Thousands of fans flooded the field at Camp Randall Stadium Saturday. Players cried. The crowd danced. The goal posts came down. But it wasn’t contained to just Madison, Wis.

Coming off the biggest night in recent program history, some of Wisconsin’s football players could not contain their emotions. The significance of the Badgers’ 31-18 win over No. 1 Ohio State was not lost on Badgers junior defensive end J.J. Watt.

Watt knew the magnitude of the upset. The Camp Randall setting wouldn’t be the only place people would party in Wisconsin. Watt knew every town in the state was rejoicing.

The win meant just that much to the state.

‘You go out there, anywhere in Wisconsin, and people are going to be celebrating,’ Watt said after the game. ‘They’re going to be happy because we just took down the No. 1 team, and that’s not something that happens every day.’

The win over Ohio State Saturday was Wisconsin’s first win over a No. 1 team since 1981. It was the first time the No. 10 Badgers (6-1, 2-1 Big Ten) had beaten a Top 10 team since head coach Bret Bielema took over the team in 2006, and it ended a three-game losing streak to the Buckeyes (6-1, 2-1). But what comes now may be the most difficult part of beating the nation’s No. 1 team — staying focused on next week’s opponent.

Bielema hopes his players don’t get too caught up in the hype. He realizes just how tough of a test his Badgers will face when they travel to No. 13 Iowa this weekend.

For the state to keep rejoicing, his team needs to remain grounded.

‘As much as we enjoyed Saturday, and I’m sure guys are still getting pats on the back as they go through their first days of class back. We have to shift our focus immediately to Iowa, a very talented football team who is playing very, very well,’ Bielema said in his weekly press conference Monday. ‘It’s a trophy game for us, one of two to exist on our schedule, and one that’s very important to our kids, so it’s a tremendous challenge.’

That challenge may be even more difficult if recent college football history holds true. Since 1990, seven teams ranked outside the Top 10 have knocked off the No. 1 team in the country at home, only to lose their next game on the road the following week.

No. 19 South Carolina was the latest to fall victim to that trend last weekend. After ending Alabama’s 19-game winning streak Oct. 9, the Gamecocks blew an 18-point lead at Kentucky and lost 31-28 in Lexington, Ky.

Like Bielema, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier said he would try to turn his players’ focus toward Kentucky earlier that week but wasn’t sure his players would be able to completely abandon the excitement of upsetting the country’s No. 1 team. And sure enough, his Gamecocks suffered their second loss of the year to the unranked Wildcats.

Bielema said he would use that South Carolina loss as an example for his team but would also remind his players of their matchup with Football Championship Subdivision Austin Peay earlier this season. Coming off a 20-19 win over non-conference foe Arizona State, Wisconsin had a seemingly easy matchup with the Governors the next week.

Bielema was happy with the way his team carried itself in the week prior to that game, leading up to a 70-3 romp over the Governors. He believes the Badgers are approaching this matchup with Iowa very similarly.

‘We talked all week (before the Austin Peay game) about not having a letdown against a team that you’re better than or that you should go out and focus,’ Bielema said. ‘(The players) had the right response that week. They had the right response this week. I think they’ll have the same response this week.’

But Iowa (5-1, 2-0) is no Austin Peay. The Hawkeyes enter the contest at No. 13 in the country following wins over Michigan and Penn State. They have the sixth-best scoring defense in the country and have won six of their past eight games against the Badgers.

And those numbers don’t even take into account the history between the two teams. The rivalry dates back to 1894, and the Hawkeyes hold a slight 42-41-2 advantage over Wisconsin.

The rivalry and Iowa’s talent level may end up helping Wisconsin shift attention from that historic win a week ago to the matchup Saturday. But there is still the daunting historical evidence of the giant slayers falling just one week later on the road after knocking off the country’s No. 1 team.

But even with all that, Bielema seemed confident his players were ready to look past the excitement from last Saturday and avoid the potential pitfall at Iowa.

‘There wasn’t anything about (Ohio State),’ Bielema said after practice Monday. ‘There wasn’t anything about corrections or anything except moving forward. And actually our players came up and wanted to do that, so it was something that showed me that they’re thinking right and acting right.’

Big man on campus

Cam Newton

Junior Quarterback

No. 5 Auburn

Last Week’s Stats: 10-of-14, 140 yards, 1 TD, 25 carries, 188 yards, 3 TDs

In a game filled with obscene offensive numbers, Newton’s performance stood out above everyone else’s. The junior quarterback led the Tigers (7-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) to a 65-43 win over No. 21 Arkansas (4-2, 1-2) and propelled himself to the front of the Heisman Trophy race.

After falling behind the Razorbacks 43-37 early in the fourth quarter, Newton directed Auburn down the field and retook the lead for the Tigers with a 15-yard pass to sophomore Emory Blake. Auburn went on to score the next 21 points and pulled away from Arkansas for the big win.

Newton has now scored 25 touchdowns (13 through the air and 12 on the ground) in his first year as the Tigers’ starting quarterback. While other Heisman contenders have struggled through the start of conference play, the junior has thrived in SEC play. He has led Auburn to wins over No. 19 South Carolina and No. 24 Mississippi State, in addition to the win over the Razorbacks.

If Auburn can pull out a win Saturday, when No. 6 Louisiana State comes to town, a battle with No. 7 Alabama in the last week of the regular season could decide Newton’s Heisman fate.

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on October 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm