44. Wisconsin 17, Michigan State 10 (2000)

Wisconsin was in need of a win in the worst way. After a 3-0 start, winning all of them by one score, the Badgers had dropped their first three in conference play, including two at home. Of those three conference losses, two were by one possession. The Badgers came back from an early deficit to win a big road game in East Lansing 17-10 on the strength of a last-minute touchdown. It looked like it would be much of the same early on for Wisconsin, as the Spartans quickly jumped out to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Michigan State’s touchdown came on a Ryan Van Dyke 43-yard pass to Herb Haygood on the final offensive play of the first quarter. With less than 10 minutes to play in the first half, Brooks Bollinger made a play that turned around Bucky’s season. Facing a 2nd-and-11 from the Badgers 19, the Wisconsin quarterback went back to pass and eluded defenders in the backfield before tucking it and running it for 45 yards. He also would later score the touchdown on a quarterback sneak and the Badgers were back in business, trailing just 10-7. Wisconsin gained more confidence on the next series as Van Dyke’s pass ricocheted off the Michigan State wide receiver and into the hands of Badgers cornerback Mike Echols, who returned it to the Spartans 27. That would lead to a field goal as time expired in the first half and the Badgers had come back to tie Michigan State at 10. The score would remain that way until the final minute of the game. However, there were many opportunities for each team to grab the lead. Michigan State missed a field goal and new quarterback Jeff Smoker threw a pick on a flea flicker to Echols at the goal line. Wisconsin had a chance after Michigan State’s Shawn Foster muffed a Kevin Stemke punt and the Badgers recovered inside the Spartans 40. But three plays lost Wisconsin a yard, so the Badgers punted. Prior to Bollinger’s long run in the first half, he sustained a concussion. He played the rest of the first half, but at halftime, it was determined that he would sit out the second half (and eventually the following week against Purdue) and freshman Jim Sorgi would make his debut.

Bucky had one last chance at the win after Michigan State punter Craig Jarett had a short punt and Wisconsin started on its own 45 with less than two minutes remaining. Three plays gained nine yards for the Badgers, so Bucky faced a 4th-and-1 at the 46. Coach Barry Alvarez elected to go for it, and Michael Bennett lunged forward for one yard and the first down. Wisconsin wasted little time going for it all after the fourth down pickup. Sorgi dropped back to pass and heaved a pass to Lee Evans. Evans reached up and hauled it in over Cedric Henry at the 5 and went into the end zone to give the Badgers their first lead of the game. Nick Greisen ended any hope of a comeback for the Spartans by intercepting a Van Dyke pass and sealing the game for Wisconsin’s first conference win of the season. Wisconsin would end up falling to Purdue the following week before ending the season with five consecutive wins to finish a solid 9-4 season.

45. Wisconsin 24, West Virginia 17 (2003)

This was a much-anticipated season opener for Wisconsin, as this was the first game since 2001 for star wide receiver Lee Evans. He missed the entire 2002 season with a torn ACL that occurred during the spring game. Evans had a record-breaking season in 2001, but decided to pass on the NFL Draft to return to Wisconsin. He would catch the game-tying rouchdown pass to help the Badgers start out the season with a win in Morgantown.

The game could not have started out any better for the Badgers, as Kareem Timbers recovered a blocked punt on West Virginia’s first possession in the end zone and the Badgers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. That was the good news. The bad news is that Bucky would only score three more points until the fourth quarter.

With Wisconsin’s offense struggling, West Virginia took advantage. The Mountaineers would kick a field goal on the next drive to cut it to 7-3 and then would take the lead on the following drive on a run by Quincy Wilson. That 10-7 score would remain until the third quarter.

That score would change when Wilson scored his second of the day to put West Virginia in front 17-7 before Wisconsin would get three back on a short Scott Campbell field goal to cut it to 17-10.

Evans was held in check through the first three quarters. The big play receiver for the Badgers only had 35 yards receiving on five catches. He made a big difference in the final quarter.

Early in the final quarter, the Badgers forced a Mountaineers punt from deep in their own territory and Jim Leonhard returned the short punt 17 yards down to the West Virginia 33. Two Anthony Davis runs picked up a first down to the 18, but the next two plays would lose a total of two yards, so the Badgers faced a 3rd-and-12 from the West Virginia 20.

Enter No. 3. You knew Evans would not stay silent for an entire game. It was just a matter of time before he would make a big play to put the Badgers in position to win the game. That play happened early in the fourth quarter.

On the 3rd-and-12 play, Jim Sorgi threw toward the right sideline and Evans plucked the ball out of the air and went into the end zone to tie the game up at 17.

Evans came up big again two Wisconsin drives later, as he hauled in a 15-yard reception on the opening play of the possession, getting the Badgers started on a drive that would lead them to victory.

The Evans catch set the ball near midfield for the Badgers and Davis carried the ball the following three plays and rushed for 38 yards to put the ball down at the West Virginia 14. Three plays later, Davis would finish the drive with a touchdown from a yard out to put Bucky in front, 24-17.

The Mountaineers had one more drive in an attempt to tie the game up, but West Virginia was unable to pick up a first down and when Rasheed Marshall was sacked on fourth down by Alex Lewis, the game was over. Wisconsin was able to pick up a first down on a Davis run and then run out the clock, sealing the 24-17 win and a second win over West Virginia in as many years.

The win helped the Badgers start out with six wins in seven games before losing a number of close games to end the year.

46. Wisconsin 37, Michigan 21 (2007)

It was Senior Day and the Badgers were 7-3 after losing three of their last five. Michigan had won eight in a row and climbed back up to No. 12 in the country after two losses to start the season, including the embarrassing defeat to Appalachian State.

With Mike Hart sidelined with an injury, Michigan struggled to run the football and the Wolverines were forced to throw the ball 41 times. Henne was hurt after just five passes and he was replaced by Ryan Mallett.

On Henne’s last pass of the game a little past midway through the first quarter, Henne was intercepted by Shane Carter.

It took the Badgers five plays to travel 55 yards and it ended with a Tyler Donovan touchdown pass to Travis Beckum to give the Badgers the lead. It would be the first of four consecutive possessions in which Wisconsin would score on.

A Donovan touchdown rush midway through the second quarter gave the home team a 17-0 lead, but Michigan would cut it to 17-7 on a touchdown pass from Mallett to Mario Manningham. The future Super Bowl hero would go onto have two scores in the game.

Bucky would drive down the field and put up three points right before halftime to make the score 20-7 at the break.

With the score 23-7 early in the fourth quarter, Michigan faced a 3rd-and-9 from its own 3-yard line. Mallett went back to pass from his own end zone and found Manningham down the right sideline and he went 97 yards to cut it to 23-14.

The score would get even closer as Mallett found Adrian Arrington in the zone from 26 yards out at the halfway point of the final quarter to cut what was once a 17-point Badgers lead down to just two.

After a Wisconsin punt, Michigan was facing a 3rd-and-29 from its own 11 after a sack by Matt Shaughnessy. There would be no big play for the Wolverines this time as Jack Ikegwuonu intercepted the Mallett pass to set the Badgers up with great field position at the Wolverines 33.

It would be a drive of four plays with Zach Brown getting the ball each time and running it in from six yards out to give Bucky some breathing room.

The Badgers would deliver the dagger a minute later when they turned Michigan over on downs and took over on the visitor’s 2. Brown needed just one play to seal the deal and deliver the knockout punch to a 37-21 Wisconsin win.

The Badgers would once again retain Paul Bunyan’s axe the following week in Minneapolis to close out a 9-3 regular season.

47. Wisconsin 13, Fresno State 10 (2008)

It was one of the biggest games in Fresno State history. It was a night game and the Bulldogs hosted a top 10 team in Wisconsin. The Badgers were coming in off two wins against MAC schools and it was the first road test of the season. The Bulldogs came in with a great ground attack led by future first round pick Ryan Mathews. In a mistake-filled game, Wisconsin was able to eek out a win in California.

Wisconsin struck first on a pass from Alan Evridge to Garrett Graham from two yards out to put the Badgers ahead 7-0. The touchdown came after an interception by DeAndre Levy set Bucky up with great field position at the Fresno State 26. The drive just took three plays, and Graham had two catches on the drive, including the touchdown.

Fresno State would drive on its next possession into field goal range, but Kevin Goessling missed a 47-yard field goal. That miss would be the beginning of a rough night for the kicker.

The Badgers would take a 10-0 lead on the following drive on a Philip Welch field goal. It would stay that way until halftime after Welch had a field goal to end the half blocked.

Devon Wylie scored from 47 yards out on a pass from Tom Brandstater over the middle and the Bulldogs were right back in the game.Wylie also had a 25-yard run to start the drive.

After an awful 9-yard punt from Brad Nortman on Wisconsin’s next drive, the Bulldogs were back in business. But Wisconsin’s defense stood tall and forced a three-and-out, where Goessling missed his second field goal of the night and the Badgers held onto the 10-7 lead.

Wisconsin forced another Fresno State mistake late in the third quarter when Michael Harris muffed a punt that was recovered by Wisconsin’s Dex Jones at the Fresno State 23. But this time, the Bulldogs defense held strong and the Badgers had to settle for a field goal and a 13-7 lead.

This game also was not without controversy. On the first play of the next drive for the Bulldogs, Brandstater threw a pass over the middle to Wylie, who caught it and took two steps before having the ball knocked out of his hands, where Levy fell on the fumble. Then the officials went to replay and somehow ruled it incomplete. Fresno State would go onto get a big pass play from Brandstater to Mathews to give the Bulldogs a first and goal, but would have to settle for a Goessling field goal to cut it to 13-10.

Wisconsin punted and Fresno State had a long run by Lonyae Miller to set the Bulldogs up at the Badgers 25. Three plays gained seven yards for Fresno State and on came Goessling to try to tie the game. His 35-yard attempt missed and the Badgers took over.

The teams traded punts and Fresno State’s punt pinned the Badgers deep in their own territory. Bucky needed to pick up one first down to seal the game. That is exactly what Wisconsin did. After Dustin Sherer did a quarterback sneak for two yards, the next play was a handoff to fullback Bill Rentmeester, who ran eight yards to pick up the game-clinching first down. The Badgers were able to kneel on the ball three times to end the game and Wisconsin had a big victory.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin hit a rough spot and would lose four in a row before Bucky rebounded to win four of five to end the regular season.

48. Wisconsin 26, Iowa 24 (2014)

After a big win over Nebraska the week before, the Badgers were in a position to win the Western Division. All Wisconsin needed to do was win out or win against Iowa and have Nebraska beat Minnesota. But with Minnesota winning in Lincoln, Wisconsin needed to win its remaining two games to punch its ticket to Indianapolis. However, Iowa also had a chance to win the division. With two games remaining, Wisconsin was on top at 5-1 in the Big Ten and Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota all were 4-2. Every team in that mix of four had to play two of the other teams for its final two games.

The game started about as well as possible for Bucky, as Mark Weisman fumbled on the second play from scrimmage and Michael Caputo, who forced the fumble, also recovered the ball for the Badgers. Wisconsin picked up one first down, but had to settle for a Rafael Gaglianone 50-yard field goal and the Badgers led 3-0.

Iowa came right down the field on a 14-play drive and Marshall Koehn connected on a 26-yard field goal to tie things up.

A pair of punts followed before the Badgers retook the lead. Tanner McEvoy came into the game to run the ‘Wildcat’ and faked a handoff before blasting through a hole and racing 45 yards for the score. The extra point was missed and the Badgers led 9-3. Melvin Gordon, who was bottled up in the first half, added another score just before halftime to put the Badgers ahead 16-3 going into the break.

I mentioned Gordon was bottled up in the first half. Well, with Wisconsin backed up to its own 8, Gordon erased that with one play, as he raced down the sideline for 88 yards, but was tracked down at the Iowa 4. Wisconsin was held out of the end zone and Gaglianone put the Badgers in front 19-3.

Iowa gained momentum from that stop. After the stop, Iowa quarterback Jake Rudock became red hot. Iowa blew down the field and scored on a Rudock 20-yard pass to Kevonte Martin-Manley. The two-point conversion was good as well and the Hawkeyes cut the deficit to 19-11.

Wisconsin punted on its next possession and Rudock went back to work, completing his opening two passes of the drive for a total of 61 yards. A pass interference call on Wisconsin’s Darius Hillary moved the ball to the Wisconsin 2 and Rudock ran it in for the score. This two-point conversion failed and the Badgers held onto a 19-17 advantage.

Wisconsin was facing a third down and long on the following drive. With Rudock being on fire, the Badgers needed a conversion. Bucky did just that and then some. Stave was being blitzed and found a wide open Gordon, whose catch and ran of 35 yards set the ball at the Iowa 33. Two plays later, Gordon found space along the left sideline and glided into the end zone from 23 yards away to put the Badgers in front 26-17.

But Rudock was not done. He was 3-4 on the drive for 59 yards and a touchdown, a 9-yard pass to Jake Duzey to cut the deficit back down to two. He also had two runs for 32 yards on the drive, including a 21-yard run on 3rd-and-15 to pick up a big first down.

With the season hanging in the balance, Wisconsin had the ball at its own 25 with five minutes remaining. Two Gordon runs on the first two plays picked up 11 yards and a first down. The next two runs just gained a total of two yards. With the Badgers facing a 3rd-and-8 with less than two minutes remaining, the most unlikely Badger made the biggest of plays. Joel Stave, who just threw for 139 yards on the day, went back to pass. He was flushed to the left and found some daylight. Stave ran and spun to try to elude an Iowa defender at the first down marker to gain a few extra yards. The 12-yard run by Stave sealed the game as Iowa only had one timeout remaining.

The win would set up the matchup with Minnesota to determine which team would go to the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.

49. Wisconsin 16, Utah State 14 (2012)

Wisconsin was hoping to catch lightning in a bottle once again with a transfer quarterback. In 2011, Russell Wilson took the world by storm and led the Badgers to the Rose Bowl. In 2012, Wisconsin looked to another senior transfer quarterback, Danny O’Brien, to try to help the Badgers win another Big Ten title.

After two games, Montee Ball was averaging less than four yards per carry in a close win against Northern Iowa and a loss to Oregon State. With the struggles rushing the ball, Wisconsin fired its new offensive line coach Mike Markuson and handed the reigns over to graduate assistant Bart Miller.

Utah State was not your typical “mid-major” school. The Aggies were good. Real good. Utah State would finish the season with a record of 11-2 with the two losses coming by a combined five points. The Badgers would have their hands full with Utah State, which was led by future Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen.

The struggles continued for Bucky on offense in the first half. Wisconsin only scored three points in the game’s first 30 minutes. O’Brien fumbled late in the first half, which gave Utah State great field position, where the Aggies drove the short field to give Andersen’s bunch a 14-3 lead at halftime in Camp Randall. The last touchdown came on a Chuckie Keeton 11-yard pass to Matt Austin with 29 seconds left before halftime.

Wisconsin needed a change, and that is what happened. O’Brien, who completed five of 10 passes for 63 yards in the first half, was replaced by redshirt freshman Joel Stave. The freshman would only pass for 15 yards on two completions, but he was more of a threat on his downfield passes than O’Brien.

Midway through the third quarter, with the offense still sputtering, an unlikely source gave the Badgers a much-needed lift. After a third down and short stop, Tyler Bennett came onto punt for Utah State. His punt carried Kenzel Doe to the left sideline, where he ran up and fielded the short punt. He ran along the sidelines, getting a few blocks and weaving his way through traffic. Finally, at midfield, Doe cut back to the middle of the field where there were no Utah State coverage people. It looked like Doe might get caught from behind, but he found an extra gear and was able to separate from the pack and score on the punt return to put the Badgers back in the game.

After a three and out forced by the Badgers defense, Bennett had an embarrassing 19-yard punt, giving Wisconsin a short field in an effort to take its first lead of the night.

It was a six play drive with Ball carrying the ball on every play. On a 2nd-and-8 from the Utah State 17, Ball received great blocking up front and blasted through on his way to the end zone for the 17-yard score to give the Badgers their first lead. Kyle French’s extra point was blocked, so the score remained 16-14.

The last threat of the game happened on the last drive. The Aggies looked like they were going to come into Madison and come out with a win when Keeton found Cameron Webb along the sideline for a gain of 36 down to the Badgers 15 with 59 seconds left. A controversial pass interference call on Utah State tight end Kellen Bartlett pushed the Aggies back to their 30. Three plays gained them 11 yards to put them at the 19 for Josh Thompson to come in and try to win it. But the Utah State kicker pushed it off to the right and Wisconsin was able to survive against Utah State.

This would not be the last time the Badgers would be in a dog fight. It would be a theme for the Badgers in 2012, going to overtime three times, as well as losing close contests to Nebraska in the conference opener and in the Rose Bowl to Stanford. However, this win was the turning point of their season. Wisconsin played much better following this win and nearly pulled off a huge upset in the Rose Bowl.

50. Wisconsin 28, Cincinnati 25 (OT) (2000)

Wisconsin came in at 2-0 and off an emotionally draining 27-23 win over Joey Harrington and Oregon. Prior to the season, Wisconsin had many key players suspended from one to three games due to the Shoe Box scandal, and the Badgers had four games to implement the suspensions. Many of the players played in the Oregon game the previous week, so they would have to miss the Cincinnati game. The Badgers were also looking for payback as they were upset the previous year by the Bearcats 17-12 in Cincinnati.

After a three and out for Cincinnati to start the game and a short punt, the Bucky train started in great field position at the Bearcats 32. Eddie Faulkner, starting in place of the suspended Michael Bennett, rushed for 24 yards on the first two plays to get Wisconsin inside the 10. Brooks Bollinger ran in from eight yards out to give the Badgers the lead.

The Cats responded with two field goals to cut the deficit to a single point at the end of the first quarter, and then took the lead 13-10 in the second quarter on a pass from Deontey Kenner to LaDaris Vann. It stayed that way until the fourth quarter.

Wisconsin tied it up on a Vitaly Pisetsky field goal from 40 yards out early in the fourth. But the Badgers may have been getting a bad case of deja vu after Cincinnati retook the lead four plays later on a Kenner 51-yard pass to Ray Jackson. The extra point failed, so the lead was only 19-13.

It was the same score with less than four minutes remaining in the game and Wisconsin punter Kevin Stemke had a 55-yard punt downed at the Bearcats 2. Cincinnati went three and out and instead of punting out of its own end zone, giving Wisconsin great field position, it decided to take an intentional safety. The Bearcats took the safety to give them more room to punt and since the Badgers would need a touchdown regardless, they forced Bucky into a longer field to try to score.

Wisconsin would take the ball at its own 40 and march down for a touchdown to give the Badgers the lead. Lee Evans had two big catches on the drive, resulting in 28 yards and drew a pass interference to give the Badgers first and goal at the Bearcats 2. Three plays later, Bollinger took it on a quarterback sneak. That was the second touchdown on the day for him. The extra point was good and the Badgers seemingly had the game in hand, leading 22-19 with 18 seconds left.

As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.”

After the kickoff gave Cincinnati the ball at its own 33, Kenner threw three straight completions to future Green Bay Packer Antonio Chatman for 38 yards, setting the ball at the Badgers 29 with four seconds left. Jason Mammarelli’s game-tying field goal attempt split the uprights, which sent the game into overtime.

In the overtime, Cincinnati went on a 10-play drive, but it only resulted in three points. Wisconsin did not take long to end the game. Faulkner took the first handoff nine yards. Then, he took the second carry to the house, spinning off one tackler in the second level and galloping 16 yards for the winning score. It was the first overtime win at Camp Randall in program history.

The theme of close games would continue throughout 2000, as the Badgers lost two in overtime and one in the final minutes in the first half of Big Ten play. But Wisconsin bounced back to win its share of close games, including a 21-20 victory in the Sun Bowl over UCLA to finish up a 9-4 season.