BLOOMINGTON,Ind' Hidden deep within the wooded countryside of Indiana came a surprise no Wisconsin fan wanted to see. The Badgers offense was stifled for the last 24 minutes of the game and the defense was inept to stop the pass as Wisconsin (5-2 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) was beaten for the second week in a row, 32-29 by the Indiana Hoosiers (3-3,1-1) at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.
\Little things frustrate me,"" Head Coach Barry Alvarez said after the game. ""Whether it's holding a lead, stopping somebody when we have to [or] the whole thing.""
At one point, the Badgers were up on the Hoosiers 29-10. A fumble by Indiana's freshman running back Yamar Washington on their first play from scrimmage set up a Wisconsin field goal.
After a long scoring drive to open up the second half, sophomore strong safety Jim Leonhard, intercepted a Hoosier pass and took it to the Indiana 8-yard line, leading to a Badger touchdown.
After that touchdown, momentum was high for the Badgers. Nothing seemed to go wrong, and yet it all began to come out from underneath them.
""We had all the momentum in the world,"" Coach Alvarez said. ""We just needed to keep it.""
Instead, Indiana took the momentum and ran with it. They scored 22 unanswered points in the last quarter and a half, passing the ball about as well against a Badger secondary that became porous as the game went on.
Defensively the front line had four sacks in the game, but the secondary had problems in the second half containing an Indiana passing game. Late in the game wide receivers junior Glenn Johnson and sophomore Courtney Roby both seemed to have no problems finding the open holes. The two combined for 11 catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns. The defense allowed Indiana to get a key fourth down conversion in the third quarter and go five for five on third down in the final period, allowing Indiana to come out of the game with a big win.
Junior linebacker Kyle McCorison, who filled in for an injured Jeff Mack, believed the team could have done much more.
""We had the game won and we didn't come out to play like we had to do,"" McCorison said.
Offensive coordinator Brian White could not figure out what happened at the end and looked confused with the outcome.
""It's hard to explain,"" White said. ""We had a 19 point lead and we needed to find a way to win the game and keep the momentum. They took the momentum back and they didn't give it back. They seized it and made the plays they needed to win the football game.""
Senior quarterback Brooks Bollinger had a tough day, with the exception of the three drives near halftime. Bollinger finished the day 11 for 23 for 113 yards, a touchdown and an interception. During the late game offensive drought, Bollinger only completed two passes in 10 attempts.
In the second quarter, Bollinger was intercepted after trying to throw to a well covered freshman wideout Brandon Williams. After that interception, Bollinger spent the next offensive series with a towel in hand as junior quarterback Jim Sorgi led the offense to a field goal.
Offensive coordinator White said that the offense needed to do something in the fourth quarter to get them back in the game.
""When you're on offense and you have a opportunity to change the momentum you have to do it,"" White said. ""We didn't do that in the fourth quarter.""
Sophomore running back Anthony Davis ran for 108 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries with a bum ankle. Freshman back Dwayne Smith helped give Davis a break during the game, running 53 yards on 11 carries with one touchdown. Offensive coordinator White said that playing Smith was a part of the game plan.
""We wanted to be smart with (Davis)'s ankle. We felt coming into this game that the prudent thing to do would be to alternate series between the two.""
What the loss came down to was the inability to play through the entire football game. Injuries and youth may have lead to the loss, but whatever the case may be, Wisconsin is now 0-2 in the Big Ten and now having to prepare for undefeated Ohio State next week at Camp Randall.
