34. Wisconsin 37, Nebraska 21 (2019)

The Wisconsin Badgers needed to win out in order to earn a spot in the Big Ten West and have Minnesota trip up twice, including against Wisconsin to end the season. Bucky was coming off a big win at home against the Iowa Hawkeyes the week before. Despite being hyped up to begin the season, the Cornhuskers limped in at 4-5 overall and 2-4 in league action and having lost three in a row.

While Nebraska showed fight and led 14-10 midway through the second quarter, the Badgers were too much. Jonathan Taylor, like Badger running backs before him, feasted on the Nebraska defense, rushing for 204 yards and a pair of touchdowns, leading Wisconsin to a 16-point win.

As I mentioned above, Nebraska led 14-10 midway through the second quarter. But quarterback Jack Coan and wide receiver A.J. Taylor changed things. With Wisconsin facing a 3^rd-and-5 from its own 45, Coan threw a strike to Taylor on the slant. When he ran inside the 40 of Nebraska, two Huskers defenders tried to tackle him with their shoulders. It didn’t go so well for them. Taylor stayed on his feet and ran the rest of the way for the 55-yard touchdown to give Wisconsin the lead it would not relinquish.

That was the first of three consecutive scores by the Badgers. Jonathan Taylor cashed in an interception from Jack Sanborn into another touchdown to give the Badgers a 24-14 lead. They kicked a field goal to end the half at 27-14.

Nebraska started off the game well. The Huskers drove to the Badgers 34 on their first drive, but back-to-back sacks pushed them out of field goal range. They drove deep into Wisconsin territory on each of their first four possessions, scoring two touchdowns. After Nebraska’s first touchdown, freshman return man Aron Cruickshank returned the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for the tying touchdown.

The Huskers took a 14-10 lead on a 2-yard run by quarterback Adrian Martinez. Dedrick Mills set up the touchdown with a 16-yard run to the doorstep. Nebraska gashed Wisconsin on the ground, as those two combined to rush the ball 33 times for 177 yards. And that counts lost yardage on sacks.

But all of that changed with the A.J. Taylor touchdown reception.

The offensive onslaught really settled down in the second half, but Nebraska didn’t back down. The Huskers had four drives in the second half and did not punt on any of them, and only punted twice in the entire contest.

Unfortunately for the home team, though, the Huskers only scored seven points, as they missed a field goal and were stopped on downs twice in addition to the touchdown.

In the third quarter, Jonathan Taylor ran 11 yards in for the score to give Wisconsin a 20-point lead before Martinez threw a 23-yard touchdown to J.D. Spielman.

Nebraska really had a chance to put a dent into the scoreboard, trailing 34-21. After a Wisconsin punt pinned the Huskers back at their own 4, they drove all the way to the Bucky 15, but a fourth down stop by the Badgers ended the drive.

Wisconsin proceeded to travel 72 yards in 10 plays, ending with a Collin Larsh 30-yard field goal.

But it was still a one-score game.

On a 74-yard drive, the Huskers converted two third downs, including a 3^rd-and-15 to move into Wisconsin territory. The other conversion was a 36-yard pass from Martinez to Kanawai Noa on 3^rd-and-9 to move it to the Badgers 5. However, two runs gained one yard and an incompletion set them up for 4^th-and-Goal at the 4.

Reggie Person proceeded to make one of the most memorable plays of the year. Nebraska ran a wide receiver screen to Wyatt Mazour, who looked like he would stroll into the end zone. But at the 1, Pearson lined up Mazour and made a sure tackle, hammering the Nebraska ball carrier just short of the goal line.

Wisconsin ran out the remaining two minutes to seal the 16-point victory.

The Badgers did indeed win out in the regular season, winning over Purdue and dominating Minnesota in the Gophers biggest game in 50+ years to capture the Big Ten West.