BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
SAN DIEGO — Joel Stave looked as though he'd been in a fight Wednesday night and it did not end well at all.
The senior quarterback for the Wisconsin football team had a chunk of cotton jammed into his right nostril. He had a thick, white bandage spanning the bridge of his nose. He had a trickle of blood oozing from somewhere in the middle of his face. He looked like a sure bet to have a set of black eyes when Thursday morning rolled around.
"I feel like I've been in a fight," he said.
Stave smiled when he said that because he had an absolute blast Wednesday night at Qualcomm Stadium and a broken nose wasn't going to change that.
Stave closed out his record-setting career with the Badgers in a memorable, fulfilling way, engineering a 23-21 victory over Southern California in the Holiday Bowl.
In the process, Stave was named the Most Valuable Offensive Player and made good on a goal he set four years ago. He wanted to leave as the winningest quarterback in Wisconsin history. He did so to the tune of 31-10 (.756).
Stave won his debut vs. Texas-El Paso at Camp Randall Stadium on Sept. 22, 2012. He finished the project on a cool star-lit evening, 2,000 miles from Madison against a college football blueblood. In between he endured the slings, arrows, injuries and disappointments that come with his chosen craft.
"This is everything I've dreamed of," he said. "I've been fortunate to be a member of some very good teams to help us get those wins. To have it end that way is very gratifying."
Stave completed 18 of 27 passes for 217 yards and a touchdown. The TD throw, a 4-yarder to senior tight end Austin Traylor in the third quarter that featured a gorgeous play fake to tailback Alec Ingold, was No. 48 of Stave's career. Only Darrell Bevell, who had 59 scoring passes from 1992 to '95, has more.
Stave also finished second to Bevell on the all-time school list for passing yards (7,635), attempts (1,031) and completions (612). Stave did surpass John Stocco (2003 to '06) for the most 200-yard games in a career with his 18th.
"It feels fantastic," Stave said after the Badgers finished the season 10-3 overall. "I feel so proud of the guys, so proud of the coaching staff — everyone who put so much into this win. It was a tremendous team win.
"I think this shows how good a team we are. We lost some really close games against some very good teams in Iowa, Alabama and Northwestern. That's going to happen during the football season. I think this shows what kind of team we are and the kind of character the guys have."
The last game of Stave's career had its share of adversity.
Wisconsin built a 20-7 advantage early in the third quarter, but the Trojans (8-6) rallied to take a 21-20 lead. For a while it appeared USC had cornered just enough momentum to extend its unbeaten streak against the Badgers to seven games.
That feeling was never more acute than on the Wisconsin drive immediately after the Trojans assumed the lead. While completing a 9-yard pass to junior wide receiver Robert Wheelwright, converting on third-and-7, Stave was knocked to the ground by defensive tackle Kenny Bigelow Jr. Another defender, tackle Claude Pelon, inadvertently stepped on Stave's facemask and, according to Stave, clipped his nose with a cleat.
Stave was helped to the sideline where the Wisconsin medical staff diagnosed a broken nose. He missed the rest of the possession — senior Tanner McEvoy ran a play out of the wildcat formation on second down and junior backup Bart Houston overthrew his only pass to sophomore tight end Troy Fumagalli on third down — while athletic trainer Mike Moll and his staff tried to stop the bleeding.
"I knew I wasn't really hurt, so I knew I'd be able to go back in," Stave said. "It was just a matter of getting my nose to stop bleeding. I don't think it ever really did."
Stave returned on the next possession and drove the Badgers from their 47 to the USC 11. From there sophomore kicker Rafael Gaglianone converted the eventual winning 29-yard field goal with 2 minutes, 27 seconds left.
It was a clutch outing by Stave. Not only did he avoid a turnover, he was 6-for-9 for 58 yards on third down with five conversions.
"To win a game in that fashion is as cool as it gets," he said.
Stave wore a permanent smile amid the joy and noise on the field after the game. In between interviews he shared in handshakes and hugs with teammates and coaches. He posed for pictures with teammate Jack Cichy, a sophomore linebacker who was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player. Before he left for the locker room, Stave fulfilled multiple autograph requests, gave his game towel to a boy in the stands and posed for a fan's selfie.
At one point Pelon approached Stave and apologized for breaking his nose.
"It's fine," Stave told him. "It happens."
A TV reporter asked Stave about his bad-boy look and how it will be perceived by the folks at home.
"I certainly don't think it hurts my legacy at all," Stave said with a smile. "If this is how people want to remember me, I'm good with that."
Not long after he got inside, Stave checked his phone to find 29 text messages. There would be more before he was the last player to shower and leave the locker room.
During the postgame press conference, Stave anticipated he'd get a question about his career milestone. No one asked.
"I'm cool with that," he said.
Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst, who recruited Stave to Madison, was asked for an overview on his quarterback's showing.
"The thing I'll remember most about Joel is his competitiveness," Chryst said. "I thought he played with a lot of that tonight."
Stave has been the target of unrelenting criticism during his time at Wisconsin, but when offered a chance to put them in their place, Stave took the high road.
"People are say what they're going to say, think what they want to think," he said. "All I can do is control what I can control and that's being a good teammate, that's preparing myself for every game and representing myself in a way that would make my teammates, my family and my university proud. That was always my goal and I was able to accomplish that."
Stave was asked how he feels knowing that his career with the Badgers is done.
"I'm kind of riding a high right now," he said.
Pause.
"It's going to be weird," he said. "Tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up and I'm not going to be a current Badger football player. It's going to be weird, but I've been doing it a long time. I've really stretched it out. I've gotten all 10 semesters out of it."
It's been a good month for Stave. In the last two weeks he's received a degree in civil engineering and closed out a signature athletic career.
"Every good thing has got to come to an end," he said. "I couldn't ask for a better way for it to come to an end."
