Wisconsin finished the regular season 9–2 overall (7–1 conference) and were sole champions of the
Big Ten Conference for the first time since
1962 (the
1993 and
1998 championships were shared). They defeated #22
Stanford 17–9 in the
2000 Rose Bowl for the third
Rose Bowl victory of coach
Barry Alvarez's tenure (and program history) to finish the season 10–2.
Ron Dayne gained 1,834 rushing yards as a senior. Dayne broke the NCAA Division I-A (now known as
NCAA Division I FBS) career rushing record in the final game of the 1999 season against
Iowa. Dayne ended his career with 6,397 rushing yards, eclipsing the record set the previous year by
Ricky Williams of
Texas.
Dayne rushed for 200 yards or more in a game a dozen times, including his final game, a 17–9 victory over Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Dayne had 200 yards on 34 carries and was named the Rose Bowl's Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive year.[1] He became one of only three (now, four) players to win two Rose Bowl MVPs (
Washington's
Bob Schloredt,
Southern California's
Charles White, and
Texas'
Vince Young are the others).
Dayne won the
Heisman Trophy, the second player in Wisconsin's history to receive this award, after
Alan Ameche in
1954. He also received many other awards in this season and throughout his college career, including
Big Ten Conference Player of the Year, and All-American placement. Dayne's career rushing total remains an NCAA record. Bowl games included, he amassed 7,125 yards, becoming the first player in NCAA history to total over 7,000 rushing yards. He is one of five players in NCAA history to rush for over a thousand yards in each of his four seasons.