After all the concern: Would the No. 20 Badgers be able to withstand the desert heat? How would the Badger backfield holdup without senior running back Anthony Davis? It turns out the biggest concern should have been if UW could stand an 88-minute rain delay after Tropical Storm Javier dumped rain on the Arizona turf. In the end it came down to a missed Arizona field goal that left the Badgers coming back to Madison with a 9-7 victory.
The Badgers entered the third game of the season with a defensive line that had kept its opponents out of the end zone, and an offense that was struggling to get in. Davis, still sidelined with an eye injury, was replaced by backup sophomore running back Booker Stanley and freshman Jamil Walker.
The game started slowly, with both teams relying on the defense to make up for offensive lines that continue to struggle. With the Badgers on the one-yard line, Matt Bernstein was stopped on the second drive of the game, a sign of things to come in the low-scoring game.
No one managed to put any points on the board when the stadium was cleared after the appearance of lightning. As the players left the field, the rain started and so began the extra-long \halftime."" When the rain subsided, the teams agreed to a 15-minute warm-up and no official halftime on the soggy Wildcats' turf.
The Wildcats struck first at the end of the second quarter on a 44-yard pass to Arizona's Mike Jefferson, putting UA up 7-0.
On the Badger's next possession things seemed to be going from bad to worse when Stanley fumbled. Luckily, UW was able to hold the Wildcats to a 43-yard field goal attempt, which Wildcats' sophomore Nick Folk missed.
The Badgers went into the fourth quarter scoreless and facing a team that had not given up a fourth quarter touchdown this season. However, in a game of improbabilities, Wisconsin struck just less than one minute into the final quarter as Stanley leapt into the endzone on a 7-yard run. The touchdown capped a 10-play, 56-yard drive, but senior kicker Mike Allen missed the extra point, leaving the Badgers down 7-6.
On the Badgers' following possession, Wisconsin saw some solid play from Stocco, who faced several third-and-longs, but solidly connected with several Badger receivers. Despite a 16-play, 72-yard drive, UW was forced to settle for a field goal attempt on fourth-and-two. After missing his previous attempt, Allen had no problems from 23 yards.
""You don't think about it,"" Allen said of his missed conversion. ""You can't think about it. If you think about it, you're gong to miss. That's something I've learned a lot from the (defensive backs). . . . If you screw up on a play, forget it. That's what I did and that's what I had to do.""
Arizona had a final chance to make the Badgers pay for their earlier missed field goal, but a 47-yard field goal attempt by Nicholas Folk hooked wide left, allowing the Badgers to start the Big Ten season 3-0.
Stanley finished with 135 yards on 30 attempts while Walker saw minimal time after a fumble. Stocco connected on only 12-of-24 passes for 116 yards, but had no interceptions.
""That was a bizarre game, and we handled the distractions and hung in there and won the game,"" UW offensive coordinator Brian White said. ""It was bizarre. Water is just running [into the locker room] ... it was like a flood in there. It was beyond belief. You couldn't have imagined what happened today.""
--The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report
