During that 2011 Rose Bowl, I'm not sure why everyone thinks the Badgers didn't try to run on TCU. They absolutely did throughout most of the game. The run vs pass plays wasn't suddenly skewed to favor pass per badger norms either. Yes, you can question the specific play the Badgers tried on the 2pt conversion but even then if it weren't for one TCU player (Tank Carder) being in the right place the at the right time that pass would have easily hit the numbers of an uncovered badger in the end zone.
TCU won that game not because Wisconsin suddenly abandoned the run but because TCU had timely stops on 3rd down, limited big plays, and won the field position battle all game long and with all that it was close as it gets.
I remember that darned Tank Carder guy. And I remember that the Badgers committed more to running between the tackles in the second half, and it started working. In the first half I remember a lot of "balance" and outside runs, which weren't working. It's possible that I'm mis-remembering that, but memories can be like that...
So because of my faulty memory (it is faulty; it was the 3rd quarter that the play calling was bad), I just went and looked at the game and the drive charts. There was only one set of downs
in the game that the Badgers ran on first down and didn't score or pick up a first down; that was on the missed field goal (sigh)--and on that first down, Tolzien muffed then recovered the snap. Twice the Badgers kicked field goals after running on first down. At the end of the half, the Badgers settled for a (successful) field goal on 4th and 1 after only getting two yards on two runs, then picking up seven on a pass; with only four seconds left, there was no choice but to kick the ball; poor time management or poor play calling? Maybe both. Also, TCU never stopped the Badgers on a drive in which Wisconsin had
3rd and 5 or fewer yards to go (there was a stop on 3rd and 3, but the Badgers converted on 4th and 1). The Badgers twice had a 4th and 1 (with more than :04 seconds in the half); they converted on one, but punted when it was 4th and 1 from their own 12. I think this is why we were mostly perplexed at the play call on the 2-point conversion, although to be fair, it was a good call and an even better defensive play from Carder to bat it down. The tight end was wide open...as long as Tolzien got it over the defensive line--he didn't.
Conversely, on each of the three sets of downs that ended with a punt, the Badgers attempted passes on first down. That's not to say that every time the Badgers passed on first down it went badly, but the odds were dramatically different. Out of eight times the Badgers attempted a pass on first down, six ended in incompletions or a sack (5/1), and on three of those sets of downs, the Badgers punted. I believe the Badgers had negative yards on designed runs on first down twice, including the fumbled snap play and one other -1. In short, on first down the pass was a gamble, the run was not.
One thing that strikes me about that game was the limited number of possessions. There weren't a lot of extra drives...except when the Badgers went three straight punt possessions (all in the second half)--passing on first down on each set of downs preceeding the punts.
So what I think Badger fans remember about that game (and misremember) is thinking, "Why is Chryst calling for passes on first down, when the runs almost universally work?" And Toon did drop a wide open ball on about TCU's 2 before Welch kicked the first field goal in the first half.
And I remember TCU being a very good team. As a Badger fan, I think Wisconsin should have won that game. But as I noted in the thread that OAM quoted, I'm sure TCU fans (and Oregon fans) see things differently.
