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Badgers bucked

Bearcats shock Dayne, defending Big Ten champs

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Posted: Saturday September 18, 1999 10:47 PM

Robert Cooper's 51-yard run in the first half set the tone for Cincinnati's upset of No. 9 Wisconsin. AP

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Ron Dayne added another record to his rapidly growing list. It came in a losing cause, however.

Robert Cooper ran for 143 yards and a touchdown, and Deontey Kenner scored on a 5-yard run Saturday as Cincinnati upset No. 9 Wisconsin 17-12.

Dayne rushed for 231 yards on 28 carries to pass Archie Griffin and become the Big Ten's career rushing leader with 5,615 yards, including bowl games.

Dayne also moved into sixth place on the NCAA career rushing list, which does not include bowl games. He has 5,087 regular-season yards, 1,193 shy of breaking Ricky Williams' NCAA career mark.

"I don't care about the numbers. I'm looking for the win. That's all I was going for," Dayne said.

It was an emotional week for Cooper, who missed last week's loss to Division I-AA Troy State to attend an aunt's funeral.

"I just knew I had to stay positive and upbeat and focus on the game," he said.

"We really missed him last week," Kenner said. "His leadership on and off the field really helped today."

Kenner's TD run gave Cincinnati (2-1) a 14-6 lead with 9:59 left in the third quarter. Wisconsin (2-1) closed to 14-12 on Dayne's 18-yard touchdown run with 5:15 remaining in the third, but a two-point conversion attempt failed and the Badgers self-destructed in the fourth quarter.

CNN/SI Analysis Are you serious? Cincinnati over Wisconsin? Believe it. While the 17-12 score will likely get lost among those of Saturday's bigger contests, there's no overemphasizing the magnitude, the complete out-of-nowhere status of the Bearcats' win. And not just because the ninth-ranked Badgers are the reigning Rose Bowl champs; you have to understand just how improbable this seemed to even the most optimistic UC fan. The Bearcats, just one year removed from a rare postseason trip to the Humanitarian Bowl (to assure its bid, the school agreed to bring Bob Huggins' basketball team to Boise this coming season), went 2-9 in 1998. They ranked dead last statistically in nearly every Division I-A defensive category, losing by scores like 51-7 (to Arkansas State) and 41-0 (to Miami of Ohio). Just last week, they fell to Troy State, a I-AA team. But UC's woes weren't just recent. Playing in archaic, 35,000-seat Nipper Stadium (which has never cracked 29,000 for a game), the Bearcats have had three winning seasons in its last 16 while consistently scheduling national heavyweights. In 1986, Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde and Miami came to town for a 45-13 pasting. Last year, it was Donovan McNabb and Syracuse who blasted Cincy 63-21. Most memorable, however, was an 81-0 loss to Penn State in 1991. Granted, the Bearcats also knocked off the Nittany Lions 14-10 in Happy Valley in '83, their biggest win ever. This one is likely a close second. -- Stewart Mandel, college sports producer

Dayne fumbled into the Cincinnati end zone midway through the final period and the Bearcats recovered. Dayne fumbled after being hit by linebacker Bobby Fuller.

"I was just reaching for some extra yards and he stripped me," Dayne said.

Later in the period, Wisconsin's Nick Davis fumbled a punt and Carlton Sykes recovered for Cincinnati at the Wisconsin 25, setting up a 41-yard field goal by Jonathan Ruffin that put the Bearcats ahead 17-12 with 5:01 left.

"It was just a lack of concentration," Davis said. "It was completely my fault. We just have to put this game behind us and prepare for Michigan."

Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said the Badgers beat themselves.

"We didn't play the type of game we usually play," Alvarez said. "We usually play mistake-free.

"Not to take anything away from Cincinnati, but we hurt ourselves with untimely penalties, dropped passes and that illegal movement at the end. It's hard to win on the road when you do things like that."

Wisconsin scored the apparent go-ahead touchdown on a fourth-down pass in the final minute, but it was wiped out by an illegal motion penalty. On the next play, Scott Kavanaugh overthrew Davis in the end zone with six seconds left.

Cincinnati stunned Wisconsin on the first play of the second quarter when Cooper scored on a 51-yard touchdown run for a 7-3 lead. It was the first time Wisconsin trailed this season.

With 5:32 left in the half, Vitaly Pisetsky kicked his second field goal for Wisconsin to make it 7-6. Davis, the nation's leading punt returner, had an 81-yard TD return called back in the first half because of an illegal block.

Dayne rushed for 103 yards in the first half to move past Temple's Paul Palmer, Rice's Trevor Cobb of Rice and South Carolina's George Rogers on the NCAA list. His second-half yardage moved him past Anthony Thompson of Indiana and Darren Lewis of Texas A&M.

Dayne was held out of several series in the first half because of a sprained ankle, and his absence was felt most on the drive that ended with Pisetsky's second field goal.

 

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