Top 60 sports games of the decade: #57

September 21st 2019: Wisconsin pummels Michigan 35-14

College football is a funny sport. Only twelve games per year, and out of those twelve only 2 or 3 in a given season qualify as big games that really excite you. When an entire seasons identity comes down to 2 or 3 games it really emphasizes the importance of those games. When #14 Michigan came to town this past season with the Badgers ranked number 8 it was just the 4th time in the past twenty years that the Badgers played a home game between two top 15 teams. Michigan was a slight 1 point favorite so the game was seen as a toss up. The Badgers came out and knocked Michigan in the teeth, jumping out to a 28-0 lead by halftime and cruising in the second half en route to a 21 point win. With the win coming early in the season it officially established that this could be a great season for the Badgers, much needed after 2018's wildly disappointing season. In retrospect, this game ended up deciding the Big Ten representative in the Rose Bowl. If Michigan had won they would have been in Pasadena while the Badgers would have been resigned to facing Alabama in the Citrus Bowl. But thanks to one of the most resounding wins against a quality opponent in Badgers history, a special season was born.