Badgers Snap Ohio State's 19-Game Win Streak
October 12, 2003 | Football
It had been 18 years since the Wisconsin football team knocked off an opponent ranked in the top five. It had been 22 years since the Badgers defeated a top-5 team at Camp Randall Stadium. That was until Saturday night. UW used a 79-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass from backup quarterback Matt Schabert to Lee Evens to propel the 22nd-ranked Badgers to a 17-10 win over third-ranked and defending national champion Ohio State.
The victory snapped the Buckeyes' 19-game winning streak in the process and allowed Wisconsin to remain in a first-place tie with Michigan State in the Big Ten.
UW's last win over a top-5 team came on Nov. 16, 1985 when it defeated Ohio State 12-7 in Columbus, Ohio. The Badgers' last win over such a highly ranked opponent at home was Sept. 12, 1981 when it defeated top-ranked Michigan 21-14.
Wisconsin (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) got the game-winning score with 5:20 remaining in the game. On second-and-nine from their own 21-yard line, Schabert ' who entered the game late in the third quarter for injured starter Jim Sorgi ' found Evans streaking down the right sideline after beating OSU cornerback Chris Gamble on an out-and-go pattern. Evans caught the ball in full stride and raced untouched to the end zone for the score. It was Evans' only reception of the game.
Ohio State (5-1, 1-1) had tied the game 10-10 just 49 seconds earlier on a six-yard pass from Craig Krenzel to Michael Jenkins. The touchdown catch capped a seven-play 75-yard drive that included a 45-yard completion from Krenzel to Drew Carter that got the Buckeyes down to the Wisconsin 6.
Booker Stanley was a workhorse for the Badgers, carrying 31 times for 125 yards and a touchdown. Prior to Saturday night, the most yardage an opposing team had rushed for against Ohio State this season was 121 by Northwestern. The Buckeyes came into the game leading the nation in rushing defense with a 43.4-yards-per-game average.
Stanley got UW on the board first, scoring from two-yards out on the opening play of the second quarter to help give the Badgers a 7-0 lead. OSU tallied its only points of the first half when Mike Nugent connected on a 24-yard field goal with 4:02 remaining in the second quarter.
The score remained 7-3 until Mike Allen pushed Wisconsin's lead back up to seven on a 38-yard field goal with 5:09 left in the third quarter. Sorgi was sidelined for the remainder of game on the previous play after taking a hard hit to the neck while scrambling for an eight-yard run. He completed 5-of-7 passes for 54 yards and one interception.
Schabert, seeing his most playing time since a 2001 game against Michigan State, was 2-of-3 passing for 104 yards and one score. Brandon Williams caught five passes for 57 yards.
Krenzel completed 14-of-26 for 202 yards and one touchdown. The stingy Badger defense allowed Ohio State to rush for just 69 yards on 26 carries. Meanwhile, Wisconsin rushed 48 times for 141 yards.
Notes: With tonight's 79-yard TD strike to Evans, Schabert has now thrown three career TD passes, all to Evans, for 70, 3 and 79 yards, respectively 'Wisconsin's 6-1 record after seven games is its best since starting the 1998 season with a 7-0 mark'WR Lee Evans' 79-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter was the second-longest of his career. His longest was a 99-yarder earlier this season against Akron. Evans now has 20 career TD catches to move into sole possession of second place on Wisconsin's all-time list. Evans also extended his school-record number of consecutive games with a pass reception to 32 games 'DB Jim Leonhard registered his fourth interception of the season and 15th of his career tonight. Leonhard now stands in fourth place on the all-time UW list 'Tonight's attendance was 79,793, the fifth-largest crowd in Camp Randall Stadium history. That marks the 66th straight game that Wisconsin has drawn a crowd of at least 70,000 to 76,634-seat Camp Randall Stadium. Among those 66 games, 56 have been sellouts.
Wisconsin vs. Ohio State Postgame Quotes - 10/11/03
Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez
Opening Statement:
'I'm very proud and pleased with the victory, proud of my team. I thought it was a team win. All three phases played exceptional. Lots of different people made plays to win that football game. We played against a very, very good football team, a very talented team, a team that knows how to win. To walk off that field and break the nation's longest winning streak and stay undefeated in the league, it's one of my most gratifying wins. I'm really I'm really proud of the staff and the players. It was a great win for us and our program.'
On Lee Evans' as a playmaker and his gamble on his fake for his reception:
'Well, it's unfortunate that it wasn't a game where you featured Lee Evans and you got the ball out there to him, because he would 've been successful in that. But when it came time, crunch time late in the game to make the play, there's nobody that I would rather have doing it than Lee Evans. You know, they asked about his feet, I think he opened it up a little bit and separated from whoever was chasing him.'
On the status of Jim Sorgi:
'He has a neck injury. He's having a hard time breathing.'
Was it the Ohio State player grabbing him by the neck in the pile'
'You saw the film.'
On quarterback Matt Schabert stepping in:
'Matt Schabert ' to step in in a tough situation, they put a lot of pressure on you. It's hard to throw the ball. He made two crucial throws, obvious. His third-down run, good fake, stayed in bounds. Schabert did a good job.'
Lee Evans on what he thought was the decisive moment in the game:
'You know every time I play these guys, I'm always fired up ready to go. Early in the game, I had some opportunities where I was open to make plays and the ball just didn't come up. I stayed patient, let the game come to me. In crunch time, it came up and I made the play.'
Lee, was this one of the more gratifying victories that you have been part of:
'Definitely, yeah, it ranks up there No. 2 probably to the Rose Bowl, No. 1.'
Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel
'Opening Statement:
I think the first thing you have to do is give Wisconsin the credit for making the plays that you need to make to win a big game. And they'I thought they did an excellent job with their plan and their execution of their plan and I think you first have to be aware of that. And secondly, I think as we look at ourselves, we didn 't do the things you need to do to win a big game on the road. We always talk about the fact that you're going to win on the road you better be superior in the special teams and we had a couple errors there that were costly, and you know'and two, that you have to do a good job running the football on offensive side and we did not get that done. In fact, we struggled throwing the ball early in the ball game when the conditions were a little bit difficult. Thought we regained our footing, if you will, and our confidence that we could move the ball there in the latter part of the game. I really felt we had the'turned the momentum of the game, in the direction we wanted it. But, again, to Wisconsin's credit, (Matt) Schabert made the big throw to (Lee) Evans and then we didn't answer that the next time we got the ball.'
Did you expect Wisconsin to be able to run as well as they were able to run against you, especially, Booker Stanley'
'Well, you know Wisconsin does a great job running the football. They always have an excellent plan and' One thing that concerned me going into it was I didn't think we had'with our situation in preseason, given our guys as much look at the run as perhaps they needed and then we played five games where there was very little run. So, I was concerned that'you know, with you first test being one the like of Wisconsin' But I thought, really, our guys did, you know, a solid job there, you know there were a couple they let out, but they need a little more help on the offensive and special teams sides.'
Kind of ironic that Wisconsin's back-ups (Matt) Schabert and Booker Stanley in there for injured players, they were the ones that hurt you the most.
'Well, those two positions, you know, in their system are well schooled and did what they were asked to do and you know, that's to their credit.'
Wisconsin Players
Fullback Matt Bernstein on the Wisconsin running game:
'We are a physical team and we knew coming in we would have to establish the run to throw the ball at all. It was raining at first so we knew we had to run the ball. Our offensive line did a great job and Booker (Stanley) did a great job running the ball.
Fullback Matt Bernstein on the speed of the game:
'It was up-tempo. It was beating them up and trying to run as fast as possible. We were able to block real well today.'
Fullback Matt Bernstein on the play of Matt Schabert:
'He came into Michigan State two years ago and threw two touchdowns. We know we have the best receiver in the nation in Lee (Evans). I think that (Matt) Schabert did a great job. He is a good quarterback and he is a smart guy. The coaches had confidence in him. They ran the ball with him on that third down and two at the end of the game. We have confidence in all of our backups.'
Matt Schabert on his touchdown pass to Lee Evans:
'We had been running a lot of those routes all day and we usually like to throw that when we get guys jumping. We came out and the coverage really wasn't there for us. I trust Lee (Evans), he runs great routes and the guy bit on it. I just threw (the ball) over the top and let him do the rest.'
Matt Schabert on the significance of the win:
'These are the kind of games Coach (Barry) Alvarez always preaches about. He said when we came in, 'You have to work hard. You have to run the ball and you have to be physical to beat the teams like Ohio State.' It couldn 't have come at a better time. It was another rainy game for us. We have been in it before and we know how to handle it. The guys fought hard all day long. It is a great win for the team and the city.'
