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.