As the dust settled Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, the Wisconsin football team found itself still undefeated. Barely.
After a delay of game penalty pushed UW back to UNLV's 29-yard line late in the fourth quarter and made it first and 15, senior quarterback Tyler Donovan rose to the occasion as a senior should.
Executing a perfect naked bootleg, in which all but one of the UNLV defenders fell for the play fake, Donovan scampered 29 yards and was able to sneak the ball inside the pylon as he dove for the end zone. UW followed the touchdown with an easy three-yard pass to Luke Swan on the two point conversion, making the score 20-13 in favor of UW.
UNLV responded on the ensuing possesion by picking up a first down on a 10-yard pass along the sidelines but was unable to do anything more to mount a comeback.
After struggling to contain the versatile freshman quarterback Travis Dixon virtually the entire game, UW was able to get a hold of him on the Rebels' last drive, sacking him twice.
Redshirt freshmen Kirk DeCremer and junior Jason Chapman made it a fourth and 15 situation for UNLV after both of their sacks. On fourth down, Dixon's pass along the sidelines was slightly overthrown and led to a turnover on downs, ending the Rebels' chances of a major upset.
UNLV's Dixon was, however, a sore spot for the UW defense the entire game. In the first quarter he was able to pick apart the Badger defense en route to a 14-play 80-yard touchdown drive and gave the Rebels' an early 7-0 lead. Dixon threw for 258 yards on 23-36 passes with one INT and one TD, along with 15 carries for five yards.
The Badgers responded on the next drive, as sophomore P.J. Hill (30 carries, 147 yards) and freshmen Zach Brown (two carries, 19 yards) decimated the UNLV defense to set up a beautiful pitch and catch on the first play of the second quarter as Donovan found sophomore tight end Garrett Graham (two receptions, 11 yards, one TD) in the end zone. However, the extra point was missed as senior holder Ken Debauche could not handle the snap and dropped the ball, leaving the Badgers behind 7-6. UW senior kicker Taylor Mehlhaff would make a 27-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to give the Cardinal and White a 9-7 advantage going into the locker room.
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Badgers found themselves trailing once again 10-9 when sophomore Shane Carter intercepted Dixon's pass, which set up a 51-yard field goal into the wind by Mehlhaff that inched over the crossbar. The Badgers once again took the lead at 12-10. UNLV, however, would respond with a field goal, making the score 13-12 with 7:33 left in the game.
On what turned out to be the game-winning drive, UW marched 10 plays for 61 yards, including a crucial fourth-and-one conversion by P.J. Hill to set up the dramatic scramble by Donovan. Donovan finished the game with 138 yards on 14-26 passing and one TD pass to go with six carries for 47 yards and one rushing TD.
UW will return home next weekend to face The Citadel.
Game Notes: UW senior wide out Paul Hubbard left the game and did not return with an apparent knee injury.
