There is no doubt that the best moment of the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2012 football season was the wipeout of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Big Ten Championship Game. Hanging 70 on a 10-win Nebraska team and winning a third straight Big Ten title enabled Wisconsin to put the struggles of a rocky season behind it. The Badgers naturally got lucky that Ohio State was ineligible for postseason play, but someone had to play Nebraska in Indianapolis. Wisconsin made the most of that opportunity and reached a third straight Rose Bowl.
We wrote about that 2012 Big Ten title game, however, so we don’t have to devote this space to an extended look at that game. If there was another highlight of that season — if referring to victories and not defeats (one could argue that it is a highlight to play in the Rose Bowl, regardless of result) — the Utah State win comes to mind.
Yes, the 2012 Badgers thrashed Minnesota for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. In terms of a game which meant a lot to the Wisconsin community, there is zero doubt that Minnesota matters more than Utah State in any season, 2012 included. No one is arguing that 2012 Utah State meant more on a personal level than the 2012 Minnesota game. However, in terms of the evolution of the 2012 team and the way it improved as the season continued, yes, the Utah State game marked a more significant turning point for Wisconsin.
Let’s remember where Wisconsin was when it faced Utah State in September. The Badgers were coming off a 10-7 loss to Oregon State. Their offense was in tatters with Russell Wilson beginning his storied NFL career with the Seattle Seahawks. It was clear that Wisconsin was not going to be a 10-win team. These Badgers had to survive.
They did exactly that against Utah State.
Wisconsin trailed 14-3 at halftime. The Badgers were going to need help, and they were going to need surprising lightning-bolt plays. An 82-yard punt return for a touchdown by Kenzel Doe was one. A shanked Utah State punt, setting up a short field, was another. Wisconsin started its go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown drive at the USU 42 after that shank. Montee Ball scored on a 17-yard run with 3:06 left to create the 16-14 lead. The Badgers then got one more source of help from the Aggies, who missed a 37-yard field goal in the final seconds to preserve Wisconsin’s escape.
If the Badgers had not won that game, would this team have been able to hit its stride later in the year, with three straight blowout wins over Illinois, Purdue, and Minnesota? Maybe… but we’ll never truly know. Figuring out a way to fight through on-field adversity gave that 2012 Wisconsin team the important realization that it could taste its own blood and still survive. In many ways, that’s what the 2012 team did.
The other reason the Utah State game is notable when looking back at the decade is that Wisconsin’s next coach after Bret Bielema was standing on the other sideline. Who could have known that Gary Andersen, just a few months later, was going to replace Bielema as UW’s next coach? It is hard to think that the 2012 Utah State game had no influence on Barry Alvarez as he tried to usher the Badgers through this decade after Alvarez’s very successful successor, Bielema, chased SEC glory in Arkansas.
No, the 2012 Utah State game didn’t mean more on an emotional level than the 2012 Minnesota game, but it did show more about the 2012 Wisconsin team’s evolution.