8. Wisconsin 24, Auburn 10 (2006)

After 16 seasons as the coach of the Wisconsin Badgers, this would be Barry Alvarez’s last as the permanent head coach. He was stepping down to focus all of his attention on being the Athletic Director for Wisconsin. After Pat Richter stepped down in 2004, Alvarez took over. He was both the football coach and AD at Wisconsin for two seasons, but he knew he could not do the dual role for a long period of time and announced he would step down as the football coach at the conclusion of the 2005 season and defensive coordinator Bret Bielema would be the new coach. The Badgers were not expected to be a power in the Big Ten in 2005, especially after losing all four of their fearsome defensive line, as well as starting cornerback Scott Starks. The Badgers also lost the second leading rusher (at the time) in school history in Anthony Davis. John Stocco was subpar in his first season as a starter, so they needed a big improvement from him in his second season as the starter. Wisconsin’s defense struggled early on, giving up 42 points in a week one win over Bowling Green. The Badgers would give up at least 34 points four times on the season, and lost three of them. People knew new running back Brian Calhoun was good, but the transfer from Colorado was a Godsend for the Badgers. He not only rushed for more than 1,600 yards, but he was also a very reliable receiver out of the backfield for Stocco. Calhoun and Stocco helped the Badgers send Alvarez out on top, with a dominating performance over heavily favored Auburn in the Capital One Bowl.

The Tigers were a 10.5-point favorites and were on a roll, having won their last four, including back-to-back wins over top 10 teams to close out the regular season. Auburn had nice starting field position to open the game, as Devin Aromashodu returned the kickoff to the Auburn 41. However, on the second play from scrimmage in the game, Brandon Cox had his pass intercepted by Levonne Rowan at the Wisconsin 13. Stocco would find Brandon Williams for a 27-yard gain on the first Badgers offensive play, but could not move any further, so Wisconsin punted.

The Tigers would have their second turnover in as many drives, as Kenny Irons would lose a fumble, which was recovered by Nick Hayden. However, Wisconsin would waste a golden opportunity to score, as Taylor Mehlhaff missed a 53-yard field goal and it remained scoreless with less than 10 minutes to go in the first quarter.

Bucky would force a three-and-out and would finally get something going offensively. Three plays would do all the damage on the first scoring drive of the Capital One Bowl. Starting at its own 25, Stocco would find Williams for 18 yards and that was followed by Calhoun finding the edge and running along the left sideline for 27 yards to move to the Auburn 30. Two plays later, Stocco found Williams on a wide receiver middle screen and he caught it and received great blocking before juking an Auburn defender at the 22 before running the rest of the way and diving into the end zone for the first points of the day.

After forcing another Tigers punt, the Wisconsin offense went back to work. On the first play of the drive, Calhoun would break off another long one. He would find the edge on the right side and stiff arm an Auburn defender and race down the field 60 yards down to the Auburn 13. That would set up a Mehlhaff field goal, which made it 10-0 in favor of the slow, plodding Big Ten school. That would be the score at the end of the first quarter.

Wisconsin would force another punt and the Badgers would get the ball. Starting at the 20. Auburn would pick up a pair of first downs, but a sack by Joe Monty and a delay of game penalty derailed the Tigers possession. The Badgers would start their drive on their own 13. Wisconsin would use a 12-play drive to take a 17-0 lead in the second quarter. The drive started out well with a Stocco pass to Owen Daniels for 18 yards, but that was one of only three plays that went for at least 10 yards on the drive. Daniels had two of three, with the other one being the 12-yard touchdown reception on 3rd-and-10 to give Wisconsin the surprising 17-point lead. It would stay that way until halftime. The Badgers had shut down Auburn’s offense, which was No. 1 in the SEC. The Tigers also had not been shutout in any first half the entire year before being shutout by Wisconsin.

You knew Auburn would not stay silent for long, and the Tigers made a play early in the second half. On a 3rd-and-7 from the Wisconsin 23 on its first possession of the second half, Stocco was sacked by Stanley McClover and fumbled and T.J. Jackson pounced on the loose football for Auburn. The Tigers would move down to the Wisconsin 2, but would have to settle for a John Vaughn 19-yard field goal to cut it to 17-3. The Badgers still had a 14-point lead, but you could sense Auburn was gaining momentum.

The Tigers would gain even more momentum as Mehlhaff missed his second field goal of the day on the next Wisconsin drive and it remained 17-3. Then, Auburn would make it a one score game early in the fourth. On a 4th-and-Goal from the 9, Cox would find Courtney Taylor in the end zone for the score to cut it to 17-10.

Bucky then went on a drive to seal the game. It started with Auburn’s Matt Clark kicking the ball out of bounds, which gave Wisconsin nice starting field position at the 35. A 19-yard pass started the drive from Stocco to Williams to move into Auburn territory. The Badgers would move down to the 33 after a third down conversion on a run by Calhoun. Then, the Colorado transfer gave Bucky a two score lead once again. On the play, Calhoun received a toss from Stocco and he received great blocking. He cut back to the middle at the 15-yard line to elude a would-be tackler and he dove into the end zone for the 33-yard touchdown to give the Badgers the 24-10 lead, which would end up being the final.

Auburn moved the ball into Wisconsin territory, but two penalties and a Mike Newkirk sack moved the ball back to Tigers territory and had to punt on 4th-and-29. The punt by Kody Bliss was a great one and downed at the 1.

That would be where the Badgers would start on the longest non-scoring drive in Wisconsin Badgers history. After two plays gained a total of three yards, Bucky was forced with a 3rd-and-7 from his own 4. That would be when Stocco made his best play of the game. The Wisconsin quarterback dropped back to pass and the pressure was heavy. Just as he was about to get drilled in the end zone, Stocco found Williams over the middle, who caught it at the 17 and broke away from the Auburn defensive back and ran up to the Wisconsin 40 for a 37-yard catch and run. The play not only flipped the field in case the Badgers would have to punt, but it also took more valuable time off the clock. In addition to the 37-yard reception, Williams also rushed for 17 yards on the drive. The possession would start on their own 1 and end on the Auburn 1 for a 98-yard drive.

In a season with very little expectations, the 2005 Wisconsin Badgers gave Alvarez a season he’ll never forget, culminating with a huge upset in the Capital One Bowl, a bowl very few people thought the Badgers had a chance in. It was a great send-off for the best coach in Wisconsin history. The game could not have gone any better.