Its style of football brings old men and traditionalist to their knees with pure joy. The college town lifestyle will force you to bend the knee in reverence to its superiority. Madison, Wisconsin, ranks No. 2 on our Top 100 College Football Towns of America Countdown.
To celebrate 100 days until the start of the college football season, HERO Sports is counting down the Top 100 FBS College Football Towns in America. Each day, through Aug. 24, a new city will be revealed. We will analyze the city, the program, the good and bad of the city as well as the bottom line. If you got a problem, @me on Twitter.
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2. Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin
[credit] Paul Bunyan's Axe will most likely stay in Madison this year. The question is rather what other hardware can the Badgers bring home in 2018. (Andy Manis/AP) [/credit]
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The Program
College football has been played in Madison for 120 years. Over that time, there have been pockets of good teams and a few great teams. The Wisconsin football that we know, however, does not have a long-standing tradition. The current Badger image, the one that lines up right in front of you and tries to run through your face, started when Barry Alvarez took over in 1990.
Before Alvarez, Wisconsin had won eight conference titles in 102 years of football, the Badgers have won six since. Three Rose Bowl appearances pre-Alvarez, six appearances in the last 19 years. Ron Dayne won the Heisman in 1999 and still holds the record for most rushing yards in a college career. Dayne is one of 10 running backs from Wisconsin who have been drafted and achieved some success in the NFL over the last 20 years. Current ball-runner Jonathan Taylor will most likely make it 11.
With all that running success, the one thing that has eluded Alvarez and the Badgers is a national championship. The closest Wisconsin came was a second-ranked finish in 1962. Only two other times in its 120-year history has Wisconsin finished ranked in the top five.
2018 may be the year it all comes together. Wisconsin returns 10 of its 11 offensive starters from 2017, its only loss coming at tight end. With Taylor, and an experienced offensive line, this team can do what they do best; run it down your throat. Combine that with an easy non-conference schedule, while also skipping Ohio State, and there may be no one to stop the Badgers until the Big Ten Championship game (Wisconsin's nemesis the last two years).
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The City
There are not many places that can offer you isthmus living, but that's what life in Madison is all about. The university and Camp Randall Stadium overlook Lake Mendota with Lake Monona, literally, right out the back door. The two lakes working in concert to provide your soul with the encouragement like your own personal life coach. The State Capitol sits atop a hill, shining down on the city, both illuminating its natural beauty and, hopefully, blinding the public from raw, unadulterated, State Street.
Every college town has its main strip. We've highlighted the majority of them on the countdown. State Street rivals them all.
While the intention to have both the Capitol and Madison campus as bookends to this major thoroughfare was very well thought out and with deep meaning, the result is a mosh pit of government employees, lifelong residents and campus co-eds all looking to satiate their desires, both innocent and guilty. Happily, it is a point of pride for everyone involved.
Where else can you find local cultural institutions like The Overture Center for the Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art fighting for elbow room next to Badger fans trying to squeeze into State Street Brats?
Life is not reserved just for State Street, however. Wando's offers a fishbowl and FREE BACON on Tuesdays when you buy a beer. (MACtion and Beer? God take me now.) Spend dusk at Memorial Union Terrace and get a glimpse at what heaven must be like. Thanks to the lakes, there are numerous trails, and water activities to keep you busy during the warmer months.
When the football is good, however, all the tributaries of life, culture, sport and civic pride swell together like the mightiest portion of the Mississippi and sweep you away. Madison is a football town, a Wisconsin football town and ultimately a college football town.
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The Good
Outside Blacksburg, Virginia, there may be no college football tradition that gets your loins so twisted that you'd contemplate skydiving without a parachute more than Camp Randall Stadium at the start of the fourth quarter.
Look at this clip. The lure is so strong, the fear of missing out so intense, that even the Arizona State bench has joined the jumping around.
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The Bad
There are four lakes right there in Madison. When the weather switches to the ungodly cold stuff that forces your shoulders to hunch up a few inches skyward while your chin tilts towards your chest, those beautiful lakes become the root of evilness. The wind sweeps through there and freezes your soul. It's one thing to "Jump Around" when the fourth quarter starts. It's another thing to move your body for the sole purpose of not freezing to death.
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Bottom Line
Madison, Wisconsin, has all the ingredients to make a perfect college town. A great inclusive college football tradition, an unparalleled street to celebrate or commiserate, and a town that supports every facet of its being. The winters though, dear God, the winters.
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NEXT: Top 100 College Football Towns in America: No. 3 Austin, Texas
NEXT: The Ultimate College Football Road Trip
