Lucas at 50: While rare, UW has seen epic nail-biters against MAC teams
October 03, 2019 | Football, Mike Lucas
A look back at some memorable scares for the Badgers
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer Mike Lucas is celebrating 50 years of covering the Badgers in 2019. Join us throughout the season as we take a look back at some of the most memorable moments from his career in Madison.
 |
||
|
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
Sporting a 33-2 record against current teams in the Mid-American Conference, there have been more blowouts than close calls for the Badgers, who most recently routed Central Michigan, 61-0, in the 2019 home opener. Beyond the two losses in 1988, there have been a few scares against MAC opponents, and they gave rise to unsung walk-ons like David Braun and Josh Hunt. Both stepped up and into the spotlight.
MADISON, Wis. — The 2002 Northern Illinois team that made the 100-mile bus trip from DeKalb, Illinois, to Camp Randall Stadium was so beat up that the No. 1 tailback was left at home with a heart condition and the No. 1 wide receiver was limited to making fair catches on punt returns because of a hamstring injury.
The tailback was Thomas Hammock, now the NIU head coach (Hammock, a two-time 1,000-yard rusher, was forced to give up the sport. His first coaching job was as a graduate assistant under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin, where he also served as a full-time Badger assistant for three seasons.).
The wide receiver was P.J. Fleck, now the University of Minnesota head coach (The sure-handed Fleck, whose mobility was impaired by the injury, called fair catches on six kicks. At Western Michigan, he was the coach of the undefeated MAC champion that lost to the Badgers in in the 2017 Cotton Bowl.).
The beat-up Huskies were a 21-point underdog. And they almost beat Wisconsin in '02.
After escaping with a come-from-behind 24-21 win, UW offensive coordinator Brian White said, "I think everybody who was at that football game knows that we got totally outplayed and outhit."
Quarterback Brooks Bollinger was sacked 10 times — "I'll take a beating any day of the week to win a football game" — and tailback Anthony Davis was held to 49 yards, the third straight game the Badgers were unable to produce a 100-yard rusher, the first such drought since 1995.
By comparison, Northern Illinois running back Michael (the Burner) Turner, subbing for Hammock, rushed 34 times for 160 yards and two touchdowns to complement quarterback Josh Haldi, who threw for 273 yards. His main target was Sam Hurd, who caught eight passes for 161 yards.
Despite a statistical advantage, the Huskies trailed 17-9 in the third quarter before rallying behind Turner, Haldi and Hurd. An aggressive defense controlled the line of scrimmage and keyed the comeback as Bollinger was sacked four times in three fourth-quarter possessions.
With 5:55 left, Turner scored from 3 yards out and Northern Illinois took a 21-17 lead. After the teams exchanged punts and the Huskies did a poor job with clock management, stopping the clock with an incomplete pass, the Badgers got the ball at midfield with one timeout and 2:13 remaining.
"We all just looked each other in the eye and we just said, 'We need to get the ball down the field and score. Otherwise, we're going to lose this game,'" related senior wide receiver David Braun, the former walk-on from Madison Edgewood High School.
After Darrin Charles injured his ankle the week before against West Virginia, Braun emerged from the shadows of Jonathan Orr and Brandon Williams to help jump-start the offense with a couple of key receptions in the win over the Mountaineers. "It was a confidence booster for me," Braun said.
A week later, Bollinger and Braun were at their best during the game-winning series against Northern Illinois. Braun caught two passes and the Huskies were guilty of two pass interference penalties, including one on Braun at the goal line. Bollinger capped the drive by scoring on a QB trap.
With 76 seconds to play and the ball on their own 20, the Huskies had one last shot to pull off the upset. But they couldn't block sophomore defensive lineman Darius Jones, the former Beloit (Wisconsin) Memorial star. Jones had two sacks and a pressure, and the defense held NIU on downs to seal the win.
"I don't know why it was such a struggle," Braun said. "We just came out sluggish and they were jacked up. There's no excuse for coming out that way. But it happened. And I think the true test of our team was the way we responded."
Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak was visibly upset over the officiating after the game. There was a questionable holding call on a punt that set up the Badgers with excellent field position on the game-winning drive. And there were the two flags for pass interference.
"Boy, there were some awfully bad timing on some of those penalties," he lamented.
It was not the first time an NIU coach walked out of Camp Randall feeling such anxiety.
In 1992, freshman quarterback Darrell Bevell's successful two-point conversion punctuated a furious fourth-quarter rally as the Badgers overcame five turnovers and a 17-3 deficit with 12:41 remaining to squeak out an 18-17 victory over the Huskies, then a Division I-A independent.
Northern Illinois coach Charlie Sadler complained that "no part of the ball or body was over the line" when Bevell's knee touched the ground on the two-point try. The 22-year-old Bevell, not known for his foot speed, was just happy to get to the pylon.
"It just seemed like an eternity while I was running," he said.
Another Bevell run felt the same way — his memorable TD run in the '94 Rose Bowl.
• • • •
As fate would have it, Bollinger just happened to be the starting quarterback in the 2000 opener when another stubborn MAC team was hell-bent on shocking the world and knocking off the Badgers. Western Michigan, unlike Northern Illinois, had a trump card: campus turmoil resulting from Shoegate.
Hours before the kickoff, the Badgers were slapped with penalties from the NCAA for players accepting extra benefits and credit arrangements not offered to other non-student-athletes. The final count: 26 players were suspended: 11 for three games and 15 for one game each.
All of the suspensions had to be served in the first four games.
On a sweltering Thursday night in Camp Randall — the temperature reached 90 with a heat index of over 100 degrees — Alvarez elected to sit 11 players, including five starters, against Western Michigan. Josh Hunt was one of the replacements taking over for Nick Davis as the punt returner.
Hunt, a backup wide receiver and Thiensville, Wisconsin, native, was No. 23 in the program, a duplicate number he shared with cornerback B.J. Tucker. Since both were on special teams, Hunt switched to No. 20 (also worn by kicker Vitaly Pisetsky and tailback Jerone Pettus).
There was one logistical hang-up: Hunt had to wait until halftime to get his name stitched on the back of his home jersey. By then, everyone knew his identity. Late in the second quarter, Hunt electrified the crowd by returning a punt 89 yards for a touchdown.
(It's still the second longest in school history behind Troy Vincent's 90-yard TD return in '91.)
"I think for tonight and the next few days, people will know who I am," said Hunt, a junior walk-on from Homestead High School in Mequon. "It was a great feeling to finally be out there playing."
Hunt gave Wisconsin a 10-0 lead with 4:23 remaining in the first half. Despite managing just 252 yards of total offense — Bollinger was sacked five times — the Badgers had just enough to hold off Western Michigan, 19-7, in an absolutely taxing day for the players and coaches.
Bollinger, who was physically drained, asked a favor of the media corps. "One more question, guys," he requested, cutting short his interview session. "I'm about to pass out."
Alvarez was emotionally wiped out.
"That's got to be unprecedented for anybody to go through what we went just went through," he said with a deep sigh. "But you always look for a silver lining. So, how can you ask any more out of a Josh Hunt? It's satisfying to know that he stepped up with the biggest play of the game."
