IOWA CITY, Iowa — Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema has a Hawkeyes tattoo on his leg and, apparently, a trick up his sleeve.
The former Iowa player and assistant coach stunned his alma mater with a fake punt midway through the fourth quarter, and Montee Ball ran 8 yards for a touchdown with 1:06 left as the 13th-ranked Badgers rallied to beat No. 15 Iowa 31-30 on Saturday.
Scott Tolzien threw for 205 yards and a touchdown and John Clay added two touchdowns for the Badgers (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten), who pulled out a special teams gadget play at just the right time.
Punter Brad Nortman ran 17 yards up the middle into wide-open field on fourth down from his 26 with Wisconsin trailing 30-24. The Badgers converted another fourth down with 3:23 left and Ball capped an 80-yard drive with the game-winning score, barely breaking the goal line with an outstretched arm holding the ball.
“It was something we had seen on film,” Bielema said. “Once I saw them put the punt return unit there ... we gave them the call.”
Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said: “[Nortman] did a great job of being patient. A big, big play in the game. It changed things around dramatically.”
The week after Wisconsin knocked off then-No. 1 Ohio State at home, the Badgers earned back-to-back victories over ranked teams for the first time since 2004, thanks to a call few in Madison, Wis., orIowa City will ever forget.
“It’s been two pretty good weeks,” Bielema said.
Iowa (5-2, 2-1) took a 30-24 lead on Michael Meyer’s 40-yard field goal with 8:35 left and appeared set to take control.
But Nortman’s run changed the game.
Iowa’s final drive ended on the Wisconsin 35 when Adam Robinson failed to get out of bounds before time expired. The Hawkeyes burned their final timeout the play before, after they had gotten a first down and could have spiked the ball to stop the clock.
“We wanted to burn thetimeout and just go from there. I guess we could have gone the other way. Might have saved us two seconds,” Ferentz said. “I don’t think that was exactly the turning point in the game.”
Ricky Stanzi had 258 yards passing and three touchdowns and Robinson added 114 yards for Iowa (5-2, 2-1), which suffered its first home loss of the season.
In other games involving Big Ten teams, Terrelle Pryor threw for three scores, Dan Herron ran for two and No. 10 Ohio State (7-1, 3-1) showed it was over its Wisconsin hangover with a 49-0 victory over visiting Purdue (4-3, 2-1). ... Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase passed for two touchdowns and the Fighting Illini (4-3, 2-2) returned interceptions for two more in a 43-13 rout of Indiana (4-3, 0-3). ... Matt McGloin threw two touchdown passes to Derek Moye for visiting Penn State (4-3, 1-2) in relief of injured starter Rob Bolden, and the Nittany Lions used struggling Minnesota (1-7, 0-4) to get their first Big Ten victory, 33-21.
Sports, Pages 39 on 10/24/2010