Wisconsin fans may be used to seeing the Badgers blow opponents out of the water, but along the way to winning championships adversity happens. On Saturday, the Badgers went to Kinnick Stadium and took the Hawkeyes’ best punch. They also came out 26-24 winners.
It was vital to the Badgers’ Big Ten West division title hopes, and sets up a winner takes all battle with Minnesota next weekend. Not only will Paul Bunyan’s axe be on the line, but so will a trip to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game.
The win also marked the first time in 11 games that the Badgers came out winners of a game that was within a touchdown or less.
Star running back Melvin Gordon finished the game with 200 yards on 31 carries, and had two touchdowns. With that 200-yard performance, Gordon tied Ron Dayne for the single-season rushing record at Wisconsin and in the Big Ten (2,109 yards). He also put in his fifth 200-yard game of the season.
Much like last week, the Badgers struggled to find a footing in the first quarter, with Iowa dominating in yards, plays and time of possession. However, unlike last week, the Hawkeyes couldn’t take advantage of all that.
Wisconsin’s defense did enough to keep the Hawkeyes out of the end zone and give the Badgers offense time to work.
Just like last week, it took just one play for the Wisconsin offense to wake up. However, it didn’t come from star running back Melvin Gordon and instead came from quarterback Tanner McEvoy, who was inserted in the Badgers fourth drive of the game and went for a 55-yard touchdown run off left tackle.
Gordon was largely bottled up in the first half, rushing for 39 yards on 14 carries and a long of eight yards.
It didn’t hurt that starting quarterback Joel Stave also did his part in the first half, going 6 of 8 for 76 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions. He managed to get the Badgers out of some trouble spots and managed the game well for the most part.
Wisconsin opened the second half much like the first, but it took just one carry from Melvin Gordon to open things up. He broke a run off left tackle for a career-long 88 yards, but Wisconsin couldn’t find the end zone and settled for three points and a 19-3 lead.
Iowa wasn’t done fighting though, as quarterback Jake Rudock would pick apart the Badgers. He finished the game going 20-of-30 for 311 yards and two touchdowns passing, both of which came in the second half.
Rudock managed to be involved in all three of Iowa’s touchdowns in the second half, scoring on a 9-yard run in the third quarter as well. On the day, Rudock had 336 yards and three touchdowns in the losing effort.
However, Wisconsin and Melvin Gordon fought through the adversity and with a two-point lead to protect midway through the fourth quarter, found a way to make sure to put Iowa on the chase.
With the Badgers up just 19-17, the Badgers took over at their own 25-yard line and had 11:10 left in the game. UW would go seven plays, 75 yards and score the game-winning touchdown with 7:44 left to play.
A week after breaking the single-game rushing record, Gordon had another Heisman moment on the drive, accounting for 73 of the Badgers 75 yards. He hauled in a crucial 35-yard pass from Stave on 3rd and 13, followed it up with a 10 yard reception and then took it 23 yards to the house for the touchdown.
From there, the Badgers took a punch from the Hawkeyes passing game, as Rudock had two passes for 23 yards or more and had 32 yards rushing on back-to-back plays. He would cap it off with a 9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jake Duzey to make the score 26-24 Wisconsin.
It just wasn’t enough though, as Gordon and the Badgers plugged away on the final drive and came out of Kinnick holding the Heartland Trophy for the second year in a row.
Wisconsin and Minnesota will tangle for the 124th time next Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, with kickoff coming at 2:30pm CT. The game will be live on BTN.
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