November 2011 Archives

Tam Flarup chronicled all the action from Wednesday's game between the Badgers (3-5) and Boston College (2-3) with the live Gameday Blog. The Badgers beat the Eagles 58-50 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at the Kohl Center.

There is the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry, known as the Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe. There is Wisconsin-Ohio State, which has had no shortage of drama, especially in the last couple of years.

The same can be said of Wisconsin-Michigan State. When it comes to football and men's basketball, we might be hard pressed to name another pair of programs that have traded thrilling victories and rip-your-heart-out losses quite like these two schools.

The Hail Mary pass from Kirk Cousins off the facemask of B.J. Cunningham and into the hands of Keith Nichol is the latest and the craziest, but it is hardly the only wild ending between the programs.

In 2000, a Jim Sorgi 45-yard pass to Lee Evans in the final half-minute gave the Badgers a 17-10 victory in East Lansing. Not quite a Hail Mary, but it was close.

In 2007, the Badgers and Spartans had a shootout as the teams combined for 1,025 yards of offense. Yet it was a fourth-down stop with a little more than one minute to play that helped Wisconsin hold off MSU, 37-34.

A year later, Sparty rallied from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit in East Lansing to beat Wisconsin on a last-second field goal, 25-24.

Now onto basketball, where there also has been some tremendous theatre. Take Bo Ryan's first year, when Wisconsin snapped Michigan State's home-court winning streak at 53, thanks to a Freddie Owens shot, followed by a Spartans' buzzer-beating bucket that was disallowed because the ball was shot and not tipped with two-tenths of a second remaining.

In 2004, there was the famous "Banner Night" at the Breslin Center. Michigan State was making plans for a Big Ten title celebration, only to see the Badgers ruin the evening with a 68-64 overtime decision. Eleven days later, Wisconsin beat State in the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis (an omen?), 68-66.

In 2008, Indy again was the location for another Badgers-Spartans thriller. Trailing most of the game, and down 12 with about eight minutes to play, Wisconsin fought its way back. A Michael Flowers steal and layup gave the Badgers a two-point lead, and in the closing seconds, MSU sharp-shooter Drew Neitzel missed what would have been a game-winning shot.

Final score: Wisconsin 65 Michigan State 63.

To be fair, the Spartans have had their moments as well. In 2007, the Badgers went into East Lansing as the nation's top-ranked team. MSU ended that with a 64-55 win. Not quite two weeks later, Kam Taylor's 3-pointer in the closing seconds helped the Badgers to a 52-50 win on Senior Day at the Kohl Center.

Last year at the Breslin Center, the Badgers looked to be in great shape, but the Spartans scored the final nine points of regulation, then went on to beat Wisconsin in overtime, 64-61.

A few weeks ago I repeated what I have long believed to be the case -- the Wisconsin vs. Minnesota series is the most underrated rivalry in college football. That is my story, and I am sticking to it.
However, it may be fitting to add another nugget. When it comes to the Big Ten's most high-profile sports, is there really a better rivalry going on today than Wisconsin-Michigan State?

I will make the wild assumption that if you are reading this, you have a strong rooting interest in the game. But even if you do not, I would strongly urge you to tune in Saturday night. I am not smart enough to predict a winner, but recent history tells us it should be a heck of a show.

For the first ever Big Ten championship game, could the script be any better?

For the fourth time in his record-breaking junior season, Wisconsin running back Montee Ball has been named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.

Ball earned the honor for the second-consecutive week, and the four weekly awards Ball has claimed this season rank as the second-most by any player in a single season in conference history.

Combined with the three Offensive Player of the Week awards earned by senior QB Russell Wilson, the Badgers secured seven weekly offensive honors in 12 weeks this season.

Ball shares the title this week as co-offensive player of the week alongside Michigan QB Denard Robinson.

Ball extended his Big Ten single-season record to 34 total touchdowns by rushing for four scores in the Badgers' 45-7 win over Penn State on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. The Wentzville, Mo., native carried 25 times and finished with 156 yards to go along with the fourth four-touchdown game of his career.

Ball now has 27 rushing TDs on the year -- also a Big Ten single-season record.

By scoring multiple touchdowns for the 12th-cosnecutive game, Ball broke the NCAA record for consecutive multi-TD games held by Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders. He also is closing in on Sanders' single-season touchdowns record, which was set at 39 in 1988.

In all, Ball has scored at least one touchdown in 18 straight games.

The UWBadgers.com Gameday Blog provided live coverage of Wisconsin's 6-1 win over St. Cloud State on Nov. 27, 2011. An archived version of the blog is below.

 

Patrick Herb and Karl Anderson covered all the action as the Badgers won the Chicago Invitational Challenge with a 73-56 win over BYU with the Gameday Blog live from the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Brian Mason and Brandon Harrison covered all the action as the No. 15 Badgers scored a 45-7 win over No. 20 Penn State to clinch a berth in the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game live with Gameday Blog.