Flashback Friday: Ron Dayne leads Badgers into Rose Bowl and into the record book

Tomorrow, Wisconsin plays Iowa for the first time since 2010, a Wisconsin 31-30 victory in Iowa City. The teams will be in the same division starting next season, so the rivalry will not be taking any breaks in the near future. Iowa comes into the game at 5-3 at 2-2 in the conference, while Wisconsin is 5-2* and 3-1 in conference play. Perhaps the most remembered game in Wisconsin history was also a game against Iowa. For this flashback, we travel back in time to 1999 where Wisconsin smelled the roses in a rout.

Just about a month and a half before the nation would be thinking about the Y2K bug, Wisconsin hosted Iowa with the Big Ten title on the line after Michigan had won at Penn State. History was also at stake, as eventual Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne entered the game 99 yards away from the Division I record for most rushing yards in a career. It was a sunny November day, a perfect picture of what was about to happen at Camp Randall.

The Badgers were a heavy favorite, as Iowa was 1-8 and was held to 11 points or less in five of those games. Wisconsin had a high-powered offense, led by Dayne and his mammoth offensive line. Junior wide receiver Chris Chambers was the main threat in the passing game. He was being thrown the ball by Big Ten Freshman of the Year Brooks Bollinger.

After a sluggish 2-2 start, which included an embarrassing loss at Cincinnati, Bollinger became the starting quarterback after an injury to Scott Kavanagh. He never looked back as he helped the Badgers win the final eight games of the season, including Wisconsin's second straight Rose Bowl.

There was such a buzz around not just the city of Madison, but the entire state of Wisconsin leading up to the game. At the game, the fans were given white towels with "33" on them, eagerly anticipating the moment when Dayne breaks the record.

The game itself was a blowout, as Wisconsin steamrolled the Hawkeyes 41-3 to win its first back-to-back conference championships in more than a century. The game's signature moment happened in the latter stages of the second quarter, as a 31-yard run put Dayne into the record book. It was a classic Dayne run. It had some speed, some agility and some power. The run broke the previous record by Ricky Williams, who had broken the record the previous year.

With the Iowa defense focused on Dayne for much of the day, Bollinger broke out in a big way. He threw for 144 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Chambers, and added 113 yards on the ground and a score. But even with the defense focused on Dayne, he still rushed 27 times for 216 yards and a touchdown.

After the game, Dayne had his number retired on Camp Randall Stadium's upper deck facade, in addition to Wisconsin celebrating another Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl berth.

Wisconsin went onto win the Rose Bowl once again, defeating Stanford 17-9. A number of days and nights at Camp Randall try to beat this one, but they always fall short. With everything at stake in the game, this one is definitely a day for the ages for Wisconsin fans.