This was not how things were supposed to end.
For more than three-and-a-half quarters on Senior Day, the Wisconsin Badgers battled the Big Ten co-leading Michigan Wolverines to a 17-17 tie.
With the crowd on its feet, it was supposed to be a last-second score on the final drive of the game against the one team that has tripped up the Badgers' senior class.
Senior tight end Mark Anelli said he was supposed to \walk off victorious and come back out [on the field] and dance in the Fifth Quarter.""
Everything was supposed to turn out in favor of the Badgers.
Then fate intervened and ripped the heart out of the fans at Camp Randall Stadium.
A seemingly innocent punt by Wolverine senior punter Hayden Epstein bounced off Badger freshman safety Brett Bell when no other UW player was within 10 yards of the ball. Michigan recovered the miscue and Epstein nailed a 31-yard game-winning field goal to allow the Wolverines to escape Madison with a 20-17 victory.
""This is probably one of the hardest losses I've ever been part of,"" Anelli said. ""To fight so hard, offensively and defensively they played so well, to come off [the field] with a loss like that, I'm speechless.""
As frustrating a season as it has been, this game might have been the icing on the cake in terms of close games not going UW's way.
From the final drive that did not make it at Oregon to the second-half outburst by Fresno State and from a home loss to Indiana to losing a late lead at Illinois, this game was viewed by many as a salvage to a lost season and a chance to give the seniors a going-away present.
Unlike most games, it was not the defense that was most disconcerting to UW Head Coach Barry Alvarez. Rather it was the Badgers' special teams that had two punts blocked, a missed field goal late in the game and the punting gaffe.
""Today was very difficult to sit there and watch because our other guys were playing so hard and [the special teams] just kept hurting us with field position [and] points,"" Alvarez said.
No matter how many ways UW's special teams killed the opportunity to win, it does not take away the greater hurt that the seniors expressed after the Michigan game.
""It was an emotional day and I would have like to have gone out with a W,"" senior safety Joey Boese said.
""Every guy left everything they had out on the field,"" senior linebacker Nick Greisen said. ""That's what makes [the loss] the hardest part.""
The hurt must now go away quickly in order for the football team to gear up for the final game of the season against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
But is that not what's supposed to happen?
