1962 Wisconsin Badgers football team

1962 Wisconsin Badgers football
Rose Bowl, L 42–37 vs. USC
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 2 [1]
APNo. 2 [2]
Record8–2 (6–1 Big Ten)
Head coach
MVPRon Vander Kelen
CaptainPat Richter
Steve Underwood
Home stadiumCamp Randall Stadium
Seasons
← 1961
1963 →
1962 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 2 Wisconsin $ 6 1 0 8 2 0
No. 10 Minnesota 5 2 0 6 2 1
Northwestern 4 2 0 7 2 0
Ohio State 4 2 0 6 3 0
Michigan State 3 3 0 5 4 0
Purdue 3 3 0 4 4 1
Iowa 3 3 0 4 5 0
Illinois 2 5 0 2 7 0
Indiana 1 5 0 3 6 0
Michigan 1 6 0 2 7 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1962 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin in the 1962 NCAA University Division football season. Wisconsin was the Big Ten Conference champion and was ranked second in both final major polls, released in early December. This remains the highest season-ending ranking in program history (since the polls' inception in 1936 (AP) and 1950 (coaches)).

Wisconsin met the #1 USC Trojans in the historic Rose Bowl,[3][4] the first bowl game in college football history to pair the top two ranked teams in the nation. This Wisconsin team is also tightly linked to the resurgence of the program in the 1990s through All-American end Pat Richter, who returned as athletic director in 1989 and hired head coach Barry Alvarez.

  1. ^ "Year-by-year Final Coaches' Polls". American Football Coaches Association. Archived from the original on January 2, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2010.
  2. ^ "Poll Archive". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010. Retrieved January 14, 2010.
  3. ^ Bochat, Rel (January 1, 1963). "This is it! Badgers, USC in big one". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 9, part 2. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  4. ^ Zimmermann, Paul (January 1, 1963). "Badgers bent on bowl vengeance; Wisconsin winless in two classics". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (Los Angeles Times). p. 12.