Not many people gave Wisconsin a chance. The Badgers were 7-5 coming into the game, and were down to their third string quarterback. Wisconsin also had lost three of four to end the regular season, while No. 12 Nebraska had won six in a row and were 10-2 coming into the game.
Wisconsin would send a strong message right from the start. Montee Ball ran for 10 total yards on the game’s first two plays, followed by a 9-yard completion from Phillips to Jacob Pedersen. Three positive plays moved it up to the 44, but a freshman running back named Melvin Gordon would make his name known with his performance in the game and it started with a 56-yard touchdown run on the jet sweep. That play would be run a number of times with Gordon in the game to tremendous effectiveness. On the touchdown, Gordon eluded a man in the backfield and had all sorts of green in front of him. He was not touched again until he reached the 35 and he broke that tackle attempt too and galloped for the opening score less than two minutes into the game.
The great start continued for Bucky on Nebraska’s opening possession, as Taylor Martinez was picked off on his very first snap and it was returned for a touchdown by Marcus Cromartie and the Badgers had jumped out to a 14-0 lead just barely more than two minutes into the game. On the play, Martinez’s pass was off target and wide receiver Kenny Bell tried diving for it, but missed it and the ball went to Cromartie, who caught it and returned it for the score untouched.
The bad news for Nebraska was that it had had the ball for only one offensive play and was already behind 14-0. The good news was that the Cornhuskers had all the time in the world to catch up. On the next possession, Nebraska would get right back into the game. However, the first two plays would lose one yard, so the Huskers were faced with a 3rd-and-11. On the third down play, Wisconsin had a free rusher, but Martinez was able to escape. He went to his left and escaped another sack attempt and eluded another at the 20 and found nothing but open space in front of him. He ran down the middle of the field and only one Badgers defender had another shot at him, but he was blocked at the end of the play. The electrifying 76-yard touchdown cut the deficit to 14-7 and turned the momentum to the Nebraska sideline.
After a three-and-out was forced by the Nebraska defense, the Cornhuskers drove deep into Wisconsin territory and was able to tack on a field goal by Maher to cut the deficit to 14-10. Martinez’s 18-yard run and Rex Burkhead’s 19-yard run help set up the field goal. Wisconsin linebacker Mike Taylor helped the Badgers defense force a field goal when he sacked Martinez on first down after the Huskers had reached the red zone. Most fans thought that Nebraska had weathered the early flurry by Wisconsin and would then proceed to dominate the game. Well, those people were wrong. Really wrong.
Bucky used the running game to bring the lead back to two scores. The only pass was a 10-yard throw from Phillips to Derek Watt out of a real weird formation where all the offensive linemen were on the left side and Phillips received the snap from tight end Sam Arneson and rolled out and found Watt. The drive started with back-to-back runs of more than 20 yards by Ball and Gordon. The Gordon run of 24 yards was on the jet sweep once again. James White would run on out the ‘Barge’ formation for the score from nine yards out to give the Badgers a 21-10 lead. On the touchdown, White cut it to the outside and found space, racing to end zone virtually untouched. That would start out a run of 35 consecutive points for the Badgers. It would stay 21-10 after the first quarter.
Wisconsin used the entire playbook in the Big Ten Championship, as evidenced by a few plays in this game. The first one was the Watt play. And then, just like the previous season against Michigan State, the Badgers ran a play where the quarterback catches the ball. After having just thrown a pass to White for 22 yards down to the 28 for a first down, Bucky decided to utilize Jared Abbrederis’ arm. Abbrederis, a high school quarterback, ran in motion and received the handoff from Phillips. Abbrederis then set up to throw and found the quarterback wide open down field. Phillips caught it and was brought down at the 1. It set up White’s second touchdown of the game and the Badgers had a 28-10 lead early in the second quarter.
The Badgers were rocking once again, as Ball would score on the next drive to give the Badgers a commanding 35-10 lead. On the drive, Phillips completed a pass to Abbrederis for 13 yards for a first down, and a personal foul was tacked on. That would help set up the touchdown by Ball. Out of the ‘Barge’ formation once again, Ball came in motion and White took the snap and handed it to Ball and he ran along the left sideline and dove into the end zone for the score from 16 yards out.
Amazingly, Wisconsin still was not done in the first half, even if it was trying to just run out the clock to get to halftime. After a Nebraska punt, the Badgers had the ball at the 21 with less than a minute left. After two runs by White gained 16 yards putting Bucky at the 37, Wisconsin called a timeout with 20 seconds left before the end of the half. Then, the Badgers ran that play again. The most dangerous play in the game was the jet sweep to Gordon, and it killed Nebraska once again on this play. Gordon ran it and found daylight in front of him, racing down the sideline to the 20, where he broke two Nebraska tackle attempts and was able to fight his way all the way to the Nebraska 3 with six seconds left. There was time for one final play, so offensive coordinator Matt Canada reached deep into his playbook once more. When running a play ouf of the ‘Barge,’ every play had been a run. Never once had they passed it out of this formation......until now. White received the snap from the shotgun and the Nebraska defenders came up to tackle White since the Badgers had never passed out of the ‘Barge’ before. Arneson snuck in behind the Nebraska defenders and was wide open in the end zone. White threw it to Arneson for the score and the Badgers were running an offensive clinic in the first half. Wisconsin took the 42-10 lead into halftime.
As if it could not get any worse for Nebraska, the first possession ended like its first possession of the game. On the third play of the drive, Martinez was being pressured and it forced a bad throw, which was picked off by Wisconsin’s Devin Smith and returned to the Nebraska 9. Ball ran the first play after the interception into the end zone for the Wisconsin score and a 49-10 lead.
Nebraska finally was able to score again. This one was on a run by Martinez from 11 yards and the Cornhuskers broke the long scoring run by the Badgers of 35 points. However, they could not get any closer because they could not stop Wisconsin’s running game. The Badgers ran for 539 yards on the game, and Ball would score his third of the day on this drive. Wisconsin did not waste any time responding to the Nebraska drive. After two runs for 18 yards to start the drive, Ball broke the next one for 57 yards and the score. Ball received the handoff a spun off a tackler at midfield and ran down the field and gave a wicked stiff arm to Nebraska’s Ciante Evans at the 20 to break him free for the score.
After a Nebraska punt, Wisconsin tacked on another long touchdown run. On the fourth play after the punt, Phillips gave the ball to White, who ran through a huge hole and ran virtually untouched down the middle of the field for a 68-yard touchdown. That was White’s third touchdown of his four on the night.
Wisconsin punted for its first time since the first quarter on its next possession, but after a Nebraska touchdown, the Badgers tacked on one more score in this laugher. On a 3rd-and-6, Gordon received another jet sweep and rushed it 46 yards down to the Cornhuskers 10. He nearly scored, but barely stepped out of bounds. Gordon had nine carries for 216 yards and a touchdown on the night. He would make his presence known in the coming years, especially against the Huskers. White would score his fourth and final touchdown on the next play and the Badgers opened up a 70-24 lead.
Nebraska would score once more, but this one was never a contest after the first quarter. The Badgers would go onto their third consecutive Rose Bowl, but would fall to Stanford 20-14 in a game that was closer than many expected.
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