Redshirt sophomore Melvin Gordon is tackled inside the 30 yard line against ASU in Tempe. The Badgers lost 32-30. (Photo by Dominic Valente)Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen said he has never been a part of an ending to a football game like the one between ASU and Wisconsin Saturday night.
“It’s a shame it went down the way it went down at the end,” Andersen said. “That’s all I’m really gonna say about it, but it is a shame that it went down that way.”
It was a strange ending to say the least.
Down 30-32 with 18 seconds left, Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave ran to his left, and tried to center the ball for kicker Kyle French to have a straight shot at the game-winning field goal.
That’s when things got weird.
There seemed to be a question of whether or not Stave got his knee down and after he set the ball on the field, ASU linebacker Anthony Jones fell on it as the clock continued to run.
“I looked up at about seven seconds (left) or so,” Stave said. “The ball hadn’t been set yet and we weren’t in a position to be able to spike it and that didn’t happen until, you know, too late.”
By the time the referee had spotted the ball, there was no time left on the clock for Wisconsin to spike it and the clock ran out as the Sun Devils won by a final score of 32-30.
The Setup
Down 30-32 with 1:36 left, the Badgers took over the ball at their own 17-yard line. It looked like all hope of a win was lost, but Stave, who was 15 of 30 for 187 yards and two touchdowns, had something left up his sleeve.Stave uncorked a 51-yard pass on third-and-four to redshirt senior wide receiver Jeff Duckworth, taking the Badgers to the ASU 26-yard line. From there, Stave would complete two more passes for 13 yards, before the bizarre final play.
Senior linebacker Chris Borland said it was the worst loss he has ever been a part of.
“We played well enough to win,” Borland said. “We put ourselves in a position to win and it was taken from us, so it’s miserable.”
The Badgers rushed for a total of 231 yards and the heavy lifting was done by sophomore running back Melvin Gordon. Gordon racked up 193 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just 15 carries.
However, considering the outcome of the game, Gordon's personal statistics didn't seem to matter to him.
“(It’s) the hardest way to go out,” Gordon said. “Fight like that and then something like that happens. (It) is heartbreaking. I don’t even really care how I played today. We didn’t win, so whatever I did, it wasn’t good enough.”
Reach the reporter at ejsmith7@asu.edu or follow him on twitter @EricSmith_SP
