Honorable mention:
Twins/Yankees, ALDS game two, 2009
Wisconsin/Michigan State, football, 2011
Wisconsin/Ohio State, football, 2011
Packers/Seahawks, football, 2012
Green Bay/Valparaiso, Horizon League Tournament, 2013
Wisconsin/Arizona State, football, 2013
Green Bay/Valparaiso, Horizon League Tournament, 2015
Northwestern/Wisconsin, football, 2015
Packers/Cardinals, football, NFC playoffs, 2016
Wisconsin/Notre Dame, NCAA Tournament, 2016
Wisconsin/Penn State, Big Ten Championship, 2016
10. Packers at Cardinals, NFC playoffs, 2010
If the Packers had not made a major comeback, this would not have made this list. But it turned out be one of the more wild shootouts of all-time. On a good note, this did turn out to be the coming out party of Aaron Rodgers. He was looked at as a good quarterback before this, but this was when he reached star status and became one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I admit, I did not see the Packers coming back from a 31-10 third quarter deficit. But Aaron kept coming back. I thought Green Bay was going to win the game after Neil Rackers shanked a short 34-yard field goal at the end of regulation that would have won it for the Cardinals, and even moreso when the Packers won the coin toss to begin the overtime period. Back then, it was still sudden death overtime, so the first score won the game, regardless if it was a field goal or a touchdown. There was no doubt in my mind the Packers were going to win after winning the coin toss, especially since the Arizona defense had not stopped the Green Bay offense from scoring any points on a drive since early in the second quarter. The Packers offense had scored on seven consecutive drives. To begin overtime, Aaron Rodgers goes back to pass and fires it over the middle to a wide open Greg Jennings. As soon as he threw it and I saw Jennings so wide open, I thought “Ball game.” We are so used to seeing him so perfect that we are stunned when he makes a mistake. He airmailed the pass to Jennings, so instead of a game-winning touchdown, it was second down at their own 20. And, I am sure everybody remembers, Rodgers gets hit on third down, and fumbles and Karlos Dansby picks it out of the air and goes in for the winning score. If I thought the Packers would have had a chance to make the Super Bowl, or even win it, this would have been higher. This was a massive kick to the crotch, but I did not think the Packers had much of a chance to win in New Orleans the following week.
9. Wisconsin vs. Florida, Sweet 16, 2017
This is a lot like the Packers/Cardinals playoff game, except for I had a feeling that this Wisconsin team could make a run and maybe even play for a National Championship. The Selection Committee should have been drug tested when they decided to give the Badgers a No. 8 seed, but whatever. Wisconsin went out and won a tough game against Virginia Tech and then took out overall No. 1 seed and defending National Champ Villanova. On the other half of the region, the No. 2 seed (and one of the tournament favorites) Duke lost in a stunning upset. I did not think Gonzaga or Arizona were unbeatable on the other half of the bracket, so I legitimately thought the Badgers could make another championship appearance. I knew Florida was good, but I thought Wisconsin could beat them, and they proved they could. The Badgers built an early double digit lead, but that quickly evaporated and the Gators held a 12-point lead with less than five minutes remaining. But Wisconsin fought back, like you knew it would, and ended regulation on a 16-4 run. Down three with six seconds remaining, the Badgers could not free a gimpy Bronson Koenig for a shot to tie, so Zak Showalter took it and made a running 3-pointer to send it into overtime. As if that wasn’t cool enough, Showy pointed at Aaron Rodgers in the arena and did his belt celebration. I thought the Badgers were going to win, if they could just get the ball to Showalter to knock down some freebies. Bucky was up five with a minute to go, before everything unraveled. After a Florida basket, it was hard to draw up a play for Ethan Happ, who had killed Florida all game long, because he was a terrible foul shooter. Well, they did anyway, and he split a pair of foul shots. The Gators would tie the game on four consecutive free throws, but Nigel Hayes would go to the line with four seconds left. He was not a good foul shooter, but he made the first. Well, do you make or miss the second? Since Hayes was not a good foul shooter, I would not want to mess with his head. If he tries to miss and Hayes completely misses the rim, that does nothing. I was fine with him trying to make the free throw. He did, and it went in, and Wisconsin went ahead by two. But then, a poor 3-point shooter, Chris Chiozza races down the court and hits a desperation 3 to win the game. It was tough because D’Mitrik Trice ran into Nigel, who was trying to defend Chiozza, knocking him off his path and allowing the Florida speedster to get off a clean desperation shot. To come all the way back only to lose in that fashion is tough, especially when I thought the Badgers could have made another deep run. I’ll just chalk it up to a lucky shot by a 32 percent 3-point shooter.
8. Packers at Eagles, NFC playoffs, 2004
This is another where I thought my team was going to make a deep run. Brett Favre was on fire, Ahman Green was unstoppable and all the bounces were going Green Bay’s way. Following the death of Favre’s father, the Packers received their fair share of good fortune. Not only did the team lay waste to Oakland and Denver in the final two games of the regular season, but the Arizona Cardinals stunned the Minnesota Vikings on the final play of the game to give the Packers the NFC North championship and a playoff berth. Good ol’ Irv Favre was doing his best to help his son win his Super Bowl. After winning the previous week on an Al Harris pick-six in overtime, it looked like Green Bay would make its first championship game appearance since 1998, as Favre threw two first quarter touchdowns to help the Packers to a 14-0 lead. Green Bay would lead 17-14 late in the game. They had the ball 4th-and-1 at the Philadelphia 41 with two and a half minutes remaining. The Eagles had one timeout remaining and the two-minute warning. Green Bay had a similar situation in the regular season meeting. In that game, Green Bay was down 10-7 with seven minutes to play and had a 4th-and-1 at the Eagles 45. They gave the ball to Green and he went untouched for a 45-yard touchdown. The Packers had one of the best quarterbacks of all-time, one of the best running backs in the league, arguably the game’s best offensive line and they were facing one of the league’s worst run defenses. A first down would basically seal the deal. At best, Philadelphia would have to travel a long ways with no timeouts and about a half minute on the clock. I will never forgive Mike Sherman for this, as he decided to take a delay of game and punt. To make matters worse, Josh Bidwell boots it into the end zone, so they only gained 21 yards of field position. Not much of a difference. Of course, the Packers could have ended the game had they stopped Freddie freaking Mitchell from catching a 28-yard pass on 4th-and-26. I honestly don’t remember one play he made in the NFL outside of that one. The Eagles would drive into field goal range and David Akers sent the game into the extra session. I thought Green Bay would win, as it started out with solid field position on its opening drive of overtime at its own 32. Welp, that went away quickly, as Favre and Javon Walker weren’t on the same page and No. 4 threw a lame duck to Brian Dawkins, who returned it into Packers territory, and that was that. Akers kicked the winner, and the Packers weren’t as close to another championship until the 2007 season. That was an absolute Chuck Norris kick to the face. I thought the Packers were going to go to, and perhaps win, the Super Bowl. This one stung.
7. Wisconsin vs. Ohio State, Big Ten Championship, 2017
The Wisconsin Badgers came into the year with high expectations, as they would be favored in every game of the 2017 season. However, every season, the Badgers tended to stumble once or twice against teams they should have beaten. In 2017, it was different, though. Wisconsin steamrolled through its schedule to reach 12-0, its first undefeated season since 1912. They were so dominant, in fact, that Bucky only won one game by a single possession. But the schedule was not the most difficult in the country, to say the least. None of their regular season opponents finished the regular season with double digit wins, and Florida Atlantic, Miami and Northwestern were the only teams Wisconsin beat that would finish with at least 10 wins. Enter Wisconsin’s nemesis, Ohio State. The last time the Badgers faced the Buckeyes in Indianapolis, Bucky was blown out 59-0. Going into the matchup, Wisconsin had lost its last five games to Ohio State since winning in 2010. However, with the exception of that 2014 Big Ten Championship, all the other games were decided by one score. With Bucky coming in at 12-0, a win would put the Badgers into the College Football Playoff for the first time in the Playoff’s brief history. The Buckeyes used four big plays to take a 24-13 lead at the end of the third quarter. Wisconsin forced three Ohio State turnovers, which kept Bucky in the game. The Badgers would cut it to three early in the fourth on a Chris James touchdown run and Troy Fumagalli two-point conversion. Ohio State would get a short field goal to take a 27-21 lead with 5:20 left. A pair of punts followed, and Wisconsin would get one last chance, starting at its own 29 with less than three to play. The Badgers would move to the Ohio State 43 before a penalty moved them back into their own territory. On the play with the penalty, Alex Hornibrook threw a pass downfield to freshman wide receiver Danny Davis, who was tackled on the play by Ohio State’s Kendall Sheffield before the ball arrived. But Ohio State always gets the benefit of the doubt on pass interference calls, just ask Miami. Instead of a 1st-and-10 do-over, it was 1st-and-20 and Wisconsin’s offense was not built to overcome that. Three plays netted them zero yards and a fourth down desperation toss was picked and it was game over. Wisconsin rebounded with a win in the Orange Bowl against Miami 34-24.
6. Packers vs. Giants, NFC playoffs, 2008
Green Bay fell behind 14-0 in the NFC Divisional round against Seattle before rebounding for a dominating 42-20 victory at Lambeau Field. I was expecting the Packers to play in Texas for another playoff game between Dallas and Green Bay. But Dallas fell to New York 21-17......which meant the Packers would host the NFC Championship at Lambeau Field. I was pumped. When the teams met early in the season, Green Bay crushed New York 35-13 at Giants Stadium. At that time, Green Bay had no running game, but would find a savior at running back during the season in third-year pro Ryan Grant. After spending the first two years on the Giants practice squad, Grant was traded to Green Bay before the first week of the season. Despite only starting seven games, he nearly rushed for 1,000 yards. Well, I now knew the Packers were going to go to the Super Bowl to meet the undefeated New England Patriots. The defense was playing well. Grant was running well, and was coming off a Packers-record 201-yard performance against Seattle. Brett Favre was Brett Favre. There was no way New York would come into Lambeau and win. Then, the game came and the high-powered Packers offense could do nothing in the first half, except for a Favre 90-yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver. But Green Bay could not stop Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, as the duo rushed for a combined 130 yards, and Plaxico Burress dominated his matchup with Charles Woodson, catching 11 passes for 151 yards. New York outgained Green Bay in the game 377-236.....but still were tied after regulation. The Packers would get the ball to start as well. Mason Crosby had a great year. Just get him into field goal range and the game is over. But then for as amazing as Favre was for many years for the Packers, he made some just terrible decisions. This was one of them. He had a few other open receivers to pick up a first, but he tried to throw into tight coverage to Driver, and was picked off by Corey Webster. A few plays after that, Lawrence Tynes, who had missed his last two attempts in the game, nailed a 47-yard attempt to win the game. It hurt even more after seeing the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl to end their perfect season pursuit. Ugh...
5. Green Bay vs. Milwaukee, Horizon League Tournament, 2014
The top five can basically go in any order. This is by far the biggest nut punch against my alma mater. The Phoenix rolled through the regular season, going 24-5, including a win over Virginia, which would end up winning the ACC regular season and tournament title. They also lost in the closing seconds against a Wisconsin team that would go to the Final Four. This was the first conference championship since 1996 for the Phoenix. Its only two losses in conference play were at Valpariso when All-Horizon League first team big man Alec Brown did not play, and at home against Milwaukee when Jordan Aaron went off and scored 30. Fast forward to the conference tournament. Because Green Bay won the conference, the Phoenix won the prize of hosting the Horizon League Tournament. And Green Bay gets to play in its first game......none other than its rivals from two hours South, the team that had just won in the Resch Center exactly one month prior. Admittedly, I had to work that night, so I had to follow it on my phone. Had Green Bay won, I would have watched the replay when I got home.....but since it lost, I have not ever watched the replay and will never watch it. Early in the game, Brown re-aggravated his injury he had suffered a month and a half before that forced him to miss the Valpo game. A few minutes later, Horizon League Player of the Year Keifer Sykes injured his ankle, so the best two players on the team and two of the best in the conference were playing at far less than 50 percent. With its two best players playing hurt, Milwaukee jumped out to a 26-13 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half. The Phoenix battled back to cut it to 28-19 at the half, and the team tied the game with 11 and a half minutes left. Still, Green Bay could not wrestle the lead away until five minutes to play. With a minute to play, the Phoenix was ahead 62-58, and it looked like the top seed would survive. But Aaron would score the final four points and a Greg Mays shot was blocked with time running out and the game went into overtime, where the Panthers dominated the extra session and won 73-66. That was one of the toughest losses as a fan. This was arguably the best team to ever play at my alma mater, but didn’t have a chance to play in the tournament. It just sucks. I still believe that Green Bay should have made the NCAA Tournament, even despite the loss. Every year, I write a blog post about wanting top mid-major teams that may have gotten tripped up in their conference tournament over mediocre major conference teams. Green Bay had an incredible team that year, and it hurts every time I think about this game. However, the pain of this game lessened a bit two years later, as the team would make its first NCAA Tournament since 1996. But still, I really wish I could have seen what the 2013-14 team could have done in the ‘Big Dance.’
4. Wisconsin vs. TCU, 2011 Rose Bowl
Going into the year, No. 12 Wisconsin was a sleeper team to maybe make the National Championship. After cruising through the non-conference portion of the schedule, with only one game being won by fewer than 13 points. the Badgers fell to the Michigan State Spartans in the Big Ten opener in East Lansing. But then Wisconsin dominated the rest of the year. The season changed with a triumphant 31-18 victory over No. 1 Ohio State and then a big win in Iowa City by a point. In the final four games of the regular season, the Badgers won all four by an average of nearly 38 points per game, including a monster 83-20 blowout over Indiana. In those four games, Wisconsin also scored at least 70 twice and averaged nearly 59 per game. The offense was incredible. The rushing attack was so deadly that three running backs nearly had 1,000 yards rushing (Montee Ball finished with 996). There ended up being a three-way tie for the conference championship with Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State sharing the crown, but the Badgers got the Rose Bowl nod since they were the top-ranked team in the BCS standings. Wisconsin’s prize for earning the Rose Bowl berth was undefeated No. 3 TCU, which made the Rose Bowl because Boise State’s Kyle Brotzman missed a pair of chip shot field goals and the Broncos fell to Nevada. It was a battle between the power of Wisconsin against the smaller conference school. On the first play from scrimmage, I thought “Wisconsin’s got this” as Ball rushed for 40 yards down to the Horned Frogs 28. But the drive would stall in the red zone and Wisconsin had a 3-0 advantage. But the next three drives would all end up in the end zone, with two being by TCU and current Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. It would be 14-10 at the end of the first and 14-13 at the half. TCU would lead 21-13 with less than eight minutes left in the game. Then, Wisconsin’s offensive line would take over. The Badgers went on a 10-play drive with nine of them being runs. Wisconsin would score on a 4-yard run from Ball to cut it to 21-19 with a little less than two minutes remaining. But Scott Tolzien’s pass to Lance Kendricks was batted down by Tank Carder on the two-point attempt to keep it at 21-19. The onside kick was recovered by the Horned Frogs, which basically wrapped it up. Wisconsin would play in the next two Rose Bowls as well, but this one hurts the most easily. Oregon was just a bad matchup and Stanford was just a better team. Against TCU, by the time the Badgers realized they could run right at them, it was too late. It was frustrating. Wisconsin was a better team. No excuse for losing that one.
3. Wisconsin vs. Duke, NCAA Championship, 2015
This arguably could be higher, obviously. Duke was a really good team with Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones Justise Winslow and a freshman named Grayson Allen. But, man, this was Wisconsin’s year. To be honest, I enjoyed the previous year more than the 2014-15 team due to this team just motoring through Big Ten with ease. The only hiccups in conference play were a January loss to Rutgers without Frank Kaminsky and a late loss to a really good Maryland team. Most of the games weren’t even close. In the 16 conference wins, the Badgers won by an average of more than 14 points per game and won 12 of the games by double digits. A Big Ten Tournament championship earned them a No. 1 seed for the first time in school history. Wisconsin would survive tests from Oregon and North Carolina before knocking off Arizona once again to reach the Final Four, where it would face Kentucky, the team that knocked off the Badgers in the same round last year. Wisconsin would spoil the Wildcats undefeated season, and would face Duke in the championship game. The game was tight throughout the game and would be tied at the end of the first half. At halftime, Mike Kryzewski complained about the foul disparity to sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson during the halftime interview. And lo and behind, the officials must have heard that interview, and Duke was given the benefit of the calls. Despite the fact that Wisconsin led the country in not fouling, Pat Driscoll decided to put Duke into the bonus less than nine minutes into the second half. Whether it was Jones jumping into Bronson Koenig to try to draw “fouls” or Winslow touching the ball before going out of bounds or a Duke player having his foot clearly out of bounds, the officiating was horrible in Duke’s favor. It was a painful way to end one of the most fun teams I have ever seen.
2. Packers at Seahawks, NFC Championship, 2015
I still have no idea how the Packers lost this one. Everything that Seattle needed to happen in the final five minutes, happened. Green Bay dominated this game, picking off Russell Wilson five times, and moved the ball well against the Legion of Boom. The first drive came to an end on a Richard Sherman pick in the end zone (psssst Michael Bennett was offsides), but would pick off Wilson on the next drive. That Ha Ha Clinton-Dix interception led to a Packers touchdown, putting them up 7-0. Green Bay would lead 16-0 at halftime, and 19-7 with five minutes to play. Lucky break for Seattle No. 1: Morgan Burnett sliding down after an interception. With a little more than five minutes left, Wilson threw over the middle and was picked off by Burnett, and instead of trying to gain yardage and put in the dagger, he slides down near midfield. Looking at the full frame, Burnett had a lot of room to run. He may have been able to score, but even if he wouldn’t score, he would have put the ball in Mason Crosby’s range to make it 22-7. But, he slides, and the Packers go 3-and-out, punting it back to Seattle. The Seahawks would drive down and score with two left, being helped by a big 26-yard reception by Marshawn Lynch down to the 9-yard line. Lucky break for Seattle No. 2: Brandon Bostick muffing the onside kick. After Seattle’s touchdown to cut it to 19-14, Seattle had to do an onside kick. The play was for everyone on the front line of the onside kick recovery unit to block and let the sure-handed Jordy Nelson recover it. Well, Bostick wanted to play the role of hero, but instead played the role of goat, and I don’t mean the Greatest of All-Time. The kick bounced off Bostick and Seattle recovered, and the Seahawks stormed down the field to take the lead 20-19 on a Lynch 24-yard touchdown with 1:25 left. Lucky break for Seattle No. 3: Ha Ha Clinton-Dix failing to knock down the two-point conversion. If the Packers could just stop the two-point try, they could go down and kick a field goal to win. But instead, Clinton-Dix joined Bostick and Burnett as goats of this game. Despite recording a pair of interceptions in the game, he’ll always be remembered for this. On the conversion attempt, Wilson was under pressure immediately by Julius Peppers and ran backward to the 17-yard line before heaving up a prayer into the end zone. A few Packers were down there, including Clinton-Dix. This was the same end zone where the infamous ‘Fail Mary’ took place. Well, the Packers rookie decides not to make a play on the ball, and the ball floated down to Luke Willson for the two-point conversion for Seattle to make it 22-19. Green Bay had a chance to win the game after Crosby knocked through a 48-yard field goal to send the game into overtime. However, Wilson threw a perfect pass to Jermaine Kearse for a game-winning 35-yard touchdown. I was reading on a message board one fan who thought that was the worst loss in NFL history. Well, he must have thought that for two weeks before Seattle threw the ball at the 1 and Wilson was intercepted by Malcolm Butler, costing them their second Super Bowl championship.
1. Wisconsin vs. Kentucky, Final Four, 2014
This was an incredibly fun season to watch. It was Bo Ryan’s first Final Four appearance. Kentucky came to Texas after Aaron Harrison hit a 3-pointer to beat Michigan. Unfortunately, Harrison wasn’t finished. I thought the game was slipping away when Kentucky took a 51-43 lead with 15:33 remaining. But Wisconsin came back on the strength of eight points in the span of three minutes from junior forward Duje Dukan. The game was within one bucket the final 4:44 of the game. With the game tied at 71, Wisconsin had the ball with 20 seconds remaining. Traevon Jackson pumped on a 3-pointer and Andrew Harrison jumped to try to defend it, but there was contact. Jackson would miss the first, but make the final two to put Bucky in front 73-71 with 16 seconds remaining. Kentucky inbounded the ball and Andrew Harrison drove the baseline before passing it to Dakari Johnson before receiving the ball back with nine seconds left. As the clock hit 10 seconds, I thought to myself “If Wisconsin gets a stop here, the Badgers are playing in the championship!” But, with eight seconds left, Aaron Harrison shot a deep 3-pointer from Houston over the outstretched arm of Josh Gasser, Wisconsin’s best defender. It went in, giving the Wildcats the 74-73 lead with 5.7 seconds to go. Jackson was given the ball with the game on the line once again. He had hit monster shots earlier in the year against Florida and Michigan State, but this one was off and the Badgers fell by a point. There was no doubt Wisconsin would have beaten Connecticut in the Championship, and this is why this was No. 1. But this game did set the stage for arguably the best season in Wisconsin basketball history.
