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MADISON, Wis. — When Michael Douglas starred in “The American President” in 1995, his character joked that his approval ratings drop “5 points when Wisconsin doesn’t make it to the Rose Bowl.”
Douglas’s presidential alter ego would have welcomed this season. In its opening weeks, Wisconsin has surged to No. 8 in the rankings and emerged as the greatest hope for the Big Ten West, a division that has struggled in recent years to win conference championships. A Rose Bowl bid already seems a more than reasonable expectation for the Badgers. And by the end of October, if they can defeat No.