There couldn’t have been a more telling moment than watching Wisconsin’s potential game-winning field goal doink directly off the right upright. It about summed up the Badgers’ performance and season, except the defense came through with just over a minute left in the game and much-maligned quarterback Joel Stave came through in the clutch again.
It all led to a second chance for kicker Rafael Gaglianone, who redeemed himself after that missed field goal just about a minute before. His 46-yard effort snuck in just past the same right upright that he nailed on his previous kick.
However, Gaglianone doesn’t get that opportunity with a master stroke of a final drive by Stave and his receivers.
Wisconsin had 1:14 left and 70 yards to go, and Stave stepped up to the plate in a big way. He hit three-straight passes to move the Badgers to the Huskers’ 28-yard line with 25 seconds left. After a pair of missed passes, Wisconsin put Gaglianone out there with nine seconds on the clock.
Not all was rosy for the Badgers or Stave himself, far from it actually.
Stave finished the game 25 of 50 for 322 yards and one touchdown, but it was his inconsistency early on that nearly cost the Badgers big.
Stagnation — it was the theme of the first half for the Wisconsin Badgers offense and for Stave himself.
With starting running back Taiwan Deal down early in the contest and the running game stalling out quickly, head coach Paul Chryst decided to go pass-heavy on the road to the Huskers. It led to an offense that was completely up and down.
Quarterback Joel Stave was just 12 of 24 for 126 yards in the first half, and that inconsistency between the wide receivers and Stave led to five of six first half drives stalling out. It started on the opening drive, as UW couldn’t take advantage of good field position thanks to a defensive stand on Nebraska’s first possession.
After getting across mid-field, Wisconsin’s drive stalled out and it left Rafael Gaglianone with a 47-yard field goal with a gusting wind at his back. The kick started wide and was hooking in, only to see the gusting wind take it wide right.
It felt like a microcosm of the Badgers first half overall, as Stave missed a few crucial throws and had other good passes dropped at key moments as well.
Stave did have glimmers of greatness though, including a 16-yard out pass to Jazz Peavy on a crucial third and 15. It led to UW’s lone scoring drive of the first half, and Stave to hit another great pass to tight end Troy Fumagalli for the 7-yard touchdown and the 7-0 lead.
Peavy finished the day with four receptions for 44 yards, but the real star was tight end Troy Fumagalli. He finished the day with a career-high six catches for 60 yards and one touchdown in the winning effort.
While that was nice, a lot of those numbers happened while the Badgers were stagnating on offense.
On the flip side, Nebraska got Tommy Armstrong going on the ground and through the air in the last half of the second quarter and it resulted in 14 unanswered points. Armstrong got outside of the Badgers pass rush deep in UW territory and scampered for the first touchdown, while also taking advantage of bad coverage from cornerback Sojourn Shelton for a 41-yard touchdown pass to Alonzo Moore.
The Huskers reeled off 14 unanswered points in the second quarter and took a 14-7 lead in to the half.
Things looked much the same to start the third quarter, but something turned on inside an unlikely and buried star — running back Dare Ogunbowale. After underwhelming in the first half and seeing most of the carries go to true freshman Alec Ingold, Ogunbowale burst on to the scene in the second half.
He busted multiple 20-yard plus runs and ended the day with 117 yards on 18 carries, with a long of 32 yards.
With the offense opening up, Rafael Gaglianone was able to get a measure of redemption for his earlier missed field goal. He would hit a 45-yard effort in to the wind and put the Badgers down by just a score at 14-10.
Things picked up offensively for the Badgers from there, with the Badgers doing work on its first drive in the final stanza. It ended with the true freshman running back, Alec Ingold, punching in his first career touchdown from one-yard out. The Badgers took a 17-14 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
That helped Stave out dramatically down the stretch, as the passing game began to open up much more with Ogunbowale hitting big runs and UW needing to hold on to its slim lead while also looking for extra points.
It ended with Gaglianone hitting his second field goal of the game, pushing the lead to a six-point margin with just 6:17 left to play.
However, what seemed like a team effort turned in to a scary final few minutes for the Badgers. After Gaglianone’s made field goal, Wisconsin’s defense appeared to have stopped the Huskers cold.
Instead, a bottled up 3rd and 2 play turned in to a 55-yard touchdown from walk-on fullback Andy Janovich. That made it 21-20 Huskers with just over three minutes to play.
Gaglianone would doink that field goal opportunity for the lead, but the defense redeemed itself by stopping the Huskers on their final drive of the game looking to get a first down and kill off the game.
Instead, UW used all three time outs and only 12 seconds ticked off the clock.
The rest, as they say, is history and Wisconsin moves on with hopes for a Big Ten West division title still very much alive.
UW will take those hopes and a new winning streak back home next Saturday, as they take on Purdue at 11a.m. CT on BTN.
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