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In 1966, Milt Bruhn's final year as head coach, the UW finished 3-6-1.  They beat Iowa State, Iowa and Minnesota (7-6) in Uncle Miltie's final game.  The players carried him off the field on their shoulders, as the half empty stadium both cheered and sang "Goodbye, Miltie."  The tie was a 3-3 game against Northwestern, a game I attended and from which I still have the program.  Stirring stuff for a kid, a 3-3 tie with Northwestern! 
 
Bruhn's final team was as anemic offensively as could be, averaging 8.7 PPG.  Only 4 times did they score over 10 points in a game. They gave up 21.2 PPG.

Thus ended Milt Bruhn's career as Wisconsin head coach.  He finished with an overall record of 52-45-6 (.534) and a Big Ten record of  35-37-5 (.487).  He was 0-2 in the Rose Bowl.

Michigan State won the conference that year with a 7-0 record, 9-0-1 overall.  The tie was the infamous 10-10 tie with Notre Dame.  MSU could not play in the Rose Bowl, since they had represented the conference the prior year.  They finished second to Notre Dame in the polls.

 Purdue, with a 9-2 record, went to the Rose Bowl, beat USC 14-13, and finished in the top 10 in the final rankings.

 

In 1965, Milt Bruhn’s slide continued. The Badgers finished 2-7-1, tying Colorado 0-0 in the first game of the season – a harbinger. UW beat only lowly Iowa and Northwestern.

I attended my first ever Badger game this year, and saw what was billed as the rematch of the 1963 Rose Bowl when USC came to town.  The Trojans dominated the Badgers, winning 26-6.  Some kid named Mike Garrett rushed for over 200 yards that day.

Among the illustrious losses were a 51-0 pasting by Illinois (was this the Grabowski team? Butkus?) and a 42-7 loss to the hated Gophers in the season finale.

This Badger squad was outscored on an average of 29.1 PPG to 8.1 PPG.

Michigan State won the Big Ten with a 7-0 record, 10-1 overall, but lost to UCLA 14-12 in the Rose Bowl and finished second in the polls to Alabama.

Big E Sports wrote:

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BigAppleBucky wrote:

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When you hit 11, please switch centuries.

I was wondering how that was going to work. I second that request.

Yeah, I'm thinking about it.  But some of the teams in the early 1900s -- like the 1901 and 1905 teams --were much better than their 21st century counterparts. I'll probably switch back and forth.

The 1962 season remains an iconic one.  Wisconsin went 8-1 in the regular season, losing only to Ohio State, 17-14 in Columbus, and beating teams ranked #1 (Northwestern) and #5 (Minnesota) during the regular season.  The final game against the Gophers was a classic, with the UW winning 14-9, and clinching the Rose Bowl berth.  The team had such famous names as Richter, VanderKelen, and Bowman

Wisconsin went on to lose what is arguably still the greatest Rose Bowl of all time, 42-37, to the USC Trojans. 

The '62 team scored 32.2 PPG and gave up only 13.0 PPG.

The Badgers ended the season ranked #2 nationally.  Although the final record of 8-2 is a bit of a let down, this was surely one of the top Wisconsin teams of all time, and an argument could be made that it was the best.