Jumping out to a 10-0 lead, the No 19 Badgers looked poised to give head coach Barry Alvarez a win in his final game at Camp Randall. However, the Badgers were only able to muster up 72 more yards (until their final drive), and fell to the Hawkeyes, 20-10.
The loss was the fourth straight for Wisconsin against Iowa, and allowed the Hawkeyes to retain the Heartland trophy and take a 40-39-2 advantage in the all-time series.
With senior left guard Matt Lawrence injured, the Badgers offensive struggles continued. Junior running back Brian Calhoun was held to a season low 18 yards on 15 carries, and ended his scoring streak at 10 games.
'Obviously we're not blocking well enough to run it,' Alvarez said. 'When you got guys running through you in the holes, it's pretty hard for Calhoun or anybody else to run.'
Despite the difficulties running the ball, junior quarterback John Stocco was insistent that the team should still have been able to succeed offensively.
'It's nice to be able to run the ball, but if you can't that shouldn't matter,' Stocco said. 'You should still be able to throw the ball down the field and move the ball.'
Stocco finished with 257 yards passing and one touchdown, but he was sacked six times, just a week after being sacked nine in a loss to Penn State.
The Badgers got off to a quick lead just over halfway through the first quarter, when Stocco hit senior Brandon Williams in the back left corner of the end zone. The touchdown was Williams' fifth of the year, and Stocco's 17th, tying him for third place on Wisconsin's single season list.
Despite Williams' terrific play (nine catches for 132 yards), it was his mistake that may have cost the Badgers the game.
Leading 10-3 at the start of the third quarter, on a second-and-seven from their own 21, Stocco faked a handoff to Calhoun and unleashed a pass down the middle of the field in the Williams' direction. The ball hit the streaking wide receiver in the chest, but was mishandled by the senior, falling to the ground for an incomplete pass.
'I just let one get away from me. I had it and it kind of slipped,' Williams said. 'I was trying to run, but I really think it kind of hurt us. We lost a lot of momentum right there.'
Though Williams was upset, Stocco refused to blame his favorite target for any loss of drive the Badgers might have had.
'I missed him earlier on a deep one. I think we all had a couple missed opportunities,' Stocco said. 'I don't think you can really pin it on one thing.'
Following that drive, the Hawkeyes tied the game on a third-and-goal toss from junior quarterback Drew Tate to a wide open junior running back Champ Davis. On the play, the Badgers lost starting defensive tackle freshman Matthew Shaughnessy to a knee injury that Alvarez described after the game to be 'pretty serious.'
Iowa's sophomore running back Albert Young torched the Badgers all day long, running for 127 yards on 26 carries, making him the sixth on the all-time Iowa rushing list, but it was another Wisconsin mistake that gave the Hawkeyes chances.
Still tied in the third quarter, the Hawkeyes stood on their own 20-yard line on second down. Tate tossed an incomplete pass to Young, seemingly resulting in third down. However, sophomore defensive lineman Kurt Ware was called for rushing the passer as he plowed into Tate who clearly released the ball well before contact was made. Following the penalty, Young rushed for 44 yards on three plays, setting up another Hawkeyes score.
After the game, Alvarez was very critical of Ware's mistake.
'I thought that was huge,' Alvarez said. 'We let them off the hook and it takes them right down the field. And I didn't see him in the picture. It had to be real late.'
Ware was not any less harsh on himself.
'I was just trying to give it my all and I lost my head a little bit,' Ware said. 'It was a big penalty for the team.'
The players were obviously distraught that they could not get a win for their seniors, nor their departing head coach
'This is especially tough with this being coach's last home game and for these seniors,' Stocco said. 'It's tough to swallow right now.'
When asked about the emotional reaction in the locker room, Stocco added that it was pretty solemn.
'There's not much to describe,' Stocco said. 'We all just put a lot of emotion into this. It's tough right now.'
Despite Calhoun's poor statistic output, he joined Iowa's Ronnie Harmon as the only two players in Big Ten history to rush for at least 1,000 yards and have at least 500 yards receiving in a single season.
The Badgers have the next week off, then head to Manoa, Hawaii to take on the University of Hawaii, at 8 p.m.
