Oregon beat Wisconsin 45-38 in the Rose Bowl as the teams set a bowl record for points scored. The first half in particular was a track meet resulting in a 28-28 tie as the teams traded touchdowns back and forth.
Wisconsin's first drive put Oregon's defense on their heels and culminated in a 38-yard pass from Russell Wilson to Jared Abbrederis. Oregon returned the favor when LaMichael James scored from 1-yard out, set up by a 35-yard Darron Thomas pass to Lavasier Tuinei.
A 42-yard rumble by Montee Ball set up a 4-yard scoring run by Wilson as Wisconsin retook the lead. The teams actually traded punts at this point and the Badgers pinned Oregon inside the 10. But DeAnthony Thomas burst free for a blazing 91-yard touchdown run to tie the game again.
That was just the first quarter.
In the second, Wilson led another Wisconsin drive resulting in a 3-yard touchdown run by Montee Ball; Ball tied Barry Sanders' season record for touchdowns with the score.
DeAnthony Thomas' 46 yard return + Darron Thomas' 54 yard pass to Kenyon Barner = 100 yards in two plays and another tie, 21-21.
Wisconsin failed to score on offense after going for it on 4th-and-1 from Oregon's 17. But they got a score on defense, amazingly, after knocking the ball lose from Darron Thomas and returing it 33 yards and a 28-21 lead.
But Oregon tied the game at 28-28 with a Thomas to Tuinei touchdown toss at the end of an uncharacteristically long drive with seconds left in the half.
Halftime score: Wisconsin 28, Oregon 28
The third quarter wasn't quite as dynamic, with "only" 17 total points scored. Oregon did score right off the bat with a 64-yard sprint from De'Anthony Thomas, but things slowed down after that. Wisconsin settled for a field goal on their next possession, but they stopped Oregon on a 3-and-out, and the following Badger drive ended on an 18-yard Wilson-to-Nick Toon touchdown pass. Wisconsin was back on top, 38-35.
Wisconsin intercepted Darron Thomas, but the Ducks returned the favor on Wilson and early in the 4th quarter Thomas hit Tuinei again for 11 yards and a 42-38 lead.
Oregon added a field goal for a 45-38 lead with seven minutes left. Wisconsin was driving and had completed a pass deep into Oregon territory but Abbrederis fumbled and Oregon recovered with five minutes left.
The Ducks were able to run most of the clock down before punting the ball away. Oregon played a very wide prevent defense, allowing Wisconsin to get to the 25 yard line with 2 seconds left. But Wilson tried to spike the ball to kill the clock and didn't do it in time; it seemed like the clock, which read 0:02, was actually at 1.5 seconds or less. It was an anti-climactic finish to an otherwise exciting game.
Both quarterbacks had excellent games, each completing 73% each for over 250 yards. For Wisconsin, Montee Ball had 165 yards while LaMichael James and De'Anthony Thomas both had over 150 yards. Abberederis and Toon had over 100 receiving yards each and Tuinei for the Ducks had over 150.
Oregon improved to 12-2, with losses to #1 LSU and #8 USC, and wins over #5 Stanford and now Wisconsin. The Badgers fell to 11-3; they also lost to Ohio State and Michigan State, also beating the Spartans once as well as Nebraska and Penn State.
More previews and results: View the complete 2011-2012 bowl game schedule.
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