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BOX SCORE
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The other shoe finally fell on the
Wisconsin Badgers.
|  | | Northwestern's Damien Anderson celebrates his game-winner TD in the Cats upset win over Wisconsin. |
"I was probably the least surprised person out of 80,000 here
today," Northwestern coach Randy Walker said after Damien
Anderson's 12-yard TD run in the second overtime gave the Wildcats
a 47-44 victory over Wisconsin (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 7 AP) on Saturday.
"I expected to win. We don't put a plan together, or prepare or
work like we work to do anything but that."
The Badgers, who had opened their suspension-tinged season with
three close calls, saw their 11-game winning streak halted and
their hopes of their first national championship squelched when
Anderson scooted around left end and darted into the end zone.
Anderson wasn't convinced. After all, 51 points were scored from
the middle of the fourth quarter on.
"I was looking for flags," he admitted.
There were none, and the Wildcats had spoiled the Badgers'
season just as Wisconsin was about to emerge from NCAA suspensions
over a discount shoe scandal.
Moments earlier, the Badgers (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) had taken a
44-41 lead on Vitaly Pisetsky's 39-yard field goal.
Northwestern (3-1, 1-0), which had never scored this many points
against Wisconsin, got 174 yards on 21 carries from Anderson, who
also scored on a 69-yard run midway through the fourth quarter.
Zak Kustok's 9-yard scramble on third-and-6 set up the winning
score.
"We weren't just going to be happy going into overtime with
Wisconsin," Kustok said. "We wanted to beat them."
The Badgers, who had never scored this many points and lost, saw
an unranked opponent ruin their season for the second straight
year. Last season, it was a stumble at Cincinnati that spoiled it.
The Badgers completed their NCAA-mandated suspensions by sitting
out six players against the Wildcats, including No. 1 receiver
Chris Chambers and All-American cornerback Jamar Fletcher. They
were among 26 players who got caught receiving unadvertised
discounts at a shoe store.
It looked as though Wisconsin would make it through the
punishment unbeaten when Pisetsky's 47-yard field goal gave the
Badgers a 34-31 lead with 51 seconds left in regulation.
But, just as Cincinnati did a week earlier, Northwestern quickly
moved downfield for a game-tying field goal as time expired. Tim
Long was good from 46 yards.
"I was disappointed that for the second week in a row, we let a
team march 50 yards in less than a minute with no timeouts and kick
a field goal to take it to overtime," Badgers coach Barry Alvarez
said.
Both teams scored TDs in the first overtime, Northwestern on a
15-yard pass from Kustok to Teddy Johnson, and Wisconsin on a
5-yard pass from Brooks Bollinger to Nick Davis.
Wisconsin tailback Michael Bennett returned from his one-game
suspension and gained a career-high 293 yards on 48 carries. But
the ball jammed into his rib cage on a 9-yard run, and he went out
with the scored tied at 31 and the Badgers on the Northwestern 29
with a minute left.
With Bennett on the sideline, the Wildcats stuffed his backup,
Eddie Faulkner, and Bollinger on consecutive second-and-1 rushes
and the Badgers settled for Pisetsky's 47-yard field goal with 51
seconds left -- just enough time for the Wildcats to hit back.
"I'm a little disappointed in myself," Bennett said. "The
effort was great, but I wanted to come through in the clutch, when
it really counted."
There were five scores in the final eight minutes of the fourth
quarter.
Davis, the Badgers' best big-play threat, returned from his
three-week suspension and showed plenty of rust, fumbling two punts
and dropping a TD pass.
"I don't want to make excuses," Davis said. "I hate people
who make excuses. I dropped the ball."
The Badgers took a 16-7 halftime lead and were threatening again
on the opening drive of the second half when Bollinger was sacked
at midfield and coughed up the ball right into the hands of
linebacker Kevin Bentley, who rumbled 50 yards for the score.
Suddenly, the Badgers were looking at their fourth straight
close game. Only, unlike Western Michigan, Oregon and Cincinnati,
the Wildcats didn't leave Madison with just a moral victory.
"You know how demanding our program is and how much we expect
out of our kids," Walker said. "It's just great to give them
evidence. For a year and a half, I have been waiting to give them
evidence that there is a method to the madness and a reason for all
the things we try to do."
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ALSO SEE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Scoreboard
Northwestern Clubhouse
Wisconsin Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Northwestern's Damien Anderson goes 69 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown against Wisconsin.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Damien Anderson seals the win for Northwestern with this 12-yard touchdown run in double OT.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Zak Kustok 15-yard touchdown pass to Teddy Johnson in OT against Wisconsin.
avi: 912 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Northwestern's Derrick Thompson grabs this 29-yard touchdown pass from Zak Kustok.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Northwestern's Damien Anderson says all the hard work is starting to show.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Northwestern coach Randy Walker says his team has made progress.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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