College Football
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
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.

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