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By the Associated Press
Arizona Daily Wildcat
December 5, 1996
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin will make its third bowl appearance in four years after accepting an invitation to play in the Copper Bowl Dec. 27 at Arizona Stadium, the university announced last night.Wisconsin ended the season with a 7-5 record, 3-5 in the Big Ten, after beating Hawaii 59-10 Saturday night in Honolulu.
In the final game, 260-pound freshman Ron Dayne rushed for 339 yards to raise his season total to 1,863 yards, breaking the NCAA single-season freshman record set by Herschel Walker.
The other Copper Bowl team will be the second place team in the Western Athletic Conference, Utah or Brigham Young. That depends on what happens Saturday when Brigham Young faces Wyoming in the conference championship at Las Vegas.
Head coach Barry Alvarez's Wisconsin team returns to postseason play after failing to get a bowl bid a year ago. They followed their win in the 1994 Rose Bowl with a Hall of Fame Bowl victory a year later before going 4-5-2 last season.
Wisconsin opened the season with three nonconference wins, then hit a low point with a 31-0 loss at Iowa for a 5-5 record.
Alvarez said the leadership of his team's seniors was a key to making the season a success despite the setbacks.
''Our kids at one point in the season when we were 3-4 still had the vision to go to a bowl game,'' he said.
Dayne's running was a major factor in helping the Badgers realize the bowl hopes.
He rushed for 289 yards and four touchdowns, including a 54-yarder, in a 35-15 win at Illinois and then capped the season in Hawaii last weekend.
In addition to the season rushing record, he set an NCAA single-season freshman standard for carries (295) and tied Walker's record of four 200-yard games.
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