42. Packers 53, Eagles 20 (2014)

Chip Kelly was the new fastest gun in the West. His offense was dynamic and his team was riding high. His Eagles came into Lambeau in 2013 and came away with a win. That win, however, was when the Packers were without Aaron Rodgers. Philadelphia was 7-2 and Green Bay was coming in at 6-3, having destroyed Chicago 55-14 the week prior. The winner of this game would have a leg up in a race to have a first round bye.

No one figured this would be a beatdown like the one given by the Packers the previous week, but that is what it turned out to be. With it being such an important game, the green and gold needed a fast start. That is exactly what it got. The Packers led 17-0 after one quarter and it never was closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

After a 64-yard completion on the first drive from Rodgers to Jordy Nelson, the Packers had to settle for the field goal, but it set the tone for the entire game. Rodgers would throw for 341 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Nelson would have 109 yards receiving and a score on the day.

Philadelphia punted on its first possession of the day and the Green Bay offense went back to work. Starting on its own 13, the green and gold offense embarked on a 13-play, 88-yard drive that would end with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to rookie Devante Adams. The Packers converted three third down and longs on the drive, including a 3rd-and-18 conversion on a Rodgers 24-yard pass to Andrew Quarless to put the Packers into Eagles territory.

If the day could not have started any worse for the Eagles, they went three and out on their next drive and had to punt. The punt was fielded by Micah Hyde at the 25 and eluded a coverage man immediately and then found a seam and went virtually untouched for the 75-yard punt return touchdown to bury the Eagles.

The Eagles would drive down the field for a field goal, but the Packers offense was not finished. Green Bay’s offense would not punt once in the first half. Randall Cobb would catch three passes on this drive for 47 yards, but it was Nelson who got the glory. Rodgers threw a beautiful pass along the right sideline to Nelson, who made an over-the-shoulder catch at the pylon and tip-toed his way into the end zone for the score.

The Packers would score one more time before halftime. It would take 10 plays to travel 80 yards and the game officially became a rout. Four of the 10 plays were of 10 yards or more, but none more than 16. A pass interference on Philadelphia put the ball on the 1 and Eddie Lacy would do the work from there and the Packers had a commanding 30-3 lead. Philadelphia tacked on a field goal at the end of the half, but the Eagles were no match for the Packers that day.

Green Bay’s offense took the second half off, but the defense picked up the scoring slack. With the green and gold now ahead 33-6, Mark Sanchez went back to pass and threw an interception to Julius Peppers, who ran it back for the score to put the Packers in front 39-6 after the extra point was blocked. That was Peppers’ second pick six on the year after having one earlier that season against Minnesota.

With the score 39-13, Green Bay got its only offensive score of the second half. It was an 80-yard drive and Lacy accounted for every single one of them. He had 48 yards on the ground on three carries, but his score came on a pass from Rodgers. On 3rd-and-10, Rodgers went back to pass and could not find anyone open past the first down marker, so he flipped it to a wide open Lacy at the 28. He was able to pick up the first down easily, but he eluded a tackler at the 15 and spun off another at the 11 before dragging tacklers the final five yards for the impressive touchdown. It was that kind of day for the Packers.......and that kind of day for the Eagles.

On a play that would should be replayed with “Yakety Sax” playing, Green Bay was able to score its final points. On a second down play from inside the Packers 40, the snap went through the hands of Sanchez and he went back to pick it up and was unable to. The ball was scooped up by Casey Hayward and the Green Bay defensive back easily broke the tackle attempt of Sanchez and waltzed the rest of the way for the score to put the Packers in front 53-13.

The Eagles would score once more, but the game was never in doubt and the green and gold came away with a huge win. In the words of Gordon Bombay in D2: The Mighty Ducks, “That was not a game, that was a statement!”

Green Bay would lose once more the remainder of the season and earn a first round bye, but would collapse in the NFC Championship game in Seattle.

34. Wisconsin 17, Michigan State 10 (2000)

Wisconsin was in need of a win in the worst way. After a 3-0 start, winning two by one score, the Badgers had dropped their first three in conference play, including two at home. Of those three conference losses, two were by one possession. The Badgers came back from an early deficit to win a big road game in East Lansing 17-10 on the strength of a last-minute touchdown. It looked like it would be much of the same early on for Wisconsin, as the Spartans quickly jumped out to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Michigan State’s touchdown came on a Ryan Van Dyke 43-yard pass to Herb Haygood on the final offensive play of the first quarter. With less than 10 minutes to play in the first half, Brooks Bollinger made a play that turned around Bucky’s season. Facing a 2nd-and-11 from the Badgers 19, the Wisconsin quarterback went back to pass and eluded defenders in the backfield before tucking it and running it for 45 yards. He also would later score the touchdown on a quarterback sneak and the Badgers were back in business, trailing just 10-7. Wisconsin gained more confidence on the next series as Van Dyke’s pass ricocheted off the Michigan State wide receiver and into the hands of Badgers cornerback Mike Echols, who returned it to the Spartans 27. That would lead to a field goal as time expired in the first half and the Badgers had come back to tie Michigan State at 10. The score would remain that way until the final minute of the game. However, there were many opportunities. Michigan State missed a field goal and new quarterback Jeff Smoker threw a pick on a flea flicker to Echols at the goal line. Wisconsin had a chance after Michigan State’s Shawn Foster muffed a Kevin Stemke punt and the Badgers recovered inside the Spartans 40. But three plays lost Wisconsin a yard, so the Badgers punted. Prior to Bollinger’s long run in the first half, he sustained a concussion. He played the rest of the first half, but at halftime, it was determined that he would sit out the second half (and eventually the following week against Purdue) and freshman Jim Sorgi would make his debut.

Bucky had one last chance at the win after Michigan State punter Craig Jarett had a short punt and Wisconsin started on its own 45 with less than two minutes remaining. Three plays gained nine yards for the Badgers, so Bucky faced a 4th-and-1 at the 46. Coach Barry Alvarez elected to go for it, and Michael Bennett lunged forward for one yard and the first down. Wisconsin wasted little time going for it all after the fourth down pickup. Sorgi dropped back to pass and heaved a pass to Lee Evans. Evans reached up and hauled it in over Cedric Henry at the 5 and went into the end zone to give the Badgers took their first lead of the game. Nick Greisen ended any hope of a comeback for the Spartans by intercepting a Van Dyke pass and sealing the game for Wisconsin’s first conference win of the season. Wisconsin would end up falling to Purdue the following week before ending the season with five consecutive wins to finish a solid 9-4 season.

43. Packers 37, Bears 3 (2008)

As a Packers fan, there are not many things that make me more happy during a game than watching Green Bay absolutely annihilate Chicago. Green Bay was 4-3 after dominating Indianapolis before the bye week, but lost its first two games after the bye by a combined four points. Still, somehow, the Packers were in contention for the NFC North lead. Ryan Grant had a monster day, rushing for 145 yards and a touchdown in helping the Packers improve to 5-5 and move into a three-way tie for first place with Chicago and Minnesota.

Both teams started out the game with a punt, but then Green Bay started out the scoring on an Aaron Rodgers short pass to Greg Jennings to give the Packers the lead. It was an eight play drive with Donald Driver catching three passes for 39 yards on the possession. The veteran wide receiver would finish with four catches for 60 yards.

A field goal from Robbie Gould cut the Packers lead to 7-3 and an interception by Packers nemesis Brian Urlacher thwarted the next Green Bay possession and Chicago had momentum. From then on, though, it was all Packers.

The green and gold forced the Bears offense into a three and out after the interception and then Rodgers went back to work. Grant rushed for 40 yards of the Packers 65 on the drive, including the touchdown from four yards out to give the Packers the 14-3 lead.

A short punt by Brad Maynard gave the Packers great field position, and Mason Crosby kicked a 53-yard field goal just before the end of the half to give the green and gold a 17-3 lead at the break.

After a punt by Maynard on Chicago’s second possession of the second half, Green Bay put the game away. Green Bay went on an 88-yard drive in 11 plays to give the Packers a 24-3 lead. The touchdown was scored on a Rodgers 5-yard strike to Donald Lee. On the drive, Rodgers was 5-6 for 68 yards, completing passes to four different receivers.

Green Bay added a field goal early in the fourth before they delivered the final nails in the Chicago coffin. On a fourth down in Packers territory, Kyle Orton was in the shotgun, and the snap was mishandled by the former Boilermaker and Jason Hunter picked it up and he ran 54-yards for the Packers touchdown to put Green Bay in front 34-3. This was not the first time Orton had a fumble returned for a touchdown against a team from Wisconsin.

The Packers added salt to the wound as they kicked a field goal on the first play after the two minute warning to put the final points on the board in a Packers 37-3 drubbing over their rivals directly to the South.

This would be the last taste of victory until the last game of the season, though. Following a blowout loss in New Orleans, the Packers lost four more games by a total of 14 points. Green Bay was able to win against Detroit to finish 6-10 and help finish off the Lions 0-16 season.

35. Wisconsin 83, Indiana 20 (2010)

You knew this one would be mentioned, didn’t you? This was the most points the Badgers scored since an 85-0 victory over Marquette in October 1915. Bucky’s 83 points matched the most points scored in a Big Ten game since 1950. With Wisconsin at 4-1 in the Big Ten and Indiana coming into Camp Randall Stadium at 0-5, most people figured it would be a blowout, and that is exactly what happened. Wisconsin was even without two starters, reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year John Clay and center Dan Voltz. Even without them, the Badgers scored on all 12 of their offensive possessions and absolutely annihilated the hapless Hoosiers.

Indiana surprisingly stayed with the superior team well into the second quarter. Early in the second quarter, the Hoosiers connected on a field goal to tie it at 10, but then it was all Bucky the rest of the game.

Wisconsin received the opening kickoff and trucked its way down the field. It was all Montee Ball on the opening drive. He carried the ball all five plays for 50 yards, and with an Indiana facemask penalty included, he plowed in from a yard out to give the Badgers a 7-0 lead.

However, Indiana would come right back. Nick Turner rushed for 67 yards on the opening play of the drive and that set up a Ben Chappell 2-yard touchdown pass to Tandon Doss and all of a sudden, it was 7-7. The teams would trade field goals and it was 10-10 early in the second quarter. The Bucky train then went into demolition mode, scoring four touchdowns in the final nine minutes to move in front at the half 38-10.

Wisconsin regained the lead a few minutes later on a Ball run. The biggest play came on a third down pass of 18 yards to David Gilreath to move down to the Hoosiers 12. Ball would crash in from a yard out to put the Badgers back in front.

Mitch Ewald missed a 52-yard field goal on Indiana’s next drive and the flood gates opened. The Badgers wasted very little time in making this a 24-10 game. First, Ball rushed for 36 and then eventual Big Ten Freshman of the Year James White strolled down the left sideline for a 30-yard touchdown.

The Hoosiers then came apart. Chappell was injured on the previous drive and was unable to return. New Indiana quarterback Edward Wright-Baker fumbled on his first snap under center and Wisconsin recovered. Bucky wasted little time cashing in, as Ball rushed all five times on the five play drive that ended with a Ball 8-yard touchdown and the Badgers were in control 31-10.

Right before the half, the Bucky train was rolling along again and put one more score on the board before the end of the half. The Badgers traveled 46 yards in five plays after a 22-yard Gilreath punt return set Wisconsin up with great starting field position.

After a loss of two on first down, Scott Tolzien went 4-4 passing the ball on the drive for 48 yards and ended it with a 4-yard pass to Nick Toon in the end zone for the 38-10 lead. Amazingly, that would be the low scoring half.

It did not get any better for the Hoosiers in the second half. Freshman walk-on Jared Abbrederis returned the opening kickoff of the second half to the Indiana 24. Three plays later, Tolzien found tight end Jake Byrne in the end zone for the score.

That score did not last long, either as Louis Nzegwu sacked Wright-Baker, forcing a fumble and the Badgers recovered. Four plays later, White blasted into the end zone for another score for Bucky. White would score on the next drive too and the Badgers went ahead 59-13.

The storm kept coming against Indiana and it did not quit. Aaron Henry added a pick six after a Wisconsin field goal and it was 69-13. And if people thought it could not get any worse, it did. Backup quarterback Jon Budmayr launched a 74-yard pass to Abbrederis and third-string quarterback Nate Tice scored on a run with less than two minutes to play to close out the scoring in an 83-20 obliteration.

It was the second game of three that the Badgers would score at least 70 points. Bucky Badger ended up doing 573 push-ups during the game, so it is safe to say that he is arms were tired at game’s end.

Wisconsin would win out the remainder of the regular season and win a share of the Big Ten championship and head to Pasadena as the Big Ten’s representative at the Rose Bowl.

44. Packers 23, Vikings 17 (2006)

After losing three of their first four under new head coach Mike McCarthy, Green Bay was looking to win three of four to improve to 4-5. The Packers were trying to end a losing streak of three games (including playoffs) to the Vikings. In the 2005 game in Minnesota, Green Bay blew a 17-0 lead and lost on a Paul Edinger field goal. This was the second Packers game I had ever attended and the first Packers win.

The start of the game was much like the start of the 2005 game at the Metrodome. After a field goal by Dave Rayner put the Packers ahead 3-0, Brady Poppinga sacked Brad Johnson and forced a fumble and the Packers recovered. That led to a Packers touchdown on a Brett Favre pass to Noah Herron from five yards out to give the Packers a 10-0 lead.

On the first play of the second quarter, the Vikings were able to break through. Johnson found Billy McMullen for a 40-yard score to cut it to 10-7. After a three-and-out was forced by the Minnesota defense, the Vikings offense went back to work.

On a 3rd-and-10, Johnson found Chester Taylor, who ran it down the 1 before the ball was knocked out. But Bethel Johnson was in the right place at the right time, and he recovered the fumble in the end zone for the score to give the Vikings their first lead of the game.

It would stay that way until late in the second quarter. Green Bay started the possession at its own 3, but in two plays moved up to the 18. On 2nd-and-7, Favre threw a slant to Donald Driver, who split the defenders and raced untouched for the 82-yard score to give the Packers the lead before halftime. Driver would have a career-high 191 yards on the day and the touchdown.

There would only be three points scored in the third quarter, with that being by the Packers. On a 3rd-and-10, Favre would find rookie Greg Jennings for a first down, but not satisfied with just the first down, the rookie pitched it back to Driver, who raced down the right sideline down to the Vikings 15. Minnesota challenged whether Jennings was down, but the play was upheld and the Packers would get three points on the drive.

After an interception by Patrick Dendy on a deep pass from Johnson, Green Bay went on a five and a half minute drive that would seal the game. The Packers would go on a 10-play drive, spanning 66 yards and the drive would end on a short Rayner field goal to put the green and gold in front by two scores.

Minnesota would drive down and kick a field goal to cut it to 23-17, but the onside kick went out of bounds and the Packers held on for the win.

The good times would not last long for the Packers, though, as Green Bay would lose its next three by an average of 24 points before rebounding to win its last four to end the season at 8-8.

36. Wisconsin 24, West Virginia 17 (2003)

This was a much-anticipated season opener for Wisconsin, as this was the first game since 2001 for star wide receiver Lee Evans. He missed the entire 2002 season with a torn ACL that occurred during the spring game. Evans had a record-breaking season in 2001, but decided to pass on the NFL Draft to return to Wisconsin. He would catch the game-tying rouchdown pass to help the Badgers start out the season with a win in Morgantown.

The game could not have started out any better for the Badgers, as Kareem Timbers recovered a blocked punt on West Virginia’s first possession in the end zone and the Badgers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. That was the good news. The bad news is that Bucky would only score three more points until the fourth quarter.

With Wisconsin’s offense struggling, West Virginia took advantage. The Mountaineers would kick a field goal on the next drive to cut it to 7-3 and then would take the lead on the following drive on a run by Quincy Wilson. That 10-7 score would remain until the third quarter.

That score would change when Wilson scored his second of the day to put West Virginia in front 17-7 before Wisconsin would get three back on a short Scott Campbell field goal to cut it to 17-10.

Evans was held in check through the first three quarters. The big play receiver for the Badgers only had 35 yards receiving on five catches. He made a big difference in the final quarter.

Early in the final quarter, the Badgers forced a Mountaineers punt from deep in their own territory and Jim Leonhard returned the short punt 17 yards down to the West Virginia 33. Two Anthony Davis runs picked up a first down to the 18, but the next two plays would lose a total of two yards, so the Badgers faced a 3rd-and-12 from the West Virginia 20.

Enter No. 3. You knew Evans would not stay silent for an entire game. It was just a matter of time before he would make a big play to put the Badgers in position to win the game. That play happened early in the fourth quarter.

On the 3rd-and-12 play, Jim Sorgi threw toward the right sideline and Evans plucked the ball out of the air and went into the end zone to tie the game up at 17.

Evans came up big again two Wisconsin drives later, as he hauled in a 15-yard reception on the opening play of the possession, getting the Badgers started on a drive that would lead them to victory.

The Evans catch set the ball near midfield for the Badgers and Davis carried the ball the following three plays and rushed for 38 yards to put the ball down at the West Virginia 14. Three plays later, Davis would finish the drive with a touchdown from a yard out to put Bucky in front, 24-17.

The Mountaineers had one more drive in an attempt to tie the game up, but West Virginia was unable to pick up a first down and when Rasheed Marshall was sacked on fourth down by Alex Lewis, the game was over. Wisconsin was able to pick up a first down on a Davis run and then run out the clock, sealing the 24-17 win and a second win over West Virginia in as many years.

The win helped the Badgers start out with six wins in seven games before losing a number of close games to end the year.

45. Packers 30, Vikings 13 (2015)

Green Bay was struggling. The Packers had started 6-0, but had lost three straight to slip to 6-3 and were coming off an embarrassing 18-16 home loss to Detroit. The Lions had not won in Wisconsin since 1991. Minnesota, on the hand, was surging, having won five in a row and was 7-2 on the year. A Vikings win would nearly wrap up the division for them, being essentially three games up in the standings. Green Bay had its backs against the wall and responded with its best game of the season to move into a tie for the NFC North lead.

The Packers would go up and down the field on the Vikings defense in the first half, scoring on four of their five first half drives. That was the good news. The bad news is that three of those drives ended in just three points. On Green Bay’s first drive, Aaron Rodgers connected with James Jones for 25 yards to move the Packers inside the Vikings 40 to help set up the Mason Crosby 42-yard field goal.

Minnesota would respond with a touchdown on a Teddy Bridgewater 47-yard pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph to give the Vikings the 6-3 lead. The extra point was missed by Blair Walsh, so it remained a three point game.

Jeff Janis would return the kickoff 70 yards to the Vikings 34, which would set up Crosby for another field goal. Crosby’s 47-yard field goal was good to tie the game. Crosby would tack on another field on the next drive to put the Packers back in front.

The biggest drive of the first half came on Green Bay’s final possession. Facing a 3rd-and-15 with less than two minutes to play in the first half, Rodgers rolled out and launched a deep pass down the right sideline intended for Jones. Vikings cornerback Terence Newman had his arm around Jones, preventing Jones from coming back to the ball, so he was ruled for a pass interference putting the ball at the Vikings 35.

Green Bay was able to get a fortunate call on an Anthony Barr illegal contact penalty on another third down, so the Packers were able to get a fresh set of downs. After two incomplete passes by Rodgers to Randall Cobb, he finally was able to connect with Cobb with six seconds left before halftime on a rope over the middle to give the Packers a two score lead.

Green Bay picked up right where it left off in the first half, as the Packers went on a 12-play drive, spanning 61 yards, setting up the Packers up for another Crosby field goal to make it 19-7. Of those 61 yards, 30 of them came on one play, a Rodgers pass to James Starks to give the Packers a first down on the Vikings 45.

It took the Vikings little time to get right back into the game, as the Vikings just needed four plays to cover 63 yards to cut the deficit to six. The big play came on a Bridgewater pass to Rudolph for 33 yards down to the Packers 13. Adrian Peterson ran it in from six yards out to complete the drive.

With the season hanging in the balance and the Vikings having momentum, Green Bay went on a big-time drive to help right the Packers season.

Green Bay faced a 3rd-and-6 from its own 35. Rodgers went back to pass and was flushed to the left and uncorked a pass down the field to Jones, who bobbled and caught it down the left sideline down to the Vikings 28.

Three plays later, on another third down play, Rodgers rolled out to the right and fired a dart in the end zone to Jones, who stretched out and caught it along the sidelines before falling out of bounds. The two-point conversion was also successful, as Rodgers went back to pass before stepping up and flipping it to Jones in the end zone.

Peterson had trouble holding onto the ball early on in his career, but has done better in recent years. But with the Vikings on the march, Peterson rumbled for a first down, but Morgan Burnett came from behind and knocked the ball out and Sam Shields recovered. The Vikings would not get that close to scoring again.

Mason Crosby, who missed the game-winning field goal the previous week against Detroit, atoned for the missed kick with five field goals against the Vikings, including the dagger, a 52-yard field goal to put the game out of reach.

The Packers would fall the following week at home against Chicago before rebounding with three consecutive wins.

37. Wisconsin 37, Michigan 21 (2007)

It was Senior Day and the Badgers were 7-3 after losing three of their last five. Michigan had won eight in a row and climbed back up to No. 12 in the country after two losses to start the season, including the embarrassing defeat to Appalachian State.

With Mike Hart sidelined with an injury, Michigan struggled to run the football and the Wolverines were forced to throw the ball 41 times. Henne was hurt after just five passes and he was replaced by Ryan Mallett.

On Henne’s last pass of the game a little past midway through the first quarter, Henne was intercepted by Shane Carter.

It took the Badgers five plays to travel 55 yards and it ended with a Tyler Donovan touchdown pass to Travis Beckum to give the Badgers the lead. It would be the first of four consecutive possessions in which Wisconsin would score on.

A Donovan touchdown rush midway through the second quarter gave the home team a 17-0 lead, but Michigan would cut it to 17-7 on a touchdown pass from Mallett to Mario Manningham. The future Super Bowl hero would go onto have two scores in the game.

Bucky would drive down the field and put up three points right before halftime to make the score 20-7 at the break.

With the score 23-7 early in the fourth quarter, Michigan faced a 3rd-and-9 from its own 3-yard line. Mallett went back to pass from his own end zone and found Manningham down the right sideline and he went 97 yards to cut it to 23-14.

The score would get even closer as Mallett found Adrian Arrington in the zone from 26 yards out at the halfway point of the final quarter to cut what was once a 17-point Badgers lead down to just two.

After a Wisconsin punt, Michigan was facing a 3rd-and-29 from its own 11 after a sack by Matt Shaughnessy. There would be no big play for the Wolverines this time as Jack Ikegwuonu intercepted the Mallett pass to set the Badgers up with great field position at the Wolverines 33.

It would be a drive of four plays with Zach Brown getting the ball each time and running it in from six yards out to give Bucky some breathing room.

The Badgers would deliver the dagger a minute later when they turned Michigan over on downs and took over on the visitor’s 2. Brown needed just one play to seal the deal and deliver the knockout punch to a 37-21 Wisconsin win.

The Badgers would once again retain Paul Bunyan’s axe the following week in Minneapolis to close out a 9-3 regular season.

46. Packers 45, Chargers 38 (2011)

This probably could and should have been higher as this was a very exciting game that came down to the final drive. The Packers held a 45-24 lead in the fourth quarter, but San Diego scored twice to cut it to seven and had the ball across midfield with a chance to tie the game, but Charlie Peprah intercepted Philip Rivers with a half a minute to play to keep the Packers perfect at 8-0.

San Diego started fast, scoring on its opening drive on a 23-yard Rivers to Vincent Jackson touchdown. That score would be the first of three Jackson would catch on the day. But the rest of the first quarter was all green and gold.

First, the Packers drove 68 yards in eight plays and Aaron Rodgers connected with Jermichael Finley for a score to tie things up. And then, a month and a half before Christmas, Rivers was in a giving mood.

On back to back possessions, Green Bay picked off Rivers and ran it back to the house. The first one was by Peprah, who caught a deflected pass and weaved his way through traffic on his way to a 40-yard pick six. However, Tramon Williams wanted in on the fun on the next drive, and he jumped in front of a Rivers pass and took it back 43 yards for the score and in the blink of an eye, the Packers went from down 7-0 to in front 21-7.

San Diego quickly got back in the game on a run by Matt Tolbert (Is that you, Tolbert?) to cut it back down to one score.

San Diego would cut it to 21-17 later in the quarter, but Green Bay ended the half with a Rodgers back shoulder touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson, where he caught it at the 2 and rolled his way into the end zone to put the Packers ahead 28-17 at halftime.

After a field goal on Green Bay’s opening drive of the second half, the Chargers put their first drive of the second half in the end zone. This time it was Antonio Gates who was the on the receiving end of a Rivers touchdown pass to cut it to seven. Rivers would throw for 385 yards and four touchdowns on the day.

The Packers quickly answered the Bolts touchdown with one of their own, a Rodgers 21-yard strike to James Jones to put the Packers back up 14, and after a Chargers punt, the Packers went back to work again.

On the first play of the next drive, Rodgers did a play fake and launched a pass to Nelson, who caught it and turned and made it down to the Chargers 4. Nelson would have five catches for 105 yards and a score on the day. Greg Jennings capped off the short drive with a touchdown reception to give the Packers a 45-24 lead.

San Diego fought to get right back into the game, though, as the Chargers drove right back down the field and Jackson caught his second touchdown of the day and San Diego cut it to 14. One score? No problem for Green Bay, especially since their offense was on fire. But the Chargers do an onside kick and it goes through the legs of a Packers player and Nelson tries to bat the ball, but San Diego recovered.

Three plays later, Jackson had his third score of he game, a 29-yard strike from Rivers to cut the lead to a single score and there was still more than six minutes to go.

Three straight punts and the Chargers had the ball back with one more chance to tie it up with a little more than a minute left. The Bolts would drive to the Packers 41 on a completion to Gates and a pass interference on Charles Woodson, but would go no further. Rivers threw a pass down the field to a double covered Jackson and was picked off by Peprah, who was not satisfied with just the interception. He wanted a second pick six, but was eventually brought down at the San Diego 6.

The Packers would go onto win five more consecutive games after this one and start out 13-0, but Kansas City shut the Packers offense down and the Packers lost 19-7 for their only loss of the regular season. Unfortunately, the Packers met their nemesis, the New York Giants, in the Divisional Round of the playoffs and Green Bay’s 15-1 season came crashing down with a 37-20 loss.

38. Wisconsin 13, Fresno State 10 (2008)

It was one of the biggest games in Fresno State history. It was a night game and the Bulldogs hosted a top 10 team in Wisconsin. The Badgers were coming in off two wins against MAC schools and it was the first road test of the season. The Bulldogs came in with a great ground attack led by future first round pick Ryan Mathews. In a mistake-filled game, Wisconsin was able to eek out a win in California.

Wisconsin struck first on a pass from Alan Evridge to Garrett Graham from two yards out to put the Badgers ahead 7-0. The touchdown came after an interception by DeAndre Levy set Bucky up with great field position at the Fresno State 26. The drive just took three plays, and Graham had two catches on the drive, including the touchdown.

Fresno State would drive on its next possession into field goal range, but Kevin Goessling missed a 47-yard field goal. That miss would be the beginning of a rough night for the kicker.

The Badgers would take a 10-0 lead on the following drive on a Philip Welch field goal. It would stay that way until halftime after Welch had a field goal to end the half blocked.

Devon Wylie scored from 47 yards out on a pass from Tom Brandstater over the middle and the Bulldogs were right back in the game.Wylie also had a 25-yard run to start the drive.

After an awful 9-yard punt from Brad Nortman on Wisconsin’s next drive, the Bulldogs were back in business. But Wisconsin’s defense stood tall and forced a three-and-out, where Goessling missed his second field goal of the night and the Badgers held onto the 10-7 lead.

Wisconsin forced another Fresno State mistake late in the third quarter when Michael Harris muffed a punt that was recovered by Wisconsin’s Dex Jones at the Fresno State 23. But this time, the Bulldogs defense held strong and the Badgers had to settle for a field goal and a 13-7 lead.

This game also was not without controversy. On the first play of the next drive for the Bulldogs, Brandstater threw a pass over the middle to Wylie, who caught it and took two steps before having the ball knocked out of his hands, where Levy fell on the fumble. Then the officials went to replay and somehow ruled it incomplete. Fresno State would go onto get a big pass play from Brandstater to Mathews to give the Bulldogs a first and goal, but would have to settle for a Goessling field goal to cut it to 13-10.

Wisconsin punted and Fresno State had a long run by Lonyae Miller to set the Bulldogs up at the Badgers 25. Three plays gained seven yards for Fresno State and on came Goessling to try to tie the game. His 35-yard attempt missed and the Badgers took over.

The teams traded punts and Fresno State’s punt pinned the Badgers deep in their own territory. Bucky needed to pick up one first down to seal the game. That is exactly what Wisconsin did. After Dustin Sherer did a quarterback sneak for two yards, the next play was a handoff to fullback Bill Rentmeester, who ran eight yards to pick up the game-clinching first down. The Badgers were able to kneel on the ball three times to end the game and Wisconsin had a big victory.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin hit a rough spot and would lose four in a row before Bucky rebounded to win four of five to end the regular season.

47. Packers 17, Lions 9 (2006)

Green Bay was limping in at 5-8, but Detroit had not won in Wisconsin since before Brett Favre was traded for. Even though Green Bay was struggling, Detroit was worse, coming it at 2-11. The green and gold was coming off a win in San Francisco, while the Motor City Kitties were in the midst of a five game losing streak. The Lions were 0-6 on the road and the Packers were 1-5 at home. Something had to give.

The game itself was not all that exciting except for the fact that it came down to the final minute to decide the outcome. There were four turnovers in the first half, two by each team, but only three points off those turnovers with the field goal being by the Packers. It was a sloppy game by both teams, but Vernand Morency got the Packers going with a touchdown late in the first half to put the Packers in front 10-3.

The only thing really noteworthy that happened in this game happened late in the second quarter when Brett Favre found Carlyle Holiday on a 21-yard pass to break the all-time completions record. Green Bay took the 10-3 lead into the break.

With the Packers leading 10-6 in the third quarter, Charles Woodson intercepted a pass deep in Lions territory and the green and gold were 12 yards away from making it a two possession game. But former Packers linebacker Paris Lenon intercepted a Favre pass in the end zone to shut out Green Bay on the drive. That was Favre’s second interception of his three on the game.

His third could have been deadly. Early in the fourth, a Favre pass deflected off the hands of Ahman Green and intercepted by Dre’ Bly, who took it down to the Packers 12. But Green Bay was able to keep the Kitties out of the end zone and held them to a field goal to cut the deficit to a single point.

The Packers then had one final march that led the Packers to the clinching score. Mike McCarthy’s bunch drove 78 yards in 12 plays and took nearly seven minutes off the clock. Morency again found paydirt, this time from 19 yards out, and the Packers increased the lead to 17-9.

Detroit had one final chance, but only went backward as the Lions were unable to convert a 4th-and-25 and turned it over on downs and the Packers had an ugly 17-9 win.

Green Bay would finish the season with four straight wins with the last three coming against the rest of the NFC North. That momentum would carry over to 2007, where the team would finish 13-3 and a berth in the NFC Championship game.

39. Wisconsin 26, Iowa 24 (2014)

After a big win over Nebraska the week before, the Badgers were in a position to win the Western Division. All Wisconsin needed to do was win out or win against Iowa and have Nebraska beat Minnesota. But with Minnesota winning in Lincoln, Wisconsin needed to win its remaining two games to punch its ticket to Indianapolis. However, Iowa also had a chance to win the division. With two games remaining, Wisconsin was on top at 5-1 in the Big Ten and Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota all were 4-2. Every team in that mix of four had to play two of the other teams for its final two games.

The game started about as well as possible for Bucky, as Mark Weisman fumbled on the second play from scrimmage and Michael Caputo, who forced the fumble, also recovered the ball for the Badgers. Wisconsin picked up one first down, but had to settle for a Rafael Gaglianone 50-yard field goal and the Badgers led 3-0.

Iowa came right down the field on a 14-play drive and Marshall Koehn connected on a 26-yard field goal to tie things up.

A pair of punts followed before the Badgers retook the lead. Tanner McEvoy came into the game to run the ‘Wildcat’ and faked a handoff before blasting through a hole and racing 45 yards for the score. The extra point was missed and the Badgers led 9-3. Melvin Gordon, who was bottled up in the first half, added another score just before halftime to put the Badgers ahead 16-3 going into the break.

I mentioned Gordon was bottled up in the first half. Well, with Wisconsin backed up to its own 8, Gordon erased that with one play, as he raced down the sideline for 88 yards, but was tracked down at the Iowa 4. Wisconsin was held out of the end zone and Gaglianone put the Badgers in front 19-3.

Iowa gained momentum from that stop. After the stop, Iowa quarterback Jake Rudock became red hot. Iowa blew down the field and scored on a Rudock 20-yard pass to Kevonte Martin-Manley. The two-point conversion was good as well and the Hawkeyes cut the deficit to 19-11.

Wisconsin punted on its next possession and Rudock went back to work, completing his opening two passes of the drive for a total of 61 yards. A pass interference call on Wisconsin’s Darius Hillary moved the ball to the Wisconsin 2 and Rudock ran it in for the score. This two-point conversion failed and the Badgers held onto a 19-17 advantage.

Wisconsin was facing a third down and long on the following drive. With Rudock being on fire, the Badgers needed a conversion. Bucky did just that and then some. Stave was being blitzed and found a wide open Gordon, whose catch and ran of 35 yards set the ball at the Iowa 33. Two plays later, Gordon found space along the left sideline and glided into the end zone from 23 yards away to put the Badgers in front 26-17.

But Rudock was not done. He was 3-4 on the drive for 59 yards and a touchdown, a 9-yard pass to Jake Duzey to cut the deficit back down to two. He also had two runs for 32 yards on the drive, including a 21-yard run on 3rd-and-15 to pick up a big first down.

With the season hanging in the balance, Wisconsin had the ball at its own 25 with five minutes remaining. Two Gordon runs on the first two plays picked up 11 yards and a first down. The next two runs just gained a total of two yards. With the Badgers facing a 3rd-and-8 with less than two minutes remaining, the most unlikely Badger made the biggest of plays. Joel Stave, who just threw for 139 yards on the day, went back to pass. He was flushed to the left and found some daylight. Stave ran and spun to try to elude an Iowa defender at the first down marker to gain a few extra yards. The 12-yard run by Stave sealed the game as Iowa only had one timeout remaining.

The win would set up the matchup with Minnesota to determine which team would go to the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.

48. Packers 27, Ravens 14 (2009)

Green Bay was fighting for a playoff spot as the 2009 season wound down. The Packers were 7-4 and were riding a three game winning streak since an embarrassing loss to winless Tampa Bay. They were also on a break of 11 days after winning a Thanksgiving Day game over the Detroit Lions. Baltimore was in the same situation, fighting for a playoff spot. The Ravens were 6-5, but could have a much better record than that. In the 11 games they had played, Baltimore had six games decided by one score and were 2-4 in those games. Both teams needed a win and they met on an early December night at Lambeau Field.

It was a tight slugfest early on, just like the Ravens are used to. After Green Bay put a field goal on the board on the first drive of the game, there would be no scoring until late in the half. Each quarterback had an interception in the first quarter and there were many punts.

With less than 10 minutes to go in the half, Green Bay started on an eight play drive going 83 yards to put the Packers ahead 10-0. The biggest plays of the drive were a back-to-back sequence where the Packers forced a 25-yard pass interference by Baltimore’s Frank Walker and then Aaron Rodgers found Jermichael Finley for 29 yards down to the Ravens 19. Finley then came through again with a 14-yard reception down to the Baltimore 2 on third down, followed by being on the receiving end of Rodgers’ 2-yard touchdown pass to put the Packers ahead by two scores.

After a three-and-out by Baltimore, Green Bay drove 68 yards in another eight play touchdown drive to put the Packers in front by 17 just before halftime. After a sack by Trevor Pryce, Rodgers ran for 23 yards on second-and-17 to give the Packers life in the drive and three plays later, Rodgers used his arm and found Donald Driver for an 8-yard touchdown with less than a minute remaining in the first half.

Early in the third quarter, Green Bay drove into Baltimore territory and Rodgers found Driver on a 3rd-and-6 for a first down, but Driver fumbled and the Ravens recovered, and the momentum shifted to the road team. Baltimore drove 71 yards for the touchdown to cut it to 17-7. The touchdown came on a Joe Flacco 12-yard pass to Kelley Washington.

As if the half couldn't start any worse for Green Bay, Rodgers had his next pass intercepted by Baltimore’s Jarret Johnson and the Ravens started their next drive at the Packers 42. Just two plays later, Willis McGahee crashed in from a yard out to cut it to 17-14. The drive was aided by a pass interference penalty on Tramon Williams that put the ball on the 1.

After a Packers missed field goal, Baltimore thought it had a major gain on 3rd-and-17 to Derrick Mason down to the Packers 33, but Mason was called for offensive pass interference and the Ravens had to punt.

Green Bay wasted little time converting on the following possession as it took the Packers four plays to drive 49 yards and Rodgers hooked up again with Finley for a score to give the Packers some breathing room. Finley would finish with seven catches for 79 yards and the pair of touchdowns.

But Baltimore knocked on the door again as LaDarius Webb ran the ensuing kickoff back to the Packers 26. After another Williams pass interference placed the ball on the Packers 1, he made up for it by making the biggest play of the game. With nine minutes to go in the game, Flacco rolled out to the right and could not find anybody, but threw late over the middle and Williams picked it off in the end zone to preserve the two score lead.

Another Flacco interception, this one going to A.J. Hawk, put the nail in the Baltimore coffin. The Packers put a field goal on the board following the interception and forced the Ravens to turn the ball over on downs on their final possession and the Packers had the 27-14 victory.

The Packers would keep the momentum going as they would only lose once the rest of the regular season, a last second loss to Pittsburgh, before losing in the wildest of Wild Card games in Arizona.

40. Wisconsin 16, Utah State 14 (2012)

Wisconsin was hoping to catch lightning in a bottle once again with a transfer quarterback. In 2011, Russell Wilson took the world by storm and led the Badgers to the Rose Bowl. In 2012, Wisconsin looked to another senior transfer quarterback, Danny O’Brien, to try to help the Badgers win another Big Ten title.

After two games, Montee Ball was averaging less than four yards per carry in a close win against Northern Iowa and a loss to Oregon State. With the struggles rushing the ball, Wisconsin fired its new offensive line coach Mike Markuson and handed the reigns over to graduate assistant Bart Miller.

Utah State was not your typical “mid-major” school. The Aggies were good. Real good. Utah State would finish the season with a record of 11-2 with the two losses coming by a combined five points. The Badgers would have their hands full with Utah State, which was led by future Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen.

The struggles continued for Bucky on offense in the first half. Wisconsin only scored three points in the game’s first 30 minutes. O’Brien fumbled late in the first half, which gave Utah State great field position, where the Aggies drove the short field to give Andersen’s bunch a 14-3 lead at halftime in Camp Randall. The last touchdown came on a Chuckie Keeton 11-yard pass to Matt Austin with 29 seconds left before halftime.

Wisconsin needed a change, and that is what happened. O’Brien, who completed five of 10 passes for 63 yards in the first half, was replaced by redshirt freshman Joel Stave. The freshman would only pass for 15 yards on two completions, but he was more of a threat on his downfield passes than O’Brien.

Midway through the third quarter, with the offense still sputtering, an unlikely source gave the Badgers a much-needed lift. After a third down and short stop, Tyler Bennett came onto punt for Utah State. His punt carried Kenzel Doe to the left sideline, where he ran up and fielded the short punt. He ran along the sidelines, getting a few blocks and weaving his way through traffic. Finally, at midfield, Doe cut back to the middle of the field where there were no Utah State coverage people. It looked like Doe might get caught from behind, but he found an extra gear and was able to separate from the pack and score on the punt return to put the Badgers back in the game.

After a three and out forced by the Badgers defense, Bennett had an embarrassing 19-yard punt, giving Wisconsin a short field in an effort to take its first lead of the night.

It was a six play drive with Ball carrying the ball on every play. On a 2nd-and-8 from the Utah State 17, Ball received great blocking up front and blasted through on his way to the end zone for the 17-yard score to give the Badgers their first lead. Kyle French’s extra point was blocked, so the score remained 16-14.

The last threat of the game happened on the last drive. The Aggies looked like they were going to come into Madison and come out with a win when Keeton found Cameron Webb along the sideline for a gain of 36 down to the Badgers 15 with 59 seconds left. A controversial pass interference call on Utah State tight end Kellen Bartlett pushed the Aggies back to their 30. Three plays gained them 11 yards to put them at the 19 for Josh Thompson to come in and try to win it. But the Utah State kicker pushed it off to the right and Wisconsin was able to survive against Utah State.

This would not be the last time the Badgers would be in a dog fight. It would be a theme for the Badgers in 2012, going to overtime three times, as well as losing close contests to Nebraska in the conference opener and in the Rose Bowl to Stanford. However, this win was the turning point of their season. Wisconsin played much better following this win and nearly pulled off a huge upset in the Rose Bowl.

49. Packers 31, Bears 23 (2015)

It was the opener and Green Bay was still getting used to life without Jordy Nelson. The Packers just signed James Jones, who came back after spending a year in Oakland. Jones made people forget about Nelson.......for at least a week, as he had 51 yards and a pair of touchdowns to help the Packers start out the season with a win for the first time since 2011.

Things did not start so well for the Packers, though, as they punted on their first possession and the Bears scored first on a short Robbie Gould field goal. On Green Bay’s second drive, Rodgers threw a touchdown to Jones to give the Packers a 7-3 lead.

On the following drive, Chicago drove down inside the 10, but the drive stalled. But on the field goal attempt, Sam Shields was offsides and it gave Chicago a 4th-and-1, and the Bears ended up going for it and Matt Forte picked up the first down. Forte would punch it in from a yard out to give the Bears the lead back.

After the teams traded field goals, Chicago led 13-10 at the half.

Green Bay wasted little time getting the lead back, going 59 yards in six plays to recapture the lead. Ty Montgomery had a 46-yard kickoff return to give the Packers good starting field position. Davante Adams hauled in a 25-yard pass to set up the team with a first and goal, where Rodgers found Jones from a yard out for the leading score.

With the score 17-16 early in the fourth, Green Bay had a clutch drive, ending with Green Bay scoring a touchdown on an Aaron Rodgers to Randall Cobb touchdown to put the Packers ahead by eight.

Most Packers fans were waiting for Jay Cutler to make a costly interception like he has so many times in the past against Green Bay. Packers fans got their wish a little past the halfway point in the fourth quarter as Cutler threw a pick to Clay Matthews, who returned it deep into Bears territory.

Aided by a pass interference penalty, Eddie Lacy delivered the dagger on a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Packers a 31-16 lead. Chicago scored a touchdown with a half a minute left to cut it to a one score game, but Green Bay recovered the onside kick to seal the win.

This game jump started the Packers to a 6-0 record, but stumbled to a 10-6 season and a second place finish in the NFC North.

41. Wisconsin 28, Cincinnati 25 (OT), 2000

Wisconsin came in at 2-0 and off an emotionally draining 27-23 win over Joey Harrington and Oregon. Prior to the season, Wisconsin had many key players suspended from one to three games due to the Shoe Box scandal, and the Badgers had four games to implement the suspensions. Many of the players played in the Oregon game the previous week, so they would have to miss the Cincinnati game. The Badgers were also looking for payback as they were upset the previous year by the Bearcats 17-12 in Cincinnati.

After a three and out for Cincinnati to start the game and a short punt, the Bucky train started in great field position at the Bearcats 32. Eddie Faulkner, starting in place of the suspended Michael Bennett, rushed for 24 yards on the first two plays to get Wisconsin inside the 10. Brooks Bollinger ran in from eight yards out to give the Badgers the lead.

The Cats responded with two field goals to cut the deficit to a single point at the end of the first quarter, and then took the lead 13-10 in the second quarter on a pass from Deontey Kenner to LaDaris Vann. It stayed that way until the fourth quarter.

Wisconsin tied it up on a Vitaly Pisetsky field goal from 40 yards out early in the fourth. But the Badgers may have been getting a bad case of deja vu after Cincinnati retook the lead four plays later on a Kenner 51-yard pass to Ray Jackson. The extra point failed, so the lead was only 19-13.

It was the same score with less than four minutes remaining in the game and Wisconsin punter Kevin Stemke had a 55-yard punt downed at the Bearcats 2. Cincinnati went three and out and instead of punting out of its own end zone, giving Wisconsin great field position, it decided to take an intentional safety. The Bearcats took the safety to give them more room to punt and since the Badgers would need a touchdown regardless, they forced Bucky into a longer field to try to score.

Wisconsin would take the ball at its own 40 and march down for a touchdown to give the Badgers the lead. Lee Evans had two big catches on the drive, resulting in 28 yards and drew a pass interference to give the Badgers first and goal at the Bearcats 2. Three plays later, Bollinger took it on a quarterback sneak. That was the second touchdown on the day for him. The extra point was good and the Badgers seemingly had the game in hand, leading 22-19 with 18 seconds left.

As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.”

After the kickoff gave Cincinnati the ball at its own 33, Kenner threw three straight completions to future Green Bay Packer Antonio Chatman for 38 yards, setting the ball at the Badgers 29 with four seconds left. Jason Mammarelli’s game-tying field goal attempt split the uprights, which sent the game into overtime.

In the overtime, Cincinnati went on a 10-play drive, but it only resulted in three points. Wisconsin did not take long to end the game. Faulkner took the first handoff nine yards. Then, he took the second carry to the house, spinning off one tackler in the second level and galloping 16 yards for the winning score. It was the first overtime win at Camp Randall in program history.

The theme of close games would continue throughout 2000, as the Badgers lost two in overtime and one in the final minutes in the first half of Big Ten play. But Wisconsin bounced back to win its share of close games, including a 21-20 victory in the Sun Bowl over UCLA to finish up a 9-4 season.

50. Packers 38, Bears 17 (2014)

With the Green Bay Packers starting their season in 50 days, I have decided to make a top 50 list for them as well. This will be a list of the top 50 wins in the Mike McCarthy era.

Green Bay was coming in at 1-2, coming off an embarrassing 19-7 loss in Detroit, and Chicago was coming in at 2-1. The Packers could not afford to fall essentially three games behind the Bears. Fortunately for Green Bay, it had not lost at Soldier Field since 2010.

It looked as though the Packers would be in for another long game on the opening drive, as Chicago marched 80 yards in 15 plays to take a 7-0 lead. Green Bay came back and scored on a short run by Eddie Lacy to tie it up. The big play was a 43-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers to Richard Rodgers to put the ball deep into Chicago territory.

It was a half that did not see any punts, and Chicago drove down the field and kicked a field goal to regain the lead, 10-7. But then the Packers drove down and Jordy Nelson hauled in a 3-yard touchdown to give the Packers their first lead, 14-10.

The Packers and Bears exchanged touchdowns one more time before the end of the half. Chicago’s was by Alshon Jeffery and Green Bay’s was on a 22-yard Rodgers pass to Randall Cobb.

The turning point was at the end of the half when Chicago was driving inside the 10 of Green Bay. With less than 10 seconds left in the half, Jay Cutler found Martellus Bennett, who fought his way to the 1-yard line, but the time ran out. Replays did not show Bennett scoring, so the scored stayed 21-17 at the half.

The second half was dominated by Green Bay.

On the first drive, the Packers drove into Bears territory, but settled for a long Mason Crosby field goal to put the green and gold ahead 24-17. On Chicago’s next drive, the Bears drove into Green Bay territory, but Clay Matthews stepped in front of a Cutler pass and picked it off and ran it back 40 yards into Chicago territory.

Nelson would cap off the next drive with another touchdown reception from Rodgers. Nelson would go onto have 10 receptions for 108 yards and the two touchdowns.

The Packers went onto score one more time to give the Packers the 38-17 win. Rodgers finished with 22-28 for 302 yards and four touchdowns.

That win helped catapult the team. After losing at Detroit in week three, Green Bay won 11 of the final 13 regular season games to give the Packers a 12-4 record and a first round bye.

42. Wisconsin 20, Arizona State 19 (2010)

The Badgers were predicted by some to be a candidate to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin looked good in its opener before struggling in the second game against San Jose State, only winning 27-14. Wisconsin played Arizona State in its first real test of the season. With Wisconsin leading 20-13 late in the game, Arizona State’s Cameron Marshall ran in from two yards out to cut the Badgers lead to one. But the extra point was blocked by Wisconsin safety Jay Valai and Bucky held on for the one point victory.

After a pair of missed field goals on each team’s opening drive of the game, Wisconsin was able to connect the next try as Philip Welch connected on a 49-yard field goal to put the Badgers on the board first. But that lead did not last as Omar Bolden returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for the score to put the Sun Devils on top.

The teams traded field goals on the following possessions, so Arizona State had a 10-6 lead late in the half before the Badgers scored a touchdown right before the end of the half to give the Badgers a 13-10 lead.

However, Arizona State had already returned one kick for a touchdown on the day, and the Sun Devils nearly had another. ASU’s Kyle Middlebrooks fielded the kick from Welch at the 4 and found an opening and raced down the sideline heading toward the end zone. But Wisconsin reserve defensive back Shelton Johnson never gave up on the play and raced down the field to bring down Middlebrooks at the 1-yard line with the clock at all zeros and Wisconsin escaped with a 13-10 halftime lead.

The Sun Devils tied it up with a field goal early in the third quarter. Wisconsin recaptured the lead late in the third on a John Clay 19-yard rush. The Badgers blew right down the field on the drive, going 88 yards in eight plays to give the Badgers the 20-13 lead.

It stayed that way until Arizona State took over after a Wisconsin punt a little past halfway through the final quarter. The Sun Devils had a drive of nine plays, going 77 yards, ending with a Marshall run of two yards to cut it to 20-19. Then, Valai broke through the line on the extra point try and blocked Thomas Weber’s attempt, keeping the Badgers in front.

Wisconsin was able to run out the clock, converting a third down conversion along the way and the Badgers escaped to go to 3-0, setting the tone for a memorable season that ended with a Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl berth.

43. Wisconsin 20, Minnesota 7 (2013)

Minnesota was extremely confident that it would end the nine game losing streak to its neighbors directly to the East. The Gophers were 8-2 and had snuck into the top 25. Wisconsin was also coming in at 8-2, with the only losses coming by seven at Ohio State and a controversial loss at Arizona State. The Bucky defense came to play and did not let Minnesota score an offensive touchdown in the 20-7 win.

After a Minnesota punt, James White carried the ball on Wisconsin’s first play from scrimmage and raced 49 yards down to the Gophers 12 for a first down, which would set up a field goal to put the Badgers on the board first. The score remained that way until the second quarter.

That is when Minnesota scored its points. Joel Stave tried to go over the middle on a third down pass, but it was picked off by Aaron Hill and returned for the score to give the Gophers the 7-3 lead.

The tied turned on Minnesota’s next offensive possession. The Gophers were facing a third down inside the Wisconsin 40, threatening to make it a two score game. Enter Chris Borland. Minnesota’s Philip Nelson was looking for a receiver and stepping up into the pocket, but Brendan Kelly caught him from behind and knocked the ball out. Borland pounced on the ball and returned it into Minnesota territory to the 49.

In two plays, the Badgers waltzed their way down to the Minnesota 10. A pass interference on second and goal put the ball at the 2 and White did the rest, putting the ball in the end zone from a yard out and Bucky took a 10-7 lead.

After Wisconsin forced a three and out and a Minnesota punt from deep in its own territory, the Badgers had the ball to start at the Gophers 43 with less than a minute and a half left before halftime.

The Badgers would travel down to the 2, but would have to settle for a field goal and take a 13-7 lead into the half.

Wisconsin started out the second half with inserting a knife into Minnesota’s hearts, marching 83 yards in 12 plays, using up nearly half the quarter. This time, the score was a Stave pass to Jared Abbrederis from two yards out to give the Badgers some breathing room.

Borland would make a tackle and both force and recover a Gophers fumble on the next drive, but Jack Russell would miss a field goal, so the score remained 20-7 and it would remain that way the rest of the game. Minnesota would twice march into Wisconsin territory, but both times were stopped on downs and the Badgers would come out of Minneapolis with a 13-point win.

Minnesota players were upset and would not let Wisconsin do a tradition and “chop” down the goal posts after winning Paul Bunyan’s axe. That would force the axe to be kept in the locker room until the end of the game the following season in Madison.

Unfortunately, this would be Bucky’s last taste of victory on the year as the Badgers would go on to lose 31-24 the following week against Penn State and then 34-24 in the Capital One Bowl against South Carolina.

44. Wisconsin 16, Penn State 3 (2004)

It was the conference opener for the Badgers and College Gameday was in the building. But Wisconsin’s offense was struggling to do much of anything and all three of its running backs were hurt. Enter the Badgers’ newest folk hero, Matt Bernstein. The fullback had not eaten in 24 hours due to Yom Kippur, so he had oranges and turkey on the sidelines prior to kickoff. Then, he proceeded to feast in the Penn State defense. Bernstein rushed for a career-high 123 yards on 27 carries to help Wisconsin improve to 4-0 on the season.

The game itself was not the most exciting ever. There are only two parts people remember. First, Bernstein coming in and having a career day, including a hurdle of a defender on a 17-yard run in the third quarter. Secondly, people remember Erasmus James, who single handedly knocked two Penn State quarterbacks out of the game in the first quarter. On the second one, Penn State backup quarterback Michael Robinson had to be taken off the field in an ambulance.

After a Penn State fumble was recovered by James inside Nittany Lions territory late in the first quarter, the Badgers traveled 42 yards in eight plays to give the Badgers the 7-0 lead. The short drive was capped off by a John Stocco touchdown run of five yards.

Wisconsin was able to tack on a field goal just past the midway point of the second quarter to put Bucky in front 10-0. Then, Jim Leonhard picked off a pass and returned it deep into Penn State territory to set up another field goal for the 13-0 lead.

At halftime, it was decided that both healthy (at the start of the game) running backs Booker Stanley and Jamil Walker would be unable to give it a go in the second half. Already without starting running back Anthony Davis, the Badgers turned to Bernstein to carry the load.

On the first possession of the second half, Bernstein rushed 11 times on a 17-play drive that resulted in a field goal to put the Badgers in front 16-0. The signature moment of the drive came on a 2nd-and-10 from the Penn State 32. Bernstein took the handoff from Stocco and raced through the hole and hurdled a Nittany Lions defender at the 20 and then being brought down at the 15 for a run of 17 yards.

Penn State was able to drive and get a field goal on their ensuing drive to get on the scoreboard, but the defenses dominated the final quarter and the Badgers ended up with the 16-3 win.

This was the third time out of four games that the stingy defense had not given up a touchdown. With the three points allowed, the Bucky defense had only allowed 19 points through the first four games of the season. The defense continued to dominate, only allowing one offensive touchdown combined in wins against Illinois and at Ohio State in the next two weeks.

45. Wisconsin 23, Nebraska 21 (2015)

Wisconsin was limping in to the second Big Ten game of the season at 3-2, but lost the Big Ten opener the week before at home against Iowa. Nebraska also lost its Big Ten opener in heartbreaking fashion at Illinois. Nebraska was coming in at 2-3 with all three losses coming in the closing seconds, including a loss on a Hail Mary in the opener against BYU. Wisconsin would only add to Nebraska’s misery, as Rafael Gaglianone nailed a 46-yard field goal with four seconds left to knock off the Cornhuskers and stay in contention for a Big Ten Western Division championship.

After a series of punts by both teams, Wisconsin took over late in the first quarter and drove 77 yards in 13 plays to take the lead on a Joel Stave pass to Troy Fumagali from seven yards out. But the rest of the half was all Nebraska. The Cornhuskers scored a touchdown in each of their final two possessions of the first half. The first was on a 14-play drive that was capped off by a Tommy Armstrong 7-yard touchdown run to tie it a 7.

That was followed by perfect throw from Armstrong to Alonzo Moore for 41 yards and Nebraska took the 14-7 lead into the break.

The only scoring in the third quarter would be a Gaglianone 45-yard field goal to cut the Wisconsin deficit to 14-10.

Then the fun began in quarter number four.

Two third down conversions, including a pass interference aided an 11-play drive that was capped by an Alec Ingold 1-yard touchdown run to put the Badgers ahead. After a Nebraska punt, Dare Ogunbowale ran for 32 yards to set up a Wisconsin field goal to put Bucky in front 20-14.

Considering the Cornhuskers offense had been bottled up by the stingy Wisconsin defense, most thought Wisconsin would hold on. Think again.

On the following drive, Armstrong converted a 3rd-and-15 with a run of 16 yards. Soon after that, Nebraska fullback Andy Janovich broke tackles and ran 55 yards to give the Cornhuskers the lead back at 21-20.

Wisconsin started deep in its own territory on the next possession, but quickly moved the ball out of the shadow of its own goal post on a 31-yard connection from Stave to Alex Erickson. The Badgers would drive down to the Nebraska 21 and lined up for a 39-yard field goal with less than a minute and a half left.

Gaglianone hit the upright and the Huskers kept the one point lead. Fortunately for him, he would get a chance at redemption.

After Wisconsin’s defense forced a three and out and using all of its timeouts, Bucky was able to get the ball back with less than 50 seconds left and no timeouts. Three plays netted the Badgers 42 yards. The longest was on a 23-yard pass to tight end Troy Fumagalli, down to the Nebraska 28. The drive would stall and Gaglianone had his chance to redeem himself from 46 yards out.

After making only two of his four field goals to that point in the game, Gaglianone calmly snuck this one inside the right upright to give the Badgers the lead and eventually the win with four seconds remaining.

The win kept the Badgers over .500 at 4-2 and evened their Big Ten record at 1-1. The victory over Nebraska started a run that helped the Badgers only lose one game the rest of the season, and even that loss was due to horrible officiating.

46. Wisconsin 34. Fresno State 31, 2 OT (2009)

Wisconsin needed a last-minute stop to hold on to beat Northern Illinois in the opener. That game also was the first start of Scott Tolzien’s career. All Tolzien’s first pass as the starter did was go for an 80-yard touchdown to Isaac Anderson. Fresno State was coming off a 51-0 victory over UC Davis. Ken O’Brien’s was out of eligibility, so he was unable to suit up for UC Davis in that one. This was only the second double overtime game in Wisconsin history. The first was a 47-44 loss to Northwestern at Camp Randall Stadium in the conference opener in 2000. Chris Maragos made the game’s biggest play with an interception on the opening play of the second overtime to give the Badgers the shot at the win.

After the team’s exchanged punts on their opening drives, Fresno State drove down on the field on a 59-yard drive to score the first points of the game, a Ryan Colburn 13-yard touchdown pass to Chastin West to put the Bulldogs ahead 7-0. West would eventually be signed as an undrafted free agent by the Packers and he had a 97-yard touchdown reception in a win over the Arizona Cardinals in a preseason game in 2011.

The score would stay 7-0 until the second play of the second quarter when Colburn connected with Devon Wylie on a deep pass down the left side to put the Bulldogs ahead 14-0. On the next drive, Wisconsin converted two third downs to put the ball down on the Fresno State 11. Zach Brown did the rest, running it from there to cut the Bulldogs lead in half.

But Fresno State came down and put the lead back at 14 on a Colburn pass to Seyi Ajirotutu from 14 yards out and just like that, it was 21-7. But in a back and forth second quarter, Wisconsin answered with a touchdown on an end around by David Gilreath to cut the lead back down to seven. The score was set up by a Gilreath 38 yard kickoff return to give Wisconsin excellent starting field position and five plays later, the Badgers were in the end zone.

After a Fresno State punt on the next possession, Bucky put together a drive that turned the momentum in the game. The Badgers started at their own 8 with a minute and a half left in the first half. Two runs by John Clay picked up a first down at the 20. After another Clay run on first down picked up three, Paul Chryst had Tolzien air it out and he hit Isaac Anderson for 44 yards with 16 seconds left in the half. After a sack took them back to the 40, Philip Welch connected from 57 yards out to cut the deficit to 21-17 to end a wildly entertaining first half.

In a game that was dominated by the offenses in the first half, of course the third quarter would be scoreless. The game would remain 21-17 until Wisconsin took over on its own 28 after a Kevin Goessling missed 45-yard field goal. On the play following the missed field goal, Clay found a whole on the right side and raced down the sideline 72 yards to give the Badgers a 24-21 lead, their first of the day, with 5:45 remaining.

After the teams traded punts, Fresno State took over on its own 41 with 1:21 remaining. Six plays later, the Bulldogs were down to the Wisconsin 24 with 20 seconds to play. Goessling made the field goal this time to send the game into overtime.

Both teams passed for touchdowns in the first overtime. Wisconsin had their’s on a third down pass from Tolzien to Nick Toon and Fresno State had a touchdown pass from Colburn to Ajirotutu to tie the game at 31.

Then, on Fresno State second possession of overtime, Colburn went deep into the end zone for West, but it was picked off by Maragos, so all the Badgers needed was a field goal to win. Five Clay runs later, the Badgers faced a 4th-and-1 at the Fresno State 5, and on came Welch to try to win the game. His 22-yard field goal split the uprights and the Badgers had a 34-31 win in double overtime.

Wisconsin would start out the season 5-0 and have 10-3 season, capped by a win in the Champs Sports Bowl.

47. Wisconsin 35, Minnesota 32 (2008)

Bucky was in the midst of a rough season, limping into the last two regular season games at 5-5. The season started out strong at 3-0 after a big-time road win at No. 21 Fresno State. But the season then spiraled out of control, starting with blowing a 19-0 second half lead at Michigan in losing 27-25. That was the start of a four game losing streak that dropped the Badgers to 3-4. After a 55-20 victory at Indiana, Wisconsin battled Minnesota for not only Paul Bunyan’s Axe, but a bowl berth as well.

After Minnesota’s Adam Weber fumbled on the second play of the game, the Bucky train drove down to the 2-yard line, where Dustin Sherer found Garrett Graham in the back of the end zone on fourth down to give the Badgers an early 7-0 lead. That was the good news. The bad news was that were the only points of the first half for Wisconsin.

The Badgers would go onto lose three fumbles in the first half, including two well into Minnesota territory. The Gophers scored seven points off those three turnovers and the Gophers took a 21-7 lead into halftime looking for their first win in the series since 2003 and first in Madison since 1994.

That set the stage for a wild second half. P.J. Hill opened the second half with a 38-yard run and Philip Welch kicked a 47-yard field goal in the freezing cold to cut the Badgers deficit to 21-10. After a Minnesota punt, Wisconsin drove 72 yards in 11 plays to cut into the deficit further. The biggest play of the series was a 31-yard completion from Sherer to Minnesota native Isaac Anderson on 3rd-and-7 to give the Badgers a fresh set of downs. Anderson finished with career highs in both receptions (6) and receiving yards (114) in the game. Anderson caught another pass for a first down to set up the Badgers at the 1, and Hill took it in from there to cut it to 21-17.

Minnesota kicked a field goal on its next possession to give the Gophers a 24-17 lead. This is where the craziness starts. After a sack by Minnesota’s Willie VanDeSteeg forced the Badgers to a 2nd-and-19, Sherer found Nick Toon for a gain of 17 and then Minnesota was flagged for a personal foul on Tramaine Brock, giving the Badgers a first down on the Gophers 40. On the next play, Sherer found Anderson deep over the middle down to the Gophers 1 for a gain of 39. Initially ruled a touchdown, Anderson’s knee was clearly down in the field of play, so it was first and goal from inside the 1. Hill took it in and the Badgers tied the game a 24.

On Welch’s kickoff, he kicked it to the left, where it was received by Minnesota return man Troy Stoudermire. He quickly realized he had no blockers for him, so he tried to do too much and tried running to the left to elude the coverage men for Wisconsin, but the ball was knocked out of his hands and the ball went through the back of the end zone for the safety and Wisconsin’s first lead since the first minutes of the game.

After a Wisconsin punt, Minnesota took over inside its own 10. On the three play drive, Mike Newkirk sacked Weber twice, include in the end zone of third down to put the Badgers in front 28-24.

The turnover parade continued on the Gophers next possession as after Wisconsin punted, Minnesota’s Shady Salamon fumbled on the second play and the Badgers recovered. Two John Clay runs later and the Badgers were up 35-24.

Salamon redeemed himself as he made a diving catch in the corner of the end zone to cap off a 60-yard drive to cut into the Wisconsin lead. Salamon also ran in the two-point conversion and it was 35-32.

Wisconsin did nothing on its next possession, so the Gophers had a shot to tie or to win it, but Weber threw an interception to Niles Brinkley on their final drive and Wisconsin escaped with the 35-32 win.

This would be the last bit of happiness in the 2008 season as Wisconsin would go onto barely squeak by Cal Poly the following week before being blasted by Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl.

48. Wisconsin 48, Akron 31 (2003)

After a road win at West Virginia to start the season, Wisconsin returned home for its home opener against Charlie Frye and the Akron Zips. Akron was coming off a 41-38 home loss to Kent State, a team that would end up with a losing record. Most people were expect a Wisconsin blowout victory, and it seemed like it was headed in that direction before a big Akron run to cut it to one score before Wisconsin scored two touchdowns late to win by 17.

It was not quite the start Badgers fans were hoping for as Wisconsin fumbled the opening kickoff and the Zips took over at the Wisconsin 30. Akron would get a field goal on the drive to put the Zips on the board first. It was all Bucky the remainder of the half, though.

Wisconsin zoomed down the field on its first actual possession and Anthony Davis scored from 10 yards away to put the Badgers in front 7-3. He also scored the second touchdown as well on the next possession from 20 yards away in a 17-point run to put the Badgers ahead 17-3 at the end of the first quarter. Davis would go on to carry the ball 29 times for 252 yards and three touchdowns.

Akron scored early in the second to cut it to one score, but the Badgers responded with two more touchdowns to end the half to put Wisconsin out to a comfortable 31-10 halftime lead. Game over? Guess again.

Charlie Frye heated up in a big way. He led the Zips on three touchdown drives in their first four possessions in the second half to cut a three touchdown lead down to a single field goal and had the Zips on the move prepared to have Akron take the lead for the first time since the opening minutes.

With Akron on the move, down 34-31, it faced a 3rd-and-goal from the 17 after a sack. Frye passed to tight end Mike Brake down to the 1. Instead of trying for the game-tying field goal, Akron Head Coach Lee Owens decided to go for the lead instead of the short field goal to tie the game.

In one of the biggest plays of the game, Wisconsin’s defense rose to the occasion and stuffed Bobby Hendry at the line of scrimmage, giving the ball back to the Badgers at their own 1.

The play was 56 Jerk, a play that would be would be made more famous a month later in a game against Ohio State, but the play worked just as well in this game as well. With the offense having its back to its own end zone, offensive coordinator Brian White called for 56 Jerk.

On the play, Evans burned the Akron cornerback and Jim Sorgi hit him in stride and Evans did the rest, scoring from 99 yards out to put their names in the record book for longest play in school history. More importantly, though, it gave the Badgers some breathing room once again, pushing the lead to 41-31. Evans finished with 214 yards on nine catches and a pair of touchdowns. The play also put to bed any doubt about whether Evans was fully healthy after suffering an ACL injury a year earlier and missing the entire 2002 season.

Jim Leonhard picked off a Frye pass inside the Badgers 5 on the following possession and the offense proceeded to put the game away. It took the Badgers just four plays to march 96 yards, ending with a Dwayne Smith 34-yard touchdown gallop.

The win would be short-lived, however, as the Badgers were embarrassed 23-5 at home against UNLV the following week before starting a four game winning streak.