Badgers Gamble And Win In Sin City » Brats & Beer

September 9, 2007
posted under: Badgers football

Tyler Donovan: The name sounds like a difference maker, a play maker, a winner. I think I have a new man crush.

After a long, tense game during which the Badgers were trailing most of the time, there was a huge explosion in the Brats & Beer household when the UW quarterback ran a naked bootleg off a fake handoff and sprinted 29 yards for the winning touchdown with under two minutes to play. It was a gutsy call to make on third and short with Wisconsin down 13-12, but that’s why they call it gambling.

Up until that moment, you could tell the UNLV fans were getting ready for an Appalachian State-style celebration, and why wouldn’t they have been? The #5 ranked Badgers had been hard-pressed to contain the Running Rebels and Travis Dixon, who slashed the defense for 258 yards passing. The offense, meanwhile, struggled to convert on just five of 15 third down situations.

But P.J. Hill and the power running game came through in the end: Hill rushed for 147 yards on 30 carries, wearing down the UNLV defense over the course of the game. By the end, the Rebels were gassed and selling out on the run, which allowed Donovan his big moment of glory to win the game.

The Badgers will probably slip a couple notches in the polls after this close call, but they remain undefeated heading into next week’s game against The Citadel. And now with Michigan falling to 0-2 after their loss to Oregon (ha-ha!) the door is still wide open for UW to take this thing all the way to Pasadena.