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closeMADISON, Wis - The Badgers, playing in front of a less-than-packed stadium on the opening day of Wisconsin's traditional fall deer hunt, capitalized on Cal Poly's three missed extra points to pull out a 36-35 win in overtime Saturday.
The victory improves Wisconsin to 7-5 and makes it likely the Badgers will be invited to a bowl game, a bittersweet accomplishment for a team that began the season with expectations of contending for a Big Ten title and at one point climbed into the top 10 in the rankings.
"The way the season has gone, we've been emphasizing to finish, to finish, to finish, and you can't finish any better than an overtime win," Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said.
There was much talk in the week leading up to the game about what kind of crowd Wisconsin might attract in its final home game of the season. The Badgers dropped Virginia Tech from this year's schedule and replaced the Hokies with Cal Poly (8-2), a Football Championship Subdivision team ranked No. 3 in the latest coaches poll. Couple those factors with the opening of deer hunting season and a wind chill at kick off of 24 degrees, and the Badgers played before a stadium with lots of empty seats, including the top rows of the student section.
Still, the Badgers looked like they intended to impose their will on Cal Poly initially. Each starter on Wisconsin's offensive line weighs in at more than 300 pounds, while the Mustangs use a 3-4 defense that features no one heavier than 260 up front, and the Badgers ran the ball six straight times to open the game. But John Clay fumbled at the end of a 10-yard run, and Cal Poly quickly capitalized for a 7-0 lead.
Using a T-style formation, which many Badgers hadn't seen since high school, the Mustangs ended up as the team that dictated things on the ground for much of the game. They rushed for 276 yards, the most Wisconsin has given up on the ground this season, and controlled the ball for almost 40 minutes.
"We came in and found a way to make plays," said Wisconsin quarterback Dustin Sherer, who threw for 245 yards and a touchdown but was picked off once and sacked three times. "We knew that we weren't going to have a lot of possessions, so we have to capitalize on the ones that we got."
Wisconsin looked headed for another disappointing loss midway through the fourth quarter as James Noble punched it in from 2 yards to give Cal Poly a 29-21 lead. But Andrew Gardner missed his second extra point of the game, leaving an opening for the Badgers.
Sherer took advantage of the opportunity, marching Wisconsin 89 yards in nine plays. The drive was capped by P.J. Hill's 3-yard touchdown run, and Wisconsin again handed off to Hill on the 2-point try, tying up the game.
The Mustangs had a chance to win in regulation with 12 seconds left after bringing in sophomore Jake West, who handles kickoffs, to try a 46-yard field goal. But West, whose long field in high school was 32 yards, came up about 15 yards short.
Cal Poly struck on the first play of overtime. Quarterback Jonathan Dally hit Ramses Barden for a 25-yard touchdown, the 19th straight game in which Barden has hauled in a TD pass.
But Gardner missed again, this time clanking the extra point try off the right upright. The Mustangs had converted 54-of-56 extra point tries this season coming into the game.
Wisconsin gave the ball to Clay three times on its OT possession, and he scored from 6 yards out. Philip Welch kicked the extra point to seal the win.
Clay rushed 11 times for 107 yards, while Hill's 59 yards rushing put him over 1,000 yards for the third straight season, only the second Badger to accomplish that.
Dally led the Mustangs with 213 total yards and two scores, one through the air and one on the ground.
Cal Poly coach Rich Ellerson refused to blame the missed kicks for the loss, pointing out the Mustangs went three-and-out from midfield with less than 6 minutes left while still up 29-21 and then couldn't stop Hill on the ensuing drive that tied up the game.
"We're bitterly disappointed we didn't get it done," Ellerson said. "We came up one play short."
For more on Saturday's game, see www.sanluisobispo.com/mustangs and see Sunday's print edition of The Tribune
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