Bollinger: Best Badgers QB ever?

Thanks largely to his two rushing and three passing TDs Saturday night in East Lansing, Brooks Bollinger led the Wisconsin Badgers to his 28th win as a starting quarterback, setting a new school record.

Bollinger will always have his critics (sub in the name of any QB on any team on any level for "Bollinger," and the statement maintains its veracity). But the facts are incontrovertible -- when it comes to winning football games, no one has ever done it like Brooks in Madison.

While Wisconsin has been a haven for great running backs, it's not exactly Brigham Young when it comes to developing arms; the team has been home to just eight All-Big 10 first-team QBs, and just four since 1922. So outside of wins, where does Bollinger rank among the -- pantheon isn't the right word -- long list of UW signal-callers?

1. Darrell Bevell (1992-'95)

As far as classic passers go, Bevell is unquestionably the best the Badgers have ever had. He owns nearly every career and season passing record of note in Madison, including 59 career TD passes and a gaudy season completion percentage mark of 67.8 in 1993.

It was a different time under Bevell, though. While he played with star runners Brent Moss and Terrell Fletcher, he had 346 more pass attempts than Bolllinger for his career as of this Sunday morning (for some perspective, Bollinger's season-high in attempts is 209). He certainly didn't have Bollinger's rushing talents, but he was the best dropback passer in UW history, hitting on 61.4 percent of his 1,052 career attempts, good for 7,686 yards. No one is within 2,500 yards of the latter total.

And, of course, Bevell was largely responsible for UW's football renaissance under Barry Alvarez, leading the 1993 team to a 10-1-1 mark and a Rose Bowl title. His scamper around left end for a TD against UCLA in that game is still good for a goose pimple or two.

2. Brooks Bollinger (1999-2002)

As stated, Bollinger has his detractors. He's not a pure passer, his pocket presence is far from uncanny and he often takes too many hits for his own good.

When it comes to wins, Bollinger is No. 1

But add 'em up -- he's got 28 Ws and counting, and he can become the seventh Big 10 QB to win 30 if the Badgers can squeak out two more victories in what could be five more games this season.

Bollinger may be a tad inaccurate, but he's a third running back on a grind-it-out team and has the indomitable will of a leader. As a redshirt freshman, he led the team to a second consecutive Rose Bowl win on Jan. 1, 2000, something no other Big 10 team has ever done.

3. Randy Wright (1981-83)

OK, so his name is inevitably followed by chuckles in rememberance of a sack-laden tenure with the "other" football team in the state. And sure, he couldn't hit the broad side of the Fieldhouse in daylight (career completion percentage: 52.8 -- sidenote: that's still good for 7th all-time at UW), but don't tell that to the 1981 Tennessee Volunteers. The Vols felt Wright's wrath in the '81 Garden State Bowl, when the then-sophomore came off the bench to toss two TDs in a losing effort (28-21, UT), earning MVP honors in the process.

Enough already. While Randy is known to younger Badger fans only as the nasally sidekick to Wayne Larrivee on Big 10 television broadcasts, he's second to Bevell in most of UW's career passing categories, including an impressive total of 38 TDs (Bollinger has 35 at the moment). And while Dave McClain's teams were far less accomplished than Alvarez's groups, back-to-back bowl trips in '81 and '82 (a victorious Independence Bowl) were actually a big deal at the time.

Additionally, Wright had four 300-yard passing games in his career, something Bollinger has yet to do once.

4. Mike Samuel (1995-98)

It's easy to forget about Samuel, the gritty, option-based performer out of Philadelphia that started for three seasons at UW. But in Madisonian quarterback terms, he was extremely accomplished, throwing for 4,989 yards and 24 TDs in his career.

Samuel authored the '99 Rose Bowl upset win

Moreso than Bollinger, Samuel was the ultimate offensive caretaker, protecting the ball and making sure it got safely into the hands of Carl McCullough, Ron Dayne and the rest of the team's playmakers.

Two lasting images of Samuel: his tireless pursuit of an Iowa defender on a long interception return (which he threw), resulting in a field goal instead of an opposing TD in a 13-10 win in Madison; and his 52-yard option run against highly vaunted UCLA in the 1999 Rose Bowl, one of many key plays in the stunning 38-31 upset of the Bruins.

Needless to say, if you win a Rose Bowl, you're probably going to make the list.

5. Ron Vander Kelen (1962)

Sometimes, you don't even have to win 'em. Longtime UW backers may wonder why Vander Kelen isn't higher on the list. After all, he only led one of the most famous Rose Bowl comebacks, albeit a losing one, ever in 1963 (UW scored 23 fourth-quarter points before falling to No. 1 USC, 42-37). And that's why he's No. 5.

It isn't a parade of heroic QBs on State Street that prevent him from cracking the top four, but simply the fact that 1962 was his only season behind center for UW. What a season it was, though. Teaming up with All-American end and current AD Pat Richter, Vander Kelen threw for 401 yards in that memorable Pasadena matchup (Bevell is the only other QB to have a 400-yard day for UW). He also had a pair of 200-yard days against Iowa and Michigan and threw 14 TDs in '62, leading the Badgers to a No. 2 ranking and an 8-2 season.

Overall, it was good enough for the meritorious Silver Football Award, given to the Big 10's best player each season, and a permanent spot in UW sporting lore.

Honorable mention? I don't want to bore you; there simply haven't been that many quality QBs in Madison football history. Which leads us back to where we started -- Bollinger may not be Brett Favre, but he isn't exactly David Whitehurst either.