Wednesday, December 29 Dayne was unkown in December '96
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Ron Dayne has a habit of bringing things full
circle, and that's not just the tacklers he leaves in his wake.
Ron Dayne burst onto the national scene against Stanford.
The Heisman Trophy winner will conclude his career on Saturday
against Stanford, the same opponent he faced in the breakout game
of his freshman year.
"I remember a little bit about that game," Dayne said of
Wisconsin's 14-0 win over Stanford in 1996. "I remember Coach
(Barry) Alvarez putting me in there and saying, 'We need a big
effort."'
Dayne is the focal point of the 22nd-ranked Cardinal's
preparations for Saturday's Rose Bowl against the No. 4 Badgers.
The three-time Big Ten rushing champion became the major-college
career rushing champ this season and was a consensus All-American
while winning nearly every Player of the Year award.
He was none of those things in September 1996. Dayne was a shy,
slightly overweight freshman from New Jersey with undeniable
talent, but no big-game experience. He gained 143 yards, mostly in
garbage time, during Wisconsin's first two games of the season, and
he was third on the Badgers' depth chart.
Wisconsin led Tyrone Willingham's Stanford team 7-0 in the
fourth quarter at Camp Randall Stadium, but the Badgers' offense
was struggling. Starting running back Carl McCullough had been
ineffective, and Alvarez thought Wisconsin needed a boost.
So he put Dayne in the backfield and gave him the ball eight
straight times on the game-deciding drive in Wisconsin's 14-0 win.
"The first time Ron showed the true Ron Dayne was the fourth
quarter of the Stanford game," Alvarez said. "Ron may have ended
up with 75 yards rushing in the fourth quarter alone."
It was the first time Alvarez sensed Dayne might be something
extraordinary, that he might live up to the raves bestowed on him
by Alvarez's East Coast recruiting coordinator, Bernie Wyatt. That
day, the coach saw the player Dayne would eventually become.
"After that, he had to become our featured back," Alvarez
said. "(McCullough) was a returning 1,000-yard rusher, but we
started Ron. He was our offense, and he ended up carrying that team
from that point on."
Willingham said there is no comparison between the freshman
Dayne his team didn't expect and the senior star he has become.
"When we first played them, (Dayne's) talent was there, but his
instincts weren't developed yet," Willingham said. "He was a very
strong runner then, but he's also a very intelligent runner now."
Dayne rushed for 129 yards against Penn State in the Badgers'
next game. In Alvarez's estimation, Dayne then carried that
moderately talented Wisconsin team to an 8-5 record and a Copper
Bowl win over Utah.
On Tuesday, Alvarez reminisced about how far Dayne has come from
the kid that nearly panicked when he was forced to dress up in
leather chaps, a vest and a cowboy hat for an ESPN promotional shot
for that Copper Bowl game.
"Ron doesn't worry about pressures on him like that any more,"
Alvarez said. "He just handles it."
But there's also a part of Dayne that hasn't changed. That year,
Dayne carried a wrapped Christmas present for Alvarez all the way
from Madison to Tucson, giving his coach a signed photo of himself.
"He's always been generous," Alvarez said. "He still is."
Given the intense media exposure Dayne endured in November and
December up to the Heisman announcement, the final week of his
collegiate career is almost a vacation. The national media's
attention is focused on the national championship contenders in the
Sugar Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl.
So Dayne is making the most of his break from the spotlight,
which will undoubtedly return in April during the NFL draft. He has
participated in most of the Badgers' Rose Bowl adventures during
the week, including the annual trip to Disneyland, with the same
enthusiasm as the wide-eyed freshmen.
But maybe Dayne has become the slightest bit jaded. When actor
Henry Winkler dropped by the Badgers' practice on Tuesday and gave
the team a pep talk, Dayne was asked how it felt to meet The Fonz.
"Oh, I've met him a few times already," Dayne said with a grin
as he jogged off toward the showers.
