Great opportunities come around once in a long while, and the Wisconsin football team made the most of an opportunity Saturday night as they knocked off the defending National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes 17-10.
The electric crowd of 79,793 helped Wisconsin (3-0 Big Ten, 6-1 overall) end Ohio State's 19-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the nation.
UW tallied the game-winning score on a 79-yard touchdown strike from junior quarterback Matt Schabert to senior wide receiver Lee Evans with 5:20 remaining in the game. Evans beat all-American defensive back Chris Gamble for his only reception of the night.
\It is unfortunate that it wasn't a game where you featured Lee Evans and you got the ball out there to him, because he would've been exceptional in that,"" Alvarez said. ""But when it came time, crunch time, late in the game to make the play, there's nobody that I would rather have doing it than Lee Evans.""
Schabert entered the game in the third quarter when senior quarterback Jim Sorgi left the field after apparently being choked by Ohio State senior linebacker Robert Reynolds. Schabert finished the game with only two completed passes but racked up 104 yards.
""I couldn't be more proud of the way Matt played and the composure that he played with,"" Offensive Coordinator Brian White said. ""The whole fourth quarter was pretty remarkable and he made some big-time throws and managed the game very well.""
UW started the scoring in the second quarter when freshman running back Booker Stanley found the end zone on a two-yard rush to give the Badgers a 7-0 lead. Wisconsin did not trail for the rest of the game.
Stanley carried the ball 31 times for 125 yards, including a touchdown in his replacement of senior running back Anthony Davis. Davis was held out of Saturday night's game, despite practicing last week, because of an injury to his left ankle that he suffered against UNLV.
Although Schabert, Stanley and Evans proved to be the heroes for Wisconsin on the offensive side of the ball, it was the defense that carried the Badgers for the entire night. Aside from one big pass play mid-way through the fourth quarter, the UW defense played a complete four-quarter game.
""Our defensive front was awesome,"" Alvarez said. ""They never allowed them to establish the run. They kept pressure on the quarterback. I don't know how they could play any better. It was actually without blitzing they were getting pressure on him.""
Despite the downfall of rain all evening, Camp Randall was as loud as it has been in recent memory. The electric atmosphere was something that coaches, players and fans alike had anticipated. The rain did not prevent the Badger fans from playing an important part as the ""12th man.""
""I thought the atmosphere tonight may have been better than the night we clinched the Rose Bowl and Ron broke the record,"" Alvarez said. ""I thought every snap they were at a fever pitch. There was never a play that the fans took off. It was that way when we took the field and for the entire ballgame.""
The Wisconsin victory gives the Badgers a hold on the Big Ten conference as they control their own destiny for the rest of the season.
""This is huge, I mean this is the turning point of the season right here,"" junior defensive back Jim Leonhard said. ""We pulled it out, and now we just gotta carry it over to next week.\
