Wisconsin rallies with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to stun Nebraska and become bowl eligible
LINCOLN, Neb. – You want an improbable victory?
We give you Wisconsin’s fourth-quarter comeback over Nebraska on Saturday in front of a crowd of 86,068 at Memorial Stadium.
With outside linebacker Nick Herbig ejected for targeting and tailback Braelon Allen battling through a shoulder injury all game and eventually knocked out because of an ankle injury, and the game just five days after learning former teammate Devin Chandler had been shot to death in Virginia, the Badgers scored two touchdowns in the final 10 minutes 7 seconds to rally for a 15-14 victory over the Cornhuskers.
Quarterback Graham Mertz, who threw a costly interception to set up Nebraska's first touchdown, scored on a 1-yard sneak with 35 seconds left to cap the rally.
"I’m just so proud of our guys right now," said Jim Leonhard, now 4-2 as interim head coach. "It was such a rough week early on. The game mirrored that. It was ugly for a long time but the guys just continued to battle and find ways to make plays.
"We really needed to win a game when we didn’t play well for 60 minutes. We needed to win a game going through some adversity and to see our offense and defense respond late in the game, continue to chip away and find a way to make plays – huge plays – down the stretch to get a win.
"Very, very proud."
Box score:Wisconsin 15, Nebraska 14
Proud of this team. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/UtDz3DSTNm
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) November 19, 2022
Wisconsin Badgers are bowl-eligible, have won nine straight over Nebraska
The Badgers (6-5, 4-4 Big Ten) became bowl-eligible and should extend their streak of bowl appearances to 21 seasons.
"It was awesome," left guard Tanor Bortolini said. "Going into the fourth quarter we’re down, 14-3. That has been our biggest challenge all year, coming back from when we’re behind. So for us to be able to do that, go out and make plays and put points up, it was awesome.
"Proud, happy, excited. I love winning."
About seven hours after the Badgers became bowl-eligible, UW officials posted the job opening. According to the posting: "The deadline for assuring full consideration is November 26, 2022, however, this position will remain open and applications may be considered until this position is filled."
Nevertheless, two sources told the Journal Sentinel Saturday night Leonhard will emerge as the full-time head coach.
Nebraska (3-8, 2-6), which suffered its fifth consecutive loss to fall to 2-6 under interim head coach Mickey Joseph, is getting accustomed to losing to UW.
The Badgers have won the last nine meetings and are 10-1 against the Cornhuskers since they joined the Big Ten before the 2011 season.
"This is a tough one," Joseph said. "To be in control of a game like that. I have to do a better job of getting them to close people out."
One week after rushing 31 times for 51 yards in a 14-point loss at Iowa, the Badgers rushed 52 times for 235 yards against Nebraska.
Chez Mellusi and Braelon Allen both nearly hit 100-yard mark; Isaac Guerendo comes up big
Chez Mellusi returned after missing four games because of a broken right arm and rushed 21 times for 98 yards in a remarkable effort.
Allen rushed 11 times for 57 yards in the opening half and finished with 92 yards on 18 carries. His final carry came on the second play of UW's game-winning touchdown drive. He lost 4 yards, suffered a right-ankle sprain and had to be helped off the field.
Isaac Guerendo had a huge 27-yard catch on the winning touchdown drive and finished with 42 yards on nine carries.
"Kudos to the O-line," said wide receiver Chimere Dike, who had three drops and thanked his teammates for picking him up. "Chez, Braelon and IG ran their hearts out."
Graham Mertz makes key plays in fourth quarter, recovers after costly interception early on
Mertz, who was harassed by Iowa’s rush, threw two interceptions and finished just 16 of 35 for 176 yards one week earlier, struggled again Saturday until the final quarter.
His 10-yard strike to Syker Bell helped UW pull within 14-9 with 10:07 left, though the two-point conversion attempt failed.
He capped a seven-play, 50-yard drive with the 1-yard sneak and finished 8 of 18 for 83 yards.
His interception on his sixth attempt of the game gave the Cornhuskers a short field early in the second quarter and they turned that mistake into a 33-yard touchdown drive for a 7-0 lead.
"Just proud of Graham and the way he battled," Leonhard said, adding he talked to offensive coordinator Bobby Engram about going to Chase Wolf in the second half. "It wasn’t perfect. Conditions again were very difficult to throw the football in.
"He made one poor decision early, obviously. But he just continued to fight and find a way."
Casey Thompson returns for Nebraska, gives Huskers another rushing threat
Nebraska welcomed back starting quarterback Casey Thompson, who missed the last two-plus games because of injury.
Thompson, who entered the day with 2,023 passing yards and 12 touchdowns, completed 12 of 20 attempts for only 106 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked three times but still finished with 33 yards rushing on 11 carries.
"He did a great job with his legs extending plays, either to run or pass," Leonhard said. "He is a damn good football player."
Nevertheless, Nebraska was limited to 65 rushing yards and 171 total yards.
"I think we did what we needed to do," Leonhard said. "We limited yards. We got off the field in a lot of critical situations."
The Badgers faced a 7-0 halftime deficit on Saturday despite outgaining Nebraska, 111-95. They cut the deficit to 7-3 late in the third quarter on a 25-yard field goal by Nate Van Zelst, who earlier missed short into a stiff wind from 39 yards.
Nick Herbig ejected in third quarter for targeting on a late hit to Casey Thompson
UW lost momentum and Herbig on the Cornhuskers’ second play of the next drive.
Thompson scrambled for a 4-yard gain and slid down but Herbig hit him late and in the head area. He was ejected for targeting and must sit out the first half of the Minnesota game.
A personal foul on safety John Torchio, for roughing the passer, gave the Cornhuskers another 15 yards later in the drive.
Thompson capped the 79-yard drive with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Palmer, who took advantage of a coverage bust, to help Nebraska take a 14-3 lead with 34 seconds left in the quarter.
Wisconsin begins its comeback with a Graham Mertz to Skyler Bell touchdown
UW responded in the fourth quarter with an impressive 75-yard touchdown drive capped by the 10-yard touchdown pass from Mertz to Bell with 10:07 left. The try for the two-point conversion failed, however, when Mertz threw high/behind Bell.
Nebraska had the ball at its 11 with 4:58 left. UW had all three timeouts.
The defense forced a three and out and UW took over at the Cornhuskers 49 after the punt, with 3:11 left.
The ball was in Mertz’s hands. Could Mertz, 7 for 17 for 56 yards at that point, bring UW home?
Yes.
Mertz hit Guerendo for 27 yards on the fourth play of the drive, to the Nebraska 7.
Three plays later, Mertz sneaked in from a yard for the touchdown. Mertz ran a draw on the two-point try but was stopped.
UW’s lead was 15-14.
Nebraska gained 12 yards on its final possession, which ended with an incompletion.
The Badgers ran 19 plays for 119 yards and two touchdowns and held Nebraska to 25 yards and zero points on 13 plays in the final quarter.
Wisconsin Badgers played this game for Devin Chandler
The Badgers were bowl-eligible and had won a game for a fallen former teammate.
"He is a guy we’ve all grown up around and been around," Bortolini said of Chandler, who transferred to Virginia after last season. "The message was: 'What would Devin do to strap it up, to get out here one more time?'
"For us to be able to go out there and play the way we did, I hope we made him proud."
Bell believes his former teammate would have been proud of how UW rallied Saturday.
"This game was for Devin," said Bell, who struggled to talk about Chandler. "His passing … it’s just tough. We all knew that we had to win this game for him."
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Badgers rally to stun Nebraska and become bowl eligible
