In the end, the Badgers' season came down to one bounce.
With less than 20 seconds left in Saturday's game against Michigan and the score tied 17-17, Wolverines senior punter Hayden Epstein's punt glanced off the leg of UW freshman Brett Bell, who was blocking downfield even though the Badgers had no punt returner in on the play.
Michigan junior cornerback Brandon Williams picked up the ball at the Badgers' 13-yard line, setting up a game winning 31-yard field goal by Epstein.
\I didn't know what happened because I was pretty sure the ball didn't hit me,"" Bell said.
The loss ends the Badgers' chances at a bowl game and marks UW's third straight loss to the Wolverines at Camp Randall. What makes the loss all the more hard to swallow is the fact that the Badgers played well enough to win, according to Wisconsin Head Coach Barry Alvarez.
""Obviously I'm very disappointed in losing that football game,"" Alvarez said. ""I really thought our players played extremely hard.""
Before Epstein's punt, UW's defense stopped a Michigan drive at midfield and looked poised to send the game into overtime.
However, UW's special teams had crossed signals on the punt. Senior wide receiver Nick Davis ran out on the field but then quickly went back to the Wisconsin sideline. UW sophomore wide receiver Bryon Brown, who was on the punt coverage team with Bell, said there may have been some miscommunication from the special teams coaches that confused some of the Badgers.
""I know that coach said that Nick wasn't going to be back deep,"" he said. ""I didn't know if everybody heard that.""
Alvarez said UW's coaching staff may have been partly to blame for the mistake.
""We didn't even have a deep guy back there to return the punt,"" Alvarez said. ""We tried to get an extra guy to rush [Epstein] to try to a block on the kick. If we didn't get it, we'd just go to overtime. It's inexcusable.""
Bell's error was just one of many mistakes UW made on special teams. Midway through the second quarter, freshman kicker R.J. Morse's punt was blocked and returned for a touchdown by Michigan freshman cornerback Marlin Jackson, giving the Wolverines a 14-7 lead.
In the third quarter, UM senior wide receiver Marquise Walker blocked another one of Morse's punts, which led to a Michigan field goal that gave the Wolverines a 17-7 lead.
The next special teams error proved to be the difference in the game.
With the score tied 17-17, UW drove down to the Wolverines' 20-yard line to set up a field goal attempt with 1:26 remaining. Sophomore kicker Mark Neuser, who hit a 46-yard field goal late in the third to tie the game, missed wide to the right, leaving the game knotted 17-17.
""It's a kick I should have made,"" Neuser said.
UW more than made up for its special-teams mistakes with its offense and defense.
Seniors Nick Greisen, Wendell Bryant and Mike Echols all turned in solid defensive performances. Greisen had 16 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry. Bryant had four tackles, and Echols finished with two tackles and two pass defenses.
While junior wide receiver Lee Evans had just three catches for 31 yards, he did set several records, becoming UW's all-time career receiving yardage leader and catching a pass for the 24th straight game, a Badgers record.
Redshirt freshman Anthony Davis gained 103 yards on 27 carries, becoming the third freshman to have nine 100-yard rushing games in a season.
