The Badgers would take the ball first and drive it 70 yards for the game’s first points, a 33-yard field goal by Philip Welch, and Wisconsin took the early 3-0 lead. John Clay would rush for 34 yards on the drive and Lance Kendricks would have two receptions for 26 yards on the drive to help Wisconsin move it in position to draw first blood.
But Iowa wasted little time responding, driving 78 yards to take the lead. Adam Robinson had the biggest play of the drive, rushing 30 yards down to the Wisconsin 1. Two plays later, Robinson scored to give Iowa the lead. However, the extra point was blocked by J.J. Watt, and the score remained 6-3. That blocked extra point would come back to haunt the Hawkeyes.
David Gilreath returned the ensuing kickoff 33 yards to the 41 to give Wisconsin nice starting field position. Scott Tolzien would throw for 57 yards on the drive to help move Bucky back out on top. He would throw a 14-yard pass to Montee Ball on 3rd-and-12, which would set up the Tolzien touchdown toss to Bradie Ewing from seven yards to move Wisconsin out in front once again, 10-6.
Iowa would score right before the half to regain the lead in this back-and-forth affair. On its next possession, the Hawkeyes had a bad snap on a short field goal attempt, so they could not even attempt the kick, which kept three points off the board. Once again, that would come back to cost Iowa dearly. The Hawkeyes were able to take the lead just before halftime, though, on a pass from Ricky Stanzi to Allen Reisner. Wisconsin helped them out with a face mask penalty, which put the ball at the Badgers 35. Passes to Colin Sanderman and Marvin McNutt moved the ball down to the 4, which set up the Reisner touchdown with less than 20 seconds to play in the first half.
After an Iowa punt, Wisconsin was able to come down and reclaim the lead. Tolzien was 6-for-6 on the drive for 54 yards, but Clay would plow in from two yards out on 4th-and-1 to give the Badgers the 17-13 lead.
But back-and-forth we go, as Iowa would claim the lead right back. Iowa’s punt to begin the half would be the only punt in the second half. Iowa would convert two third downs on the drive, which was followed by a Stanzi pass to an open Derrell Johnson-Koulianos for a 45-yard touchdown to give Iowa a 20-17 lead.
Iowa’s special teams were not special once again, as Gilreath had another terrific return on the kickoff. This one was returned by Gilreath for 37 yards out to the Badgers 49. After two Clay runs moved Wisconsin to the Iowa 32, Tolzien found Isaac Anderson open underneath, but then veered to the left for 30 yards down to the Iowa 2, which would set up a Clay touchdown from two yards and the Badgers went back in front 24-20.
In this heavyweight fight, if you could not take a punch and deliver one back, you would not be able to survive. The Hawkeyes took another punch, but would come back with a response immediately. This time, Iowa went on an 80-yard drive to put Iowa back into the lead. Stanzi would complete five passes on the drive for 58 yards and would throw the touchdown on a third down to McNutt and Iowa had the lead right back at 27-24.
On the first play following the kickoff, Wisconsin made a mistake. Tolzien rolled out to the right and threw a pick to a rolling Brent Greenwood. There was blanket coverage on Anderson and it was just a bad pass by the Wisconsin quarterback. With the way Iowa’s offense had driven the ball the last two drives, people thought this was danger time for the Badgers. However, Wisconsin’s defense held Iowa to a 40-yard field goal by Michael Meyer, and Iowa took a 30-24 lead with 8:35 remaining.
Wisconsin would only gain six yards in its first three plays after the kickoff, forcing a 4th-and-4. Enter unlikely hero No. 1. With Brad Nortman back to punt, Iowa was not expecting a fake from deep in their own territory. But when the snap was made, all of the Iowa coverage players ran down the field to set up a return. That left a huge hole for Nortman to run, and the Wisconsin punter would run for the first down and more before sliding down at the 43 for the 17-yard gain and a fresh set of downs. Three plays later, Wisconsin faced another third down, but Tolzien completed a 13-yard pass to Jacob Pedersen for the first down. Then, Tolzien completed a 7-yard pass to Ball, another unlikely hero on a 4th-and-5 to keep the drive moving. After two Clay runs picked up 11, the Badgers had a first down at the 16. The first play was Ball for eight. Then, he ran it for eight more and the touchdown. At first, the refs ruled him down, but after review, it was clear Ball reached the ball across the goal line before he hit the ground. With the extra point, Wisconsin completed a 15-play, 80-yard drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock and the Badgers had the 31-30 lead with 1:06 to play.
The Hawkeyes would pick up two first downs, up to the 49 with 35 seconds left. However, Watt would make an impact again. After blocking the extra point early in the game, he sacked Stanzi for an 11-yard loss. It was Wisconsin’s only sack of the game. After an incompletion, Stanzi breathed life back into the Hawkeyes with a 20-yard connection to McNutt to set up a very manageable 4th-and-1. Stanzi ran a quarterback sneak for the first down. Even though the clock was stopped, Iowa used its last timeout instead of hurrying up to the line and spiking it. That would be enormous because on the next play, Stanzi dumped it off to Robinson, who tried to race out of bounds and stop the clock, but was tackled by Mike Taylor to keep the clock running. Iowa was unable to run another play and Wisconsin escaped with the victory by the slimmest of margins.
Wisconsin would roll through the rest of their schedule and end up in Pasadena. Iowa would destroy Michigan State in Iowa City the following week before fading down the stretch and finishing 8
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