No. 20 Northwestern holds off No. 21 Wisconsin 13-7

Stave tried to fight off a sack on a first down from his own 44-yard line and was stripped, giving Northwestern the ball at the Wisconsin 34.

Prior to all that second-half craziness, Northwestern cashed in on a Stave interception in the first quarter, turning it into a Justin Jackson touchdown rush that made it a 7-0 game.

The takeaways from this showdown between No. 20 Northwestern and No. 21 Wisconsin?

“Ball’s going to be solid as a rock”, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said.

“I’m still kind of speechless, ” Fitzgerald said.

Erickson said after the game that he knew that was the rule, but he never heard a whistle and just kept running.

UW slipped to 5-2 in the league and 8-3 overall.

Saturday was a particularly tough day for the Wisconsin Badgers.

It was the Wildcats defense who stopped the run in this game. “‘One more chance, ‘ and they gave us another chance”. QB Joel Stave threw for 188 yards on 15 of 24 passing with a TD and an INT. The Terrapin backfield did well by committee with 117 rushing yards and a pair of TDs. During the bye last week, he hurt his hand after Wisconsin said Clement and a security guard were allegedly assaulted after getting involved in what started as a verbal dispute at his off-campus apartment.

Stave’s injury caused backup quarterback Bart Houston to take the Badgers final shot at the end zone on fourth and goal. Did they get it right? Nebraska ran for 196 yards and two scores, but that was the one aberration outside of the loss to the Crimson Tide – and now the Badgers have had two weeks off to rest.

The Badgers defense bent but didn’t break on the ensuing drive, forcing a 27-yard field goal attempt that went wide right. But Wisconsin missed out on several opportunities to move ahead.

Stave was tackled for a loss of 10 yards on the next play, and running back Dare Ogunbuwale spiked the ball prior to the final play that brought in Houston. Stave would complete a pass to tight end Troy Fumagalli over the middle for 22 yards to the Wildcats 1 yard line. After review, it was apparent his knee was down at the one.

In the third quarter, Alex Erickson’s 78-yard punt return for a touchdown that could have given the Badgers the lead was negated after officials ruled Erickson had called for a fair catch.

Wisconsin, which leads the nation in scoring defense, hosts offensively-challenged Northwestern Saturday afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium. “I actually thought we won it a couple times but we didn’t and you’ve just got to keep playing”. Deonte Gibson had three sacks. Ditto for the Wisconsin Badgers. Stave finished the game with 231 yards and two interceptions. Peavy, a sophomore, had a breakout performance with five catches for 88 yards.

On the next Wisconsin series, Erickson muffed the punt, which was recovered by Wildcats cornerback Matthew Harris at the Badgers’ 30-yard line with 2:01 left in the third. Northwestern’s leading receiver (Garrett Dickerson) only compiled 24 yards. On the drive, Wisconsin surpassed its entire first half offensive production of 50 yards on 28 plays, going 64 yards on five plays.