The Wisconsin Badgers (6-5, 4-4 B1G) rally with two fourth quarter touchdowns to stun the Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-8, 2-6 B1G), 15-14, from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
You can take a deep breath now, Badger Nation.
With the win, Wisconsin has now won nine consecutive meetings with Nebraska, with four of them coming in Lincoln.
The win also makes Wisconsin bowl eligible for the 21st straight season, which is the longest active streak in the Big Ten and third-longest streak in all of FBS.
Some may belittle any non-CFP bowl games, but for a young team like Wisconsin, the extra practices and game experience is HUGE. And if you don’t care about the bowl game, are you really a fan?
Graham Mertz wasn’t great today, but he stepped up and made some plays when UW desperately needed him to in the fourth quarter. There was talk among the coaching staff to put Chase Wolf in at QB.
Trailing 14-3 entering the fourth quarter, the Badgers pulled off the comeback win. It’s first time coming back from a deficit entering the final 15 minutes since November 17, 2018 when the Badgers pulled off a 47-44 triple overtime win at Purdue.
Wisconsin ran for 235 yards against Nebraska today, marking the fourth time this season that UW has had 200 rushing yards in a game this season.
The Badgers defense limited Nebraska to 171 yards of total offense, which is Nebraska’s second fewest of the season.
Trailing 14-9 with 2:59 remaining with starting field position at midfield. To me the biggest play of this drive came when Graham Mertz found Isaac Guerendo for a 27-yard completion to the Nebraska 7-yard line with 1:25 remaining.
Mertz ended up scoring the touchdown on a 2-yard quarterback sneak with 35 seconds remaining to give UW the 15-14 lead. The two-point conversion failed.
Some fourth quarter numbers:
- Wisconsin: 19 plays, 119 yards and two touchdowns.
- Nebraska: 13 plays, 25 yards and zero points.
Badgers players obviously want to see Jim Leonhard hired as the full-time coach and have the interim label removed. To paraphrase, Skyler Bell postgame said that they were talking about that in the locker room, what are they waiting for? What do we have to do for him to get the job?
This team has been through hell this season, with a very questionable coaching termination (Paul Chryst), a former player being murdered (Devin Chandler), among other things. Jim Leonhard and staff have held the players together. The players deserve kudos as well.
Up Next:
The Badgers will host their arch-rival the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-3, 4-3 B1G) at Camp Randall Stadium for Paul Bunyan’s Axe next Saturday, November 26th. Kickoff time and television networks are TBD as I write this.
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Nick Obot 