo., features a bronze football stadium with an American flag extending from the center. One half of the outside of the stadium depicts the North section of Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium (built in 1917) and the other half the East side of Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium (stadium built 1923, East side expansion in 2012). The stadium and flag sculpture sits on top of a wooden base that has dedicated space for future Wisconsin-Nebraska game scores.

The base also contains an identical inscription on two sides that reads:

“The Freedom Trophy pays tribute to the brave men and women who have fought in our nation’s wars. The University of Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium, built on what was once a Civil War training ground, and the University of Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium, dedicated in honor of our nation’s veterans, stand as proud monuments to those who have sacrificed so much in the name of freedom.”

Huskers Strive for Strong Second Half of 2014 Season
Nebraska completed the first half of the season with a 5-1 mark, and has started the second half of the season with three victories to improve to 8-1 overall. The 8-1 start marks Nebraska’s first record of 8-1 through nine games since 2011, and just the second for Nebraska since 2001.

- The win over Purdue on Nov. 1 improved Nebraska to 4-1 in conference play, marking the third straight season, and four of the last five years the Huskers have won four of their first five games in conference play.

- Nebraska is hopeful its three straight wins over Northwestern, Rutgers and Purdue will propel the Huskers to a similar second half of the season as in 2012. Nebraska posted a 6-0 record in the second half of the 2012 regular season. That surge started with a 29-28 road victory at Northwestern.

- The Huskers posted 5-1 records in the second half of the regular season in both 2009 and 2010 under Bo Pelini, and won their final four games of the season in 2008.

- Nebraska has had a good run of success in the month of November under Bo Pelini. Including the win over Purdue, Nebraska is 20-6 in the month of November. The Huskers have won nine of their last 11 November games heading into Saturday’s matchup at Wisconsin.

- Nebraska posted perfect 4-0 November records in both 2009 and 2012 en route to appearances in the Big 12 and Big Ten Championship games, respectively.

NU Rushing Attack Once Again Among Nation’s Best
Saturday’s game will feature two of the nation’s top rushing teams. Wisconsin leads the Big Ten in rushing, with Nebraska impressive in its own right. The Huskers average 280.7 rushing yards per game to rank second in the Big Ten and ninth nationally. The Huskers have rushed for better than 300 yards three times this season, including two games of more than 400 yards.

The Huskers exhibited a powerful running game in starting the season with a 5-0 record. Nebraska pounded Illinois on the ground, rushing 70 times for 458 yards including a pair of 100-yard rushers. A week earlier, the Huskers dominated the Miami contest with a punishing ground game, rolling up 343 rushing yards on 54 attempts. The Huskers opened the season with an overpowering rushing effort against Florida Atlantic, rolling up 498 yards on the ground, and averaging 8.7 yards per carry. The rushing output was Nebraska’s best under Bo Pelini and the Huskers’ best since rushing for 641 yards at Baylor in 2001.

- Nebraska’s rushing output in the first nine games of the season is the Huskers’ best through nine games since 2010. The Huskers averaged 288.1 rushing yards per game through nine contests in 2010.

- Ameer Abdullah rushed for 208 yards on 22 carries against Illinois with three rushing touchdowns. Fellow I-back Imani Cross had a career-high 109 yards on 22 carries. The game marked the 77th time in school history Nebraska has had two or more 100-yard rushers, and the second time in 2014. Abdullah (232) and Terrell Newby (107) accomplished the feat against Florida Atlantic in the season opener. Nebraska was just shy of the mark against Miami with Abdullah rolling up 229 rushing yards, while quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. added 96 rushing yards.

- The 300+ rushing efforts against FAU, Miami and Illinois give Nebraska 18 games under Bo Pelini in which Nebraska has rushed for at least 300 yards. The Huskers are a perfect 18-0 in those games.

- Nebraska has reached at least 200 rushing yards in 23 games since the start of the 2012 season, including five times in 2013 and six of nine games in 2014. Nebraska is 11-0 since the start of the 2013 season when rushing for 200 or more yards.

- In 2013, Nebraska finished third in the Big Ten and 19th nationally in rushing, averaging 215.7 yards per game. The 2013 rushing success continued Nebraska’s recent surge on the ground. Nebraska has averaged better than 200 rushing yards per game for four straight seasons, and has ranked in the top 20 nationally each year from 2010 to 2013. NU led the Big Ten in rushing in 2012, and topped the Big 12 in rushing offense in 2010.

- NU’s 458 rushing yards against Illinois were its most in four years in Big Ten play, and its most against a conference foe since rushing for 641 yards at Baylor in 2001.

- Ameer Abdullah has surpassed 1,000 yards for the third straight season with 1,250 yards, giving Nebraska a 1,000-yard rusher for each of the past six seasons. That is the longest stretch for NU since the Huskers had at least one 1,000-yard rusher for seven straight seasons from 1979 to 1985.

Blackshirts Putting Together Strong Second Half of Season
The Nebraska defense was solid through the first half of the 2014 season, helping Nebraska to a 5-1 record. The Huskers began the second half of the year with a dominant second-half effort at Northwestern, keying NU’s 38-17 victory. After halftime, Northwestern managed just 28 total yards and three first downs.

Nebraska came back with a solid first half against Rutgers, holding the Scarlet Knights to just seven points before halftime. In the second quarter, Rutgers rushed for minus-2 yards and had just 25 yards of total offense. Nebraska was also strong against Purdue, as the Boilermakers converted just 2-of-16 third downs and completed only 18-of-46 pass attempts.

The Huskers are allowing an average of 339.8 yards per game to rank 25th nationally. The Huskers also rank 16th nationally in scoring defense at 19.7 points per game.

- The Blackshirts have excelled against the pass, allowing opponents to complete just 46.9 percent of their passes, the second-best mark in the Big Ten and third in the country. Nebraska has held all five Big Ten opponents to less than 50 percent passing and is holding conference foes to a 42.7 completion percentage.

- Nebraska ranks first in the Big Ten and second nationally in pass efficiency defense, trailing only LSU.

- A strong performance in the second half of the season would follow the script from 2013. A year ago, the Blackshirts made huge strides in the second half of the season, ranking among the Big Ten’s top defenses in conference play. In fact, over the past 18 games, Nebraska has held the opposition to less than 350 yards of total offense 11 times, including five games of less than 300 yards, most recently 290 yards by Northwestern.

- Nebraska is once again one of the nation’s stingiest third-down defenses. Opponents have converted just 28.5 percent (37-139) of their third-down attempts against the NU defense, a rate that ranks first in the Big Ten and second nationally. In five Big Ten games, opponents have converted just 24.3 percent of their third downs (18-74).

Husker Senior Class Making the Grade
Nebraska has a long history of academic success, and the 2014 team is carrying on that tradition. Nebraska leads the nation in academic All-Americans in football with 107 all-time first- or second-team selections. Nebraska also leads the way across all sports with 314 academic All-Americans.

Nebraska has had 11 academic All-Americans in Bo Pelini’s first six seasons as head coach, the second-most in the nation in that time period.

- All 14 members of Nebraska’s 2014 senior class have already graduated or are on track to earn their degree by the completion of the spring semester.

- Among the group, safety Corey Cooper earned his degree in May, while linebacker Zaire Anderson and offensive guard Jake Cotton graduated in August. The other 10 members of the class are on pace to graduate this December. Junior Kevin Williams was also among the August graduates.

The 2014 senior class is reflective of the academic commitment of Pelini’s previous senior classes. Among his first six senior classes, 122 of 132 players have earned their degrees.

Nebraska was also one of only 13 Football Bowl Subdivision programs to earn Public Recognition for high achievement in the Academic Progress Rate (APR). The Huskers ranked in the top 10 percent nationally among FBS schools. NU was joined by Wisconsin and Northwestern of the Big Ten, along with incoming Big Ten member Rutgers.