Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw called Sunday “a good day of football.”

Bradshaw’s statement more accurately could be understated “a good weekend of football” for Wisconsin football fans, who in 24 hours saw (1) the Badgers clinch their second consecutive Rose Bowl berth with a nail-biting 42–39 Big Ten championship win over Michigan State, and (2) the Packers go to 12–0 and clinch the NFC North title with a nail-biting 38–35 win over the New York Giants.

A year ago in my previous blog I wrote that 2010–11 might be the best year in the history of football in the state of Wisconsin. (The opposite would be 1988, when the BADgers were 1–10 and the pACKers were 4–12. WTMJ announcer Jim Irwin wasn’t employed to announce Badger and Packer games; he was sentenced to do the games.) A Rose Bowl loss and Super Bowl win (similar to 1962–63, when the Packers won their second Glory Days NFL title and lost the Rose Bowl) might just be topped this year, given how the Rose Bowl and NFL playoffs go. It could even be argued that this was the greatest weekend in the history of football in the state, given what was accomplished between 7:17 p.m. Saturday and 6:45 p.m. Sunday.

Saturday night’s game started pretty well, and then came the second quarter, which angered a certain Twitterer so much that he wrote that he hoped that Missedagain State lost to Oregon 1,000–0 in the Rose Bowl, concluding with the command to “FIRE BIELEMA!” In my defense, I imagine similar sentiments were being expressed, along with what Mr.  Spock termed “colorful metaphors” in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” after the trainwreck that was the second quarter. Truth be told, Wisconsin was lucky to be down just eight points at the half.

Beyond the only measure that should count, his record, Badgers coach Bret Bielema doesn’t always inspire confidence among Badger fans. Perhaps it’s his less than stylish sideline appearance.  (Maybe Bielema should emulate coaches of old and wear a suit and tie on the sidelines.) Perhaps it’s the appearance of a less-than-grade-A intellect and/or outsized confidence that reminds some of arrogance. It more likely has to do with the throw-things-at-the-wall losses to Michigan State and Ohio State earlier this season, and previous-season losses that appeared to be the result of being outcoached instead of being outplayed. (See the outsized-confidence comment.)

It could be argued that no other Badger quarterback in the program’s history could have won Saturday’s game. In just one season, quarterback Russell Wilson could legitimately be described as the best quarterback to have ever taken snaps for the Badgers. He demonstrated that against a really good defense in the Big Ten championship game, which featured …

The Wisconsin State Journal’s Tom Mulhern passes on some impressive Badger player quotes:

“Perseverance builds character,” UW junior cornerback Marcus Cromartie said. “We’ve definitely got a lot of character on this team, as you can see in this game. We just never gave up. We left the locker room (at halftime) saying we weren’t going to lose this game.” …

“Coach said it at halftime, ‘There’s something about Michigan State, we can’t seem to play a second quarter against them,’ ” [offensive guard Travis] Frederick said. “We weathered the storm and were able to come out and pick it up in the second half.”

A couple seniors said some words at halftime, including defensive tackle Patrick Butrym.

“In difficult times like that, you speak to your leaders and say, ‘OK, now it’s time to be a leader,’ ” Butrym said. “When you face adversity, especially like we did in the first half, we did not play well at all. The way we played was so disappointing.

“We were like, ‘Look, we’re eight points down, we’re down by a touchdown, we get stops, we’ll be fine.’ I had a lot of faith. Never doubted us.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Gary D’Amato suggests a name change for the game that matches the champions of the Big Ten’s Leaders and Legends divisions:

Let’s just call it the inaugural Heart Attack Bowl.

Its early momentum gone, its superlative duo of quarterback Russell Wilson and running back Montee Ball throttled by Michigan State for 2½ quarters, the University of Wisconsin somehow rallied for a stunning 42-39 victory Saturday night.

Book those tickets for Pasadena, Badgers fans.

Bucky is headed to the Rose Bowl.

They might play the Big Ten Football Championship Game for another 100 years and not get a game like this one. It was an instant classic, a back-and-forth affair that validated the very idea of a playoff between the winners of the Leaders (UW) and Legends (MSU) divisions.

The State Journal’s Tom Oates adds:

UW’s dream season was interrupted by a two-game nightmare that included consecutive losses at Michigan State and Ohio State, both by a matter of inches on the field and by only a few seconds on the game clock.

Rather than doing nothing, however, the Badgers rallied to earn themselves a rare do-over in college football. By battling back from their deflating double loss in a season that otherwise consisted of double-digit victories, they not only gave themselves an opportunity to make history, they gave themselves a second chance to make a point about their upwardly mobile program. …

A victory in its rematch with Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium would allow UW to make history in the Big Ten’s first title game. More than that, it would go a long way toward proving that it has become an elite program nationally and that its first loss to the Spartans was a fluke decided by a Hail Mary pass and the loss to Ohio State happened because UW couldn’t get the first loss out of its system, not because it couldn’t match up with those teams. …

Although UW made more mistakes Saturday, it was plain to see that Michigan State, with its top-flight passing game, highly ranked defense and speed to burn, was responsible for most of them. These were two very good teams throwing knockout punches at one other.

Every time the Spartans closed one avenue for the Badgers, however, they managed to open up another one. The dynamic duo of Wilson and tailback Montee Ball took turns carrying the offense, the defense made some late stops when it had to and punter Brad Nortman did just enough acting to draw a late flag on Michigan State that ended the suspense.

As if that wasn’t enough suspense, there was Sunday’s game, in which the Giants scored first, then the Packers got the lead but couldn’t hold it against a team desperate to win to stay in the playoff race. One would not think that scoring the game-tying touchdown with 58 seconds left was giving your opponent too much time. And yet, bang, bang, bang, game-winning field goal, and the second-longest winning streak in the history of the NFL, 18 games extending to the Packers’ win over the Giants a season ago.

This is the point where you could point out that the Packers still continue to hemorrhage yards and points as has been the case most of the season. You could also point out that quarterback Aaron Rodgers was harassed all day, which made him less than usually accurate. And the drama at the end wouldn’t have had to happen had kicker Mason Crosby made a field goal he should have been able to make at the end of the first half.

Keep a couple things in mind, however. Of these 18 wins, only seven have been at Lambeau Field. Ten have been on the road, including the Thanksgiving win over Detroit and Sunday’s win, plus the neutral site Super Bowl XLV win. The Packers are also playing teams that are fighting for their playoff lives — the Lions on Thanksgiving , the Giants Sunday, Oakland next Sunday and, to end the season, Da Bears and the Lions again. And as a sportswriter observed after Super Bowl XXXI, if you win the Super Bowl one year, you play in 16 Super Bowls the next year. The Packers are getting every opponent’s best effort and best game plans because they’re the defending NFL champion. And they keep winning.

Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks observes:

The Packers have had to sweat a bit at other times this season, but never like this. Green Bay had won four previous games by margins between six and eight points, but this was a singular challenge in that the Packers were tied in the final minute, with the ball in their hands and the chance to execute their two-minute offense. And they ran it to perfection. (There’s that word again).

“Two-minute drive is something we practice every week, and really, it was the drive that we needed,” McCarthy said. “It’s something that I think Aaron Rodgers does an excellent job of. He did a great job running the drill and managing the clock, the receivers made even better route adjustments, good protection, just a classic two-minute drive.”

All in just 58 seconds, as if to say Green Bay only needs about half the time required by a mere mortal football team in that dire situation.

This can’t be a good development for the rest of the NFL, seeing the Packers check off the category of pressurized game-winning two-minute drive from its to-do list this season. Green Bay needs more confidence like it needs more snow in January, but the Packers just took a significant step with this victory, and it had everything to do with what for Rodgers was a signature game-ending drive. …

“That’s what you want,” [coach Mike] McCarthy said of the two-minute opportunity. “That’s what you train for. That’s what you’re looking for. You are going to have to complete two-minute drives to win championships. Trust me, I would have taken the win a little easier, but that’s a great investment in your football team to get a win like that.”

The other thing that comes to mind is how different football has become today. Without looking, I am confident that Lombardi’s Packers never won a game in which they gave up 35 points. There also have been few games (and I suspect whichever games fit in this category have been recent) where Wisconsin gave up 39 points and still won. (And with Oregon in the Rose Bowl, I suggest you bet the over, however high it is.) Defense is still being played, but somewhere the prevailing attitude seems to have shifted from “defense wins championships” to “defense that doesn’t involve blitzing and turnovers is boring to watch.” Either that, or the definition of successful defense now is giving up one fewer point than you score, regardless of whether you score seven or 70.

Photos from the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers on Facebook.