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Jake Kocorowski
Dec 29, 2019
To
commemorate the accomplishments of the program both past and present,
AllBadgers.com presents its "Rose Bowl Recall" series. We've asked
former players about either one moment or one experience that stands out from
their time out west. It could be from the game itself, it could be from one of
the various annual pregame festivities that take shape, or it could be from
after the clock strikes zero on the scoreboard.
Be
sure to check out our previous installments of the series with fullback
Bradie Ewing, kicker Vitaly Pisetsky, and safety Scott Nelson.
On
Sunday, a familiar face in the Wisconsin sports (and now sports talk) landscape
reminisces about two events that pop out to him.
Interviews
have been lightly edited for clarity.
Offensive
tackle Mark Tauscher
A former walk-on turned future 11-year
pro at the next level, Tauscher became part of two Rose Bowl teams during his
time at UW. You can now hear the former lineman on the weekday airwaves
with the ESPN Wisconsin radio show "Wilde and Tausch," from the booth
as an analyst during Wisconsin football home games in the fall, as well as the
Packers Radio Network game day shows and on ESPN's radio waves.
Here
are two moments/experiences Tauscher told AllBadgers.com on Dec. 20 from his
2000 Rose Bowl experience against Stanford. The first came from a pregame
event, while the other took place late in the game with the Cardinal driving
into Wisconsin territory. The defense ultimately held on a 4th-and-12 from the
UW 47-yard-line when the defense forced quarterback Todd Husak to slip. Badgers
Ben Herbert, Wendell Bryant and Co. brought the pressure to clinch the
program's second consecutive Rose Bowl victory.
"When that happened, I think that's when everybody was kind
of, 'Here we go,' and being able to say you won out in Pasadena, won a Big Ten
championship and won a Rose Bowl. Growing up in the '80s and '90s, that was
always something that was a big deal, and when that moment hits, you see
everybody kind of realizing all the work that you put in, and here you go, you've
accomplished something that's really hard to do."
AllBadgers.com:
Do you remember what float or floats you were on?
"No, but what I remember, and I actually got the sign off of
the side [of the float] because ... my name is spelled correctly, but it had me
as an outside linebacker. So I actually have it in our Park Bank ESPN Madison
studios. I put that up because it just made me laugh.
"I just remember when I went up there, I was like, this will
be the only time in my life I'll be an outside linebacker. I'm going to keep
this, and it was part of something that you know, who knows if you're ever
going to be in a float again at Disney. Doubtful but it was kind of a cool deal
for me growing up watching the Rose Bowl and then being able to be on a float
in the parade there was really cool."
AllBadgers.com: If
you're on the sideline watching that sack/stop, what do you remember from your
emotions and letting that all sink in that you've won the Rose Bowl?
"You just want to hug everybody. You know your time, that is
going to be it. This is it for your time at Wisconsin in a place that has meant
so much, and to be able to win your last game in that environment, it was
really just sheer joy. That was the thing that was just evident with everybody
on that sideline. I always end up looking back and seeing Coach Alvarez and
[offensive line coach] Jim Hueber. Through all the Rose Bowls, the three Rose
Bowls that we've one -- the two that I was a part of -- just the emotions and
just the joy that everybody on that sideline had. That's stuff that you can't
find anywhere else."
