Badgers Defeat Iowa in Big Ten Finale
November 11, 2006 | Football
November 11, 2006
Iowa City, Iowa -- The Wisconsin football team (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) defeated Iowa (6-5, 2-4) 24-21 today at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa in the final Big Ten game for the Badgers. With the win, UW recorded just the second 10-win regular season in school history and tied a school record with seven Big Ten wins.
Junior quarterback Tyler Donovan, making his first career start in place of the injured John Stocco, accounted for 289 yards of total offense, completing 17-of-24 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns and also rushing for 61 yards. Head coach Bret Bielema became the first coach in Big Ten history to record 10 wins in his rookie season.
The Badgers opened the scoring on their second drive of the game. Starting with good field position, on the Iowa 48-yard line, UW went 34 yards in eight plays, ending in Taylor Mehlhaff' 's 31-yard field goal. The key play on the drive was an 18-yard gain by Tyler Donovan on a quarterback draw.
On the first play of Iowa''s next drive, quarterback Drew Tate was flushed out of the pocket and intercepted by Roderick Rogers. Rogers returned the ball 28 yards to the Iowa 26-yard line and the Badgers needed just two plays to score their first touchdown of the game. Donovan connected with Travis Beckum on a pair of passes, the first giving UW a first-and-goal on the 3-yard line. From there Donovan and Beckum hooked up again, giving Wisconsin a 10-0 lead. It was Donovan''s first touchdown pass of the season and second in his career.
The score stayed that way until Iowa got on the board with 8:27 left in the first half. Facing a third-and-8 from its own 26-yard line, Tate connected with tight end Scott Chandler on a 64-yard pass. Two plays later, Tate found his other tight end, Tony Moeaki, alone in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown pass.
Iowa jumped ahead 14-10 on its next drive. The Hawkeyes drove 69 yards in seven plays, capped off by a three-yard pass from Tate to Tom Bush with 2:16 left in the half.
Wisconsin did not go quietly into the locker room, however, driving 73 yards in just 1:37 to regain the lead. Donovan ran for 22 yards on the drive and went 2-of-3 through the air. On third-and-8 from the Iowa 42, Donovan found Luke Swan, who outfought an Iowa defensive back to catch the ball around the 3-yard line and dove into the end zone to give the Badgers a 17-14 lead heading into the break.
In the first half, Donovan was 8-of-9 passing for 103 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for 49 yards.
The score stayed at 17-14 until the fourth quarter. With 6:29 left in the third, Wisconsin got the ball on its own 3-yard line. The Badgers proceeded to hold the ball for 7:40 while going 97 yards. A 48-yard pass from Donovan to Swan moved Wisconsin down to the Iowa 13-yard line. On the 15th play of the drive, P.J. Hill plunged into the end zone from one-yard out, increasing the UW lead to 10 points.
On the Badgers'' next drive, Hill caught a screen pass from Donovan and fumbled while fighting for a first down. Iowa took over on its own 41-yard line and needed just four plays to cut the UW lead back down to three. Tate capped the drive with his third touchdown pass of the game, connecting with Trey Stross for a 24-yard score.
Iowa got the ball two more times after that but could get nothing going. The Hawkeyes ' comeback bid came to a close when wide receiver Dominique Douglas dropped a pass on fourth-and-7, turning the ball over to Wisconsin at the Iowa 35-yard line with 2:32 on the clock. Four plays later, UW had the win.
Wisconsin takes on Buffalo next Saturday at 11 a.m. at Camp Randall Stadium in the Badgers' regular-season finale.
Wisconsin vs. Iowa Game Notes
Pre-Game Notes
'Wisconsin''s game captains today are QB John Stocco, OL Joe Thomas, LB Mark Zalewski and DE Joe Monty.
'Iowa won the toss and elected to receive. Wisconsin chose to defend the north goal.
'Kickoff was at 11:02 a.m.
'Today''s attendance was 70,585.
Team Notes
'Today''s win was the seventh straight victory for Wisconsin.
'With the win the Badgers recorded their second 10-win regular season in school history (1998 was the other). It is the fifth 10-win season in school history.
'UW finished the Big Ten season with a 7-1 record, tying the school record with seven Big Ten wins (1998 and 1999).
'Wisconsin has scored in the final two minutes of the first half in eight of its 11 games this season (six touchdowns and two field goals).
'Entering today''s game, Wisconsin's defense had given up just three touchdown passes this season.
'Iowa's two touchdowns in the second quarter were the first given up by UW''s defense since the second quarter of the Illinois game (a span of seven quarters).
'UW, which entered the game third in the country in time of possession, held the ball for 38:48 today (compared to 21:12 for Iowa).
Individual Notes
'Bret Bielema became the first Big Ten coach to record at least 10 wins in his rookie season as a head coach.
'Junior quarterback Tyler Donovan made his first career start, replacing the injured John Stocco. Stocco, out with an injured right shoulder, had started the last 35 games in a row.
'Donovan connected with Travis Beckum in the first quarter for a 3-yard touchdown pass. It was Donovan''s first TD pass of the season and the second of his career (his first was against Temple on Sept. 10, 2005). He later tossed a 42-yard touchdown pass to Luke Swan. He recorded career highs in completions (17) attempts (24) yards (228) and TDs (2).
'Donovan completed his first seven passes. His first incompletion came on a pass to Paul Hubbard with less than a minute left in the first half. He finished the first half 8-of-9 for 103 yards.
'P.J. Hill scored on a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. It was his 15th touchdown of the season and first since a 3-yard run in the third quarter of the Badgers'' win at Purdue.
'With 77 yards rushing today, Hill has 1,447 on the season. That is the 11th-best total by a freshman in NCAA history and the 11th-best total in UW history.
'The Badgers'' 97-yard touchdown drive at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter was UW''s longest scoring drive since Lee Evans caught a 99-yard touchdown pass from Jim Sorgi against Akron on Sept. 6, 2003.
'Luke Swan recorded the first 100-yard receiving games of his career, totaling a career-best 113 receiving yards.
'After hitting a 31-yard field goal in the first quarter, Taylor Mehlhaff is 13-of-13 this season on field goals inside of 47 yards.
'Roderick Rogers recorded his second interception of the season (and second in two games) in the first quarter. Rogers now has five interceptions in his career. UW has at least one interception in each of the last six games and 22 of the last 26 games.
