NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Wisconsin aims for an eighth win in nine bowl games under coach Barry Alvarez when its faces Auburn in the Music City Bowl.
The Badgers (7-5) have had tremendous success in bowls under Alvarez, going 7-1 with wins in their last four postseason games since a 33-6 loss to Georgia in the Outback Bowl following the 1997 season. Last season, Wisconsin edged Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, 31-28, in overtime.
With a victory over Auburn, Alvarez would match John Robinson with the best bowl winning percentage among coaches with at least seven bowl appearances. Robinson went 8-1 (.889) in bowls with Southern California and UNLV.
Alvarez also can become just the 10th coach in Big Ten Conference history to win at least 100 games at one conference institution.
The Badgers won six of their first seven games, including a 17-10 triumph defending national champion Ohio State that snapped the Buckeyes' 19-game winning streak. But Wisconsin lost its next three games and four of its last five.
One bright spot this season was the play of Lee Evans, who returned from an ACL injury that forced him to miss the 2002 season and became a first-team All-Big Ten receiver. He has 60 catches for 1,162 yards this campaign and is No. 2 all-time in the conference with 3,417 receiving yards. Evans also holds school marks for catches (171), receiving yards and TD receptions (26).
Auburn (7-5) had a disappointing 2003, one that began with high hopes and a preseason No. 1 ranking in several publications. The Tigers dropped their opening two contests, won five in a row, then lost three of four before beating archrival Alabama in its regular-season finale, 28-23.
Before the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide, Auburn's president William Walker and athletic director David Housel secretly met with Louisville coach Bobby Petrino about possibly replacing the Tigers' Tommy Tuberville. After a public outcry, Tuberville kept his job and signed a one-year extension through the 2008 season.
Tuberville is 2-2 in bowl games as a head coach, 1-2 at Auburn. The Tigers beat Penn State in the Capital One Bowl,13-9, last season. It was the Tigers' first bowl victory since the 1998 Peach Bowl.
The Tigers have not won back-to-back bowl games since following the 1996 and 1997 seasons.
The teams have played once, a 7-7 tie at Wisconsin on October 10, 1931.
