30. Wisconsin 49, Minnesota 31 (2002)

The last game in the countdown was a five touchdown performance by Lee Evans in a win over Michigan State. Now we go to the previous five touchdown performance, a game the year before against hated rival Minnesota. Anthony Davis ran for 301 yards and the five touchdowns in helping the Wisconsin Badgers to a 49-31 win and being the biggest reason Bucky re-claimed Paul Bunyan’s Axe on Senior Day.

In a back-and-forth contest through more than three quarters, Wisconsin was able to find a way to pull away in the final five minutes to win the game by 18.

Wisconsin received the opening kickoff and drove into Minnesota territory, but Brandon Williams caught a pass for a first down and fumbled and the Gophers recovered. Wisconsin made another mistake a few minutes later when punter R.J. Morse had his punt blocked by Minnesota’s Jermaine Mays and the Gophers started with great field position at the Badgers 30. Bucky’s defense was able to hold strong and keep Minnesota out of the end zone and the Gophers settled for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Davis and Brooks Bollinger would combine to rush on seven of the eight plays on the next Badgers drive, which ended with a Davis touchdown from four yards out. It would remain 7-3 at the end of the first quarter, but the Gophers were driving as the first quarter came to a close.

Two plays into the second quarter, Minnesota was able to inch closer on a field goal by Dan Nystrom. Wisconsin was able to drive down the field by running the football, but Bollinger ended the drive by finding a wide open Darrin Charles in the back of the end zone to give the Badgers a 14-6 lead.

Then, the teams traded touchdowns to end the half. Tony Patterson caught a 37-yard pass from Asad Abdul-Khaliq to help the Gophers get down to the Wisconsin 25. That set up a touchdown by Terry Jackson III from a yard out. Ben Utecht caught a two-point conversion to tie up the game at 14.

Davis carried the ball 10 times on a 58-yard drive the next possession, including a touchdown from a yard out on 4th-and-Goal with three seconds left in the first half. The sophomore standout wanted to bring Paul Bunyan’s Axe back home after the Badgers lost the axe in 2001 after six straight wins over their rivals directly to the West. Bucky led 21-14 at the half.

But Minnesota would bounce back in the second half, scoring 10 quick points in the first seven minutes of the third quarter to take the lead 24-21. The score would remain that way until late in the third when the Badgers had terrific starting field position after a Gophers punt. The 38-yard drive was all Davis. The running back carried the ball all three plays of the drive and ending it with a 25-yard touchdown run to give Bucky the lead back. It would stay that way until the fourth quarter.

Another long Patterson reception set the Gophers up at the doorstep. Two plays after that, Thomas Tapeh scored on a 2-yard reception and all of a sudden, Minnesota took the lead back. But in a back-and-forth affair, Bollinger ran it in from a yard out to give Wisconsin the lead right back. The big play of the drive came on a connection from Bollinger to Jonathan Orr for 36 yards to give Wisconsin a 1st-and-10 at the Minnesota 25. It was a perfectly thrown pass and Orr made a nice sliding catch to set Wisconsin up to tie or take the lead. Russ Kuhns caught a 20-yard pass to put the ball even closer to the Minnesota end zone. Two plays later, Bollinger scored to give the Badgers the lead for good.

After a Minnesota punt, Bucky started a march that would put the game away. Wisconsin had an 11-play drive which was exclusively on the ground, with the exception of a pass interference. On 3rd-and-Goal, Davis plowed into the end zone from two yards out and the Badgers took a 42-31 lead.

It looked like the Gophers were going to rally to make this a one possession game again, but sophomore safety Jim Leonhard, who would lead the country in interceptions, had other ideas. After a long pass from Abdul-Khaliq to Aaron Hosack of 37 yards, Abdul-Khaliq threw a pass into the end zone, but Leonhard picked it off and the Badgers had the ball and an 11-point lead.

I mentioned that Davis would have five touchdowns on the day. He would put the final nails in the Minnesota coffin on a record-tying run. His first two runs of the drive went for nine combined yards. His third went for 71 and his fifth touchdown of the game. He ran up the middle and broke free at the second level and then won a footrace to the house.

Leonhard would pick off one more pass on Minnesota’s final drive and after the kneel down, the team made a bee-line for the axe the team had lost one year prior. The Badgers also needed to win to become bowl eligible, so they won a trip to Texas, where they pulled the upset, winning 31-28 in overtime over Colorado.

39. Packers 34, Colts 14 (2008)

Green Bay was coming in at 3-3 after having won in Seattle the previous week, while Indianapolis was an uncharacteristic 3-2 after having dropped its first two home games of the year. However, the Colts were back on track after winning their last two, including a 31-3 destruction of the Baltimore Ravens the week before. Green Bay would use a scoring flurry and two pick sixes to not only beat Indianapolis, but dominate them.

Green Bay was able to strike first with three, followed by a Colts touchdown to put Indianapolis ahead for the first and last time of the game. It was 7-3 after the first quarter, but the Packers were on the march, aided by a Tim Jennings pass interference penalty, which was drawn by Greg Jennings. The Packers were able to punch it in on an Aaron Rodgers pass to Donald Lee in front of two Colts defenders and Green Bay had the lead once again.

After an Indianapolis punt, Green Bay went on an 89-yard drive that lasted nearly seven minutes, ending with a Ryan Grant 11-yard touchdown run. Donald Driver got the drive started out right for the Packers, catching a 24-yard pass. Other than converting a 4th-and-1, Green Bay did not even face a third down on the drive. On the touchdown, Grant found a gaping hole and blasted through virtually untouched on his way to the end zone. It was 17-7 at the half.

Indianapolis was poised to jump right back into the game, as it received the ball to start the second half and drove across midfield where it faced a third down. Peyton Manning’s pass was intended for an open Reggie Wayne, but it bounced off his hands and into the arms of Packers safety Nick Collins. The Green Bay defensive back ran down the right sideline, eluding the tackle attempt by Dallas Clark at the 35 before cutting back and splitting Colts players to go into the end zone for the touchdown to give the Packers a 17-point cushion.

As if one defensive touchdown wasn’t enough, Aaron Rouse wanted in on the fun as well. With Indianapolis driving near the Packers goal line, the former Virginia Tech standout closed the door. Green Bay was leading 27-7 when Manning fired a pass to the goal line, but Rouse jumped the route and intercepted the pass and went 99 yards untouched for the knockout punch. Instead of a 27-14 game, it was now 34-7 and the game was over.

The Colts would tack on another touchdown, but this game was never a contest in the second half and the Packers come out with a dominating win. People thought Green Bay could win, but nobody thought it would blow out Indianapolis the way it did to head into the bye week with a record of 4-3.

However, after the bye week, Green Bay had one heartbreaking loss after another and lost seven of its next eight before beating the soon-to-be 0-16 Detroit Lions on the final week of the regular season.

31. Wisconsin 56, Michigan State 21 (2003)

Throughout 2003, Lee Evans had shown that he was fully back from his torn ACL that cost him the entire 2002 season. He had a big game against Akron earlier in the year and made one of the most memorable plays in program history in a win over No. 3 Ohio State. However, this game let everyone know that he was back to normal and was ready for the NFL. Evans destroyed Michigan State defensive backs to the tune of 10 catches for 258 yards and a program record-tying five touchdowns as the Badgers ended a three game losing streak by obliterating the No. 21 team in the country.

Wisconsin received the ball first and went down the field on the Michigan State and put the ball in the end zone on a pass from Jim Sorgi to Evans. There was touchdown one. The big play wide receiver would have four catches for 54 yards and the touchdown on the drive. Evans’ first three catches did not result in a touchdown. Five of his last seven catches were grabs that resulted in scores for Bucky. Crazy.

A pair of punts later, Michigan State had the ball near midfield, but junior safety Jim Leonhard intercepted a Jeff Smoker pass at the 21 and he returned it up to the Wisconsin 46. The Badgers would drive 54 yards for the touchdown to give Bucky a 14-0 lead. Dwayne Smith was the touchdown scorer this time. Lost in the huge game by Evans was the performance by Smith. He rushed for 211 yards on 21 carries and scored three touchdowns. He would have been the star of the game if it weren’t for the record performance by Evans.

It would stay 14-0 until the Badgers took over from their own 13 with less than seven minutes remaining in the first half. Bucky picked up one first down before Sorgi called Evans’ number again. Sorgi launched a pass to Evans, who caught it over the outstretched arms of a Michigan State defender and jogged into the end zone. There is touchdown No. 2 and the Badgers had a 21-0 lead.

The Spartans tried to get back in the game after a long kickoff return by Chad Simon, which led to a Smoker touchdown pass to Kyle Brown from 21 yards to cut it to 21-7. However, Evans was not done. Smith started the drive with a 60-yard run to the Michigan State 21 and two plays later, Evans scored his third of the day. It was 28-7 at halftime.

Evans was able to score No. 4 midway through the third quarter. After a Spartans punt, Wisconsin took over on its own 30. On the first play from scrimmage on the drive, Evans ran a route at seven yards and Sorgi delivered a pass to in front of the Spartans cornerback. He then was able to elude the defensive back and receive a block from Darrin Charles before racing 70 yards for the score to make it 35-7. That was his fourth on the day.

Later in the quarter, after a Michigan State touchdown, Evans made history. On a 3rd-and-10, Sorgi found Evans again in the end zone for a 42-14 lead and touchdown No. 5 for Mr. Evans. He was the second player to have five touchdowns in a game for the Badgers in 13 games. Anthony Davis had five touchdowns against Minnesota in the last regular season game in 2002.

Smith, who was filling in for an injured Davis, scored twice more to give the Badgers a 56-14 lead before Michigan State closed out the scoring.

This was Wisconsin’s only win from mid-October through the rest of the season. Wisconsin would go onto lose in the regular season finale against Iowa and then in the Music City Bowl to Auburn.

40. Packers 27, Lions 20 (2012)

Green Bay had not lost since 1991 in Wisconsin against Detroit. It looked like that streak might be coming to an end when the home team fell behind 14-0 minutes into the second quarter, but the Packers would turn the momentum on a defensive touchdown and get a pair of second half rushing touchdowns to continue the streak and put the team one win away from another NFC North championship.

Detroit used a 12-play drive to strike first. Only one play went for 10 yards or more and the drive ended with a Matthew Stafford touchdown of four yards on 4th-and-1. Green Bay responded by driving into the red zone, but Aaron Rodgers was sacked on second down and fumbled and Detroit pounced on the loose ball.

The Motor City Kitties used an 11-play drive to put the ball in the end zone again. Stafford found Tony Scheffler for the score and the underdog Lions already had a 14-0 advantage. The biggest play was a Stafford pass to Kris Durham for 27 yards down to the Packers 6.

But the Packers came back with points on the following drive, as a Greg Jennings 27-yard gain set up a Mason Crosby field goal of 49 yards to put Green Bay on the board, but it was still trailing 14-3.

The turning point in the game came on the following possession. Detroit had just picked up a first down in Packers territory and was trying to put the game away early. Stafford took the 1st-and-10 snap and tried to throw a wide receiver screen, but the ball slipped out of the quarterback’s hands and squirted away when he tried to dive on the football to recover it. Rookie defensive lineman Mike Daniels picked it up for the Packers and broke a tackle attempt by one of the Lions offensive linemen and he strolled his way 43 yards for the score and suddenly, Green Bay had life, trailing only 14-10. It would stay that way until halftime.

Green Bay took the lead on the first drive of the second half. Aided by a big roughing the passer penalty on the third down on Ndamukong Suh, the Packers were able to drive down to the Lions 27. On a third down from there, Rodgers broke loose from the pocket and rolled out to the right. There were no Lions defenders around, so he tucked it and ran all the way into the end zone to give Green Bay its first lead of the game with just under 12 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

On the next drive, it was Detroit who was aided by a penalty. After a first down reception by Calvin Johnson, an unnecessary roughness penalty on Morgan Burnett set the ball at the Packers 36, which helped Detroit get in range for a Jason Hanson field goal. The 46-yard attempt split the uprights and game was tied at 17.

Throughout the 2012 season, the Packers had a revolving door at the running back position. On this day, it was the former car salesman, DuJuan Harris’ turn. He made the most of his opportunity. Early in the fourth quarter, with the score still tied at 17, the Troy product blasted through a hole and galloped into the end zone from 14 yards out to give the Packers the 24-17 lead. He had 31 yards on seven carries and that touchdown on the night.

Green Bay would add a field goal from Crosby on its next drive with four minutes to play to essentially seal the deal. The Motor City Kitties would add a field goal with less than 15 seconds left to cut the deficit to seven, but the game was over at that point and the Packers improved to 9-4 on the season and were one win away from clinching the NFC North for the second consecutive season.

The Packers would go onto finish 11-5 and win in the Wild Card Round against Minnesota before falling to Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers the following week.

32. Wisconsin 24, Iowa 21 (2006)

The Badgers were in the midst one of their best seasons in program history, coming in with a record of 9-1. However, the Badgers would be without starting quarterback John Stocco, so backup Tyler Donovan would make his first career start in Iowa City. Donovan would have a fantastic day, completing 17 of 24 passes for 228 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Wisconsin would defeat Iowa for the first time since 2001.

A series of punts opened the game before the Badgers drew first blood. Wisconsin started with terrific field position at the Iowa 48 and were able to drive down the field for the field goal. Donovan and P.J. Hill each had 15 yards rushing on the drive before the drive stalled at the Iowa 14. Taylor Mehlhaff’s 31-yard field goal was good and Bucky led 3-0 late in the first quarter.

On the first play of Iowa’s next possession, Drew Tate was intercepted by Roderick Rogers and the Badgers took over on the Iowa 26. Two plays and two Travis Beckum catches, including the 3-yard score with less than a minute to go in the first quarter, gave the Badgers a 10-0 lead.

Iowa was able to get it back to a one possession game midway through the second quarter when Tate found Tony Moeaki for a 4-yard score to cut it to 10-7. The big play came on a 3rd-and-8 from Iowa’s 26 when Tate hooked up with tight end Scott Chandler on a 64-yard gain down to the Wisconsin 10. Two plays later, Moeaki hauled in the pass for six.

On the next Hawkeyes drive, they took the lead for the first time. A 30-yard run by Damian Sims got the drive started right for Iowa. Six plays later, Tate found fullback Tom Busch for the score from three yards out and all of a sudden, Wisconsin was down 14-10.

That lead would not last long for the Hawkeyes, as Donovan drove his team down and hooked up with Luke Swan for a 42-yard touchdown with less than a minute left in the first half. The play was on a 3rd-and-8 and Donovan found Swan deep down field for the score. It would stay that way until the final quarter. In the first half, Donovan went 8-9 for 102 yards and a pair of scores.

There was no scoring in the third quarter, but when the quarter ended, Wisconsin was on the move. P.J. Hill would eventually cap off the long drive with a 1-yard score to put the Badgers ahead 24-14. On the drive, Wisconsin would start off on its own 3, but then drove 97 yards in 15 plays to go ahead by two scores. The big play came again via Donovan to Swan. Facing a 3rd-and-11 from the Wisconsin 39, Donovan hooked up with Swan for 48 yards down to the Iowa 13. Hill carried the ball nine times on the drive for 35 yards, including the score.

Hill would lose his first career fumble on Wisconsin’s next possession, which gave Iowa good field position. The Hawkeyes would cash in. Starting at its own 41, Tate threw a 35-yard pass to Sims and two plays after that, he found wide receiver Trey Stross for 24 yards for the score and Iowa cut the deficit back down to three.

But drops would come back to kill Iowa. Chandler and Dominique Douglas both dropped passes late in the game that would have been first downs. The pass to Douglas was a bit behind him, but he was open and had the ball in his hands, but he dropped it on fourth down late in the game. Wisconsin would run out the clock and the Badgers went to 10-1 on the year and put an end to a four game losing streak to Iowa.

Bucky would go onto win the following week 35-3 over Buffalo to finish off its first 11-win regular season in program history.

41. Packers 33, Vikings 27 (2011)

The teams were headed in opposite directions. Green Bay was undefeated at 6-0 and Minnesota was 1-5 and the Vikings were starting quarterback Christian Ponder, who was making his first start as a pro. However, despite their records, games between these two more often than not are close slugfests. Ponder threw for 219 yards and two scores, but the Packers were able to hold off a fourth quarter rally by the home team and escaped with the win by six points.

Ponder could not have asked for a better opening drive to his first start of his career. Ponder threw a pass down the left sideline to Michael Jenkins, whose catch and run was initially ruled a 73-yard touchdown, but replay showed his knee was down at the 1. Two plays later, though, Ponder would find Visante Shiancoe for the score to give the Vikings the lead.

That lead did not last long, though, as the Packers went on a 91-yard drive to tie the game up. John Kuhn scored on a 2-yard touchdown reception for the tying score. Aaron Rodgers was red hot out of the gate, going 6-6 for 76 yards and the score.

After a pair of punts, Minnesota grabbed the lead back. After forcing another Vikings punt, Randall Cobb muffed a punt by Chris Kluwe and the Vikings recovered at midfield. Seven plays later, Peterson plowed in from a yard out to give Minnesota the lead back. Peterson had 23 yards rushing on the drive.

The next three possessions resulted in field goals, two by Green Bay and one by Minnesota. Green Bay’s last one was just before the end of the half and the Packers cut the Vikings lead to 17-13.

I think Mike McCarthy lit a fire under his team at halftime. Green Bay would score on its first four possessions of the second half to take control of the game. Right out of the gates, Rodgers threw a 79-yard touchdown to Greg Jennings to take the lead for the first time.

After a three-and-out was forced by the Packers defense, Kluwe’s punt was returned by Cobb for 42 yards, down to the Vikings 37. Four plays later, Rodgers found Jermichael Finley and the visitors had a 27-17 advantage.

Charles Woodson would put an end to Minnesota’s next two drives, but the Packers were only able to cash in two field goals and the Packers had a 33-17 lead.

Just when people thought Minnesota was out of it, the Vikings scored 10 points in two possessions to cut it to six. The touchdown was a Ponder pass to Jenkins for 24 yards with just under eight minutes left.

A pair of punts left the Packers with the ball with two and a half minutes left. The Vikings had all three timeouts and the two minute warning. James Starks rushed for 39 yards on his first three carries of the drive, which put the ball in opponents territory. After two carries gained a total of three yards, the green and gold faced a 3rd-and-7. With Minnesota out of timeouts, Starks once again was given the ball and he blasted for a game-clinching 13-yard pickup.

Green Bay would go onto have its best regular season ever at 15-1, but would fall in the NFC Divisional round to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

33. Wisconsin 20, UNLV 13 (2007)

UNLV generally gets big crowds when Wisconsin comes to town and this was not any different. Wisconsin was a top five team and had a win its opener by three touchdowns against Washington State. Wisconsin had a new starting quarterback, Tyler Donovan, in 2007 after the departure of three-year starter John Stocco. The Rebels had the lead for much of the game, but with less than two minutes remaining, Donovan ran a bootleg around the left sideline and scampered 29 yards for what eventually was the game-winning score.

The Rebels struck first on a Travis Dixon pass 5-yard pass to Casey Flair late in the first quarter. It was a long 14-play drive that took up half the quarter. The biggest play of the drive was another pass to Flair on a 3rd-and-14 for 21 yards. Other than that Flair reception, there was only one play that was at least 10 yards on the long touchdown drive.

Wisconsin would come right back down the field on the strength of the ground game. Of the 67 yards on the drive, only the touchdown, a 3-yard pass from Donovan to Garrett Graham, was a pass. Hill rushed three times for 40 yards for the drive. There was a problem with the snap on the extra point and the score stayed 7-6 in favor of the Rebels.

The score stayed that way until the last seconds of the second quarter. Wisconsin used a 13-play drive to go down the field and get a Taylor Mehlhaff field goal to end the half to put the Badgers ahead 9-7 at the break.

Three field goals were all that were scored in the final nearly 28 minutes, two by UNLV and one by Wisconsin. The Badgers received the ball after a UNLV kickoff after the Rebels took a 13-12 lead. David Gilreath had a nice return out to the 39 of Wisconsin. Bucky took over with a half a quarter to play and then went on a nearly six minute drive to take the lead.

The 10-play drive went 61 yards and with the Badgers in field goal range (albeit not comfortably), Bucky faced a 1st-and-15 after a false start. That is when the new starting quarterback made his mark. He did a bootleg to the left and got past a defender and there was nothing but green grass in front of him. Donovan received a block from wide receiver Luke Swan and dove to stretch the ball across the pylon to score the touchdown to give the Badgers the lead.

Donovan rewarded the receiver by throwing Swan the two-point conversion to give Wisconsin a 20-13 lead.

After a first down completion to Flair on first down, UNLV went backward from there, throwing an incompletion on 4th-and-15 to seal the game and let Badgers fans breathe a sigh of relief.