These Wisconsin Badgers football players have been bowl game MVPs

The Wisconsin Badgers have enjoyed a run of success in bowl games in recent years, winners now of eight over the past nine following a victory in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl over Oklahoma State on Dec. 27.

Jordan Turner led the Badgers with eight tackles (1½ for loss), and Braelon Allen ran for 116 yards on 22 carries, earning the defensive and offensive player of the game awards, respectively.

These players were previously named bowl-game MVPs for the Wisconsin Badgers, with many bowl games acknowledging a player on offense and defense.

1962 season Rose Bowl: Ron Vender Kelen

The Green Bay native delivered an incredible performance in defeat, a 42-37 setback at the hands of USC in what was almost an unforgettable comeback. He shared the award with USC quarterback Pete Beathard.

The No. 1 Trojans took a 42-14 lead on the No. 2 Badgers, but Vander Kelen engineered a dramatic near-miss thereafter with 23 fourth-quarter points. UW took advantage of a fumble (turning it into a touchdown) and bad snap (safety), and Vander Kelen's 19-yard touchdown pass to Pat Richter pulled the Badgers to within 5 points with 1:19 left. The Trojans recovered an onside kick to milk the rest of the clock. Vander Kelen set Rose Bowl records for passes attempted (48), completed (33) and yards (401), while Richter caught 11 passes for a record that stood unmatched until 1986.

1982 season Independence Bowl: Randy Wright and Tim Krumrie

Wisconsin endured 10-degree wind chill and wet, muddy conditions in Shreveport, Louisiana, to beat Kansas State, 14-3, becoming the first UW team to win a bowl game. Michael Jones made a diving catch in the end zone for a 16-yard score, and Tim Stracka's catch-and-run for an 87-yard touchdown in the third quarter was huge, but Wright earned the title of offensive MVP, while Tim Krumrie (13 unassisted tackles) received the honor on the defensive side. Wright only finished 9 of 24, but he managed 183 yards passing and two scores. The pass to Stracka was a school record pass play.

Kansas State rushed for only 65 yards on 33 carries and gained just 192 total yards. Matt Vanden Boom intercepted a pass in the end zone, and Jim Melka recovered a fumble.

1984 season Hall of Fame Classic: Todd Gregoire

The freshman kicker tied a Badgers record with four field goals but a botched snap on a 26-yarder that would have given the Badgers a late lead left Wisconsin with a 20-19 loss to Kentucky. Gregoire shared the game MVP honors with Kentucky running back Mark Logan, and he still shares the mark for most field goals in a game with several others, though he's the only one to have accomplished the feat in a bowl game.

1993 season Rose Bowl: Brent Moss

Sure, people may remember Darrell Bevell's touchdown scamper or the chaotic ending when UCLA wasn't able to get a final play off as time expired, but Moss's 158 yards rushing and two scores on 36 carries helped UW shock UCLA to cap off a magical 1993 season with a 21-16 upset.

More:Brent Moss, former standout running back at Racine Park High School and Wisconsin, dies at 50

1994 season Hall of Fame Bowl: Terrell Fletcher

With Brent Moss off the team following his arrest, Terrell Fletcher carried the load and ran for a Hall of Fame Bowl record 241 yards and two touchdowns to help the Badgers handle Duke, 34-20.

1996 season Copper Bowl: Ron Dayne and Tarek Saleh

Before it was the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, it was the Copper Bowl (and many other names since).

Dayne capped off his freshman season with 246 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 30 carries to dominate Utah, 38-10 win over Utah, while Saleh got the nod with his six tackles (one for loss) and a blocked field goal, plus a tipped pass that turned into one of Wisconsin's four interceptions.

1998 season Rose Bowl: Ron Dayne

Dayne set the modern Rose Bowl record with four rushing touchdowns and fell one yard short of the bowl game record for rushing yardage with 246 as the Badgers upset UCLA, 38-31. Moss gained 31 yards on four carries on Wisconsin's final drive to kill some clock and force UCLA to take its three timeouts.

1999 season Rose Bowl: Ron Dayne

Dayne is one of four players to win Rose Bowl MVP twice, and he was added to the Rose Bowl "All-Century Class" in 2013. In the 17-9 win over Stanford, Dayne ran 34 times for 200 yards with a touchdown, helping a Big Ten team win back-to-back Rose Bowls for the first time. His 64-yard run in the third quarter set up a short touchdown and marked a huge pivot point in the game.

More:50 in 50: Ron Dayne sets the NCAA rushing record as Badgers clinch second straight Rose Bowl berth

2002 season Alamo Bowl: Brooks Bollinger and Jeff Mack

The Badgers won the 2000 Sun Bowl over UCLA, but two Bruins players were named game MVP.

Two years later, it was Mike Allen's field goal from 37 yards out in overtime that gave unranked Wisconsin a 31-28 win over No. 14 Colorado, but Bollinger set the table with an 80-yard drive over 10 plays, capped by his rushing touchdown to tie the game with 51 seconds left in regulation. The drive included two fourth-down conversions, and Bollinger finished with 163 yards passing and 82 rushing to lead the comeback. Mack finished with nine tackles, including three for loss, to earn the defensive player of the game. UW held Colorado to 2.8 yards per rush.

2005 season Capital One Bowl: Brian Calhoun

Calhoun rushed 30 times for 213 yards and a touchdown in a 24-10 win over Auburn in a game that was supposed to mark the final game of Barry Alvarez's coaching career. Despite entering as 10½ point underdogs, the Badgers ran all over a top-20 rushing defense in the nation. The junior entered the subsequent NFL draft and was taken by the Lions in the third round.

2006 season Capital One Bowl: John Stocco

The Badgers came into the battle ranked No. 6 and emerged with a 17-14 win over No. 12 Arkansas. Stocco finished 14 for 34 with two touchdowns, and the Badgers finished the year with a 12-1 record, with the only loss coming against Michigan in the Big Ten opener. The UW defense that season allowed more than 14 points in a game just four times and more than 24 points just once.

2009 season Champs Sports Bowl: John Clay

Clay rushed 22 times for 121 yards and two touchdowns, helping the Badgers topple Miami, 20-14. Tight end Lance Kendricks threw several blocks to help spring Clay and himself posted seven receptions for 128 yards. For Miami, a familiar name made a big play when future Packers cornerback Sam Shields returned a kickoff 86 yards to score, though the touchdown itself was wiped out by a penalty (though Miami scored anyway).

2014 season Outback Bowl: Melvin Gordon

Gordon rushed for 251 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries, and the Badgers needed every ounce of it in a 34-31 overtime win over Auburn. Gordon's 53-yard scamper late in the third quarter was one of the highlights, though Rafael Gaglianone also kicked three field goals and Joe Schobert made three tackles in overtime to hold Auburn to 3 lost yards on three plays. Barry Alvarez coached the game in an interim capacity with Gary Andersen gone for Oregon State.

2015 season Holiday Bowl: Joel Stave and Jack Cichy

The quarterback Stave suffered a broken nose but came back to immediately lead the drive that gave the Badgers a 23-21 win over USC, capped by a 29-yard field goal from Gaglianone. Cichy's hit on quarterback Cody Kessler turned into an interception with 1:48 to go tp thwart a potential USC answer.

2016 season Cotton Bowl: Troy Fumagalli and T.J. Edwards

Wisconsin toppled undefeated Western Michigan, 24-16, with the tight end Fumagalli's touchdown early in the fourth quarter accounting for the winning points. Fumagalli caught eight passes for 83 yards with the touchdown, and Edwards finished with a team-high 10 tackles and an interception that set up the final score.

Cichy also had three sacks, all in the second half since he was forced to sit out the first half after getting a targeting ejection in the regular-season finale, earning him the nickname "Three Sack Jack." Stave completed 18 of 27 passes for 217 yards and a touchdown.

2017 season Orange Bowl: Alex Hornibrook

The quarterback helped UW cap an excellent 13-1 season with a 34-24 win over Miami in the Hurricanes' hometown. Hornibrook completed 23 of 34 passes for 258 yards and four touchdowns, including three to Danny Davis. He didn't throw an interception against a defense that had 17 of them during the season. The Badgers were coming off a heartbreaking loss to Ohio State that kept them out of the College Football Playoff.

2018 season Pinstripe Bowl: Jonathan Taylor

The star running back ran 27 times for 205 yards and a touchdown to wrap his incredible sophomore season at UW as the Badgers prevailed over Miami, 35-3. Taylor ran for 2,194 yards in 13 games that season, an average of 7.1 yards per rush, with 16 touchdowns.

2020 season Duke's Mayo Bowl: Jack Sanborn

UW overcame a 14-0 deficit to rack up a 42-28 win over Wake Forest, but Sanborn made sure the defense did its part, too. The linebacker recorded a team-high 11 tackles and one of the team's four interceptions to close down a year disrupted by COVID-19. Just hang on to the trophy!

2021 season Las Vegas Bowl: Braelon Allen

The young freshman carried UW to a 20-13 win over Arizona State, including 49 yards on a clock-chewing final drive. Overall, he racked up 159 yards on 29 carries.

2022 season Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Braelon Allen and Jordan Turner

In the midst of a coaching change and a season of upheaval, Wisconsin still came away with a 24-17 win over Oklahoma State in Phoenix. Braelon Allen ran for 116 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries to win an individual bowl-game accolade for a second consecutive year, and Turner finished with eight tackles to lead the Badgers defense to win the Defensive Player of the Game nod.

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Badgers football players who won bowl game MVP honors