MADISON -- Among a swarm of reporters, redshirt senior Zach Hintze attempted to describe what exactly went through his head after setting a school record. His 62-yard field goal -- narrowly by inches -- made it inside the left upright of Camp Randall Stadium's north end zone as time expired to give Wisconsin a seven-point halftime lead.

"I mean, it was surreal. I can't explain in words at that moment how that felt," Hintze said after the 45-24 Wisconsin win. "It was a lot of chaos. A lot of people jumping on me. It was insane."

With two seconds left until the teams jogged back to their respective locker rooms, Hintze set up on the left hash. Prior to that, however, Wisconsin's defense forced its first three and out of the afternoon, which set up the offense at its own 28-yard line. Rather than down the ball and head into halftime with a four-point advantage, UW drove 29 yards in three plays.

After Garrett Groshek ran for nine yards, UW took a timeout. Then out of a a Wildcat look as a quarterback, sophomore wide receiver Aron Cruickshank ran for 17 yards. On the down right before Hintze's kick, quarterback Jack Coan found wide receiver Quintez Cephus for a three-yard gain to set it up at the Purdue 44-yard line.

"Kind of the way that played out, we're just, could we pop a couple runs -- and we were just asking Chris Haering, the special teams coach, where do we got to get it to?," head coach Paul Chryst said after the game. "He thought if we got it around the 45 we would have a shot at it. So, obviously, we had two good runs, and then got a little bit more with a quick throw to 'Q' [Quintez Cephus].

"You felt pretty good giving him an opportunity for that. Obviously, you don't know what's going to happen, but you felt pretty good. There's obviously the concern of if it's short, and you got a return and you're covering with a bunch of linemen, but felt pretty confident that he would get good distance on it. It was good to get."

Hintze admitted that knew he had to start getting preparing after Wisconsin got the ball back in case an opportunity would present itself. According to the kicker, he had previously connected on a 65-yarder during practice. Now he would have his shot.

Junior Adam Bay snapped it to redshirt senior Connor Allen, and with the field goal unit blocking in front of Hintze, the attempt was in full motion. He noted the wind "was a little bit right to left" and also "a little bit of a help wind."

From there, he swung his leg and kicked the pigskin into the Camp Randall air.

“As soon as I hit the ball and I looked up and I saw it just kind of drifting left, I knew it wasn’t drifting fast enough," Hintze said. "Then all of a sudden, my holder [Allen] goes, ‘What a ball!’

"I waited because I couldn’t see over the line. Then when the ref put his hands up, the stadium just erupted.”

Watching replays of the successful field goal attempt, Hintze's boot makes it over with just inches to spare. After the two referees raised their four collective arms to signal a successful kick, the celebration was on.

Hintze believes Allen was the first Badger to celebrate with him, then his two wings on the field goal unit team. Then the in-state specialist could not tell you who else he saw come out to greet him.

"I saw about everybody," Hintze said.

Flocks of teammates celebrated on the field with Hintze as they, eventually, jogged back to the locker room. However, among the group of Badgers, the Fond du Lac Saint Mary's Springs product came away with perhaps a temporary physical mark to capture the day's achievements.

On the right side of his head from his hairline down to his cheek bone, he displayed a proud red line on his face.

“It was a dangerous place out there," Hintze said. "I was celebrating, and sooner or later, I got hit with a helmet.”

For Hintze, he now owns the school record for longest field goal in what Wisconsin describes in its record book as the modern era of football. He overtook a fellow strong-legged kicker in John Hall, who booted a 60-yarder against Minnesota in 1995. Looking even farther back, the legendary Pat O'Dea dropkicked two 60-plus yard field goals in what can be terms as the "Pre-Modern Era" (one from 62 in 1898, and one from 60 in 1899).

In his UW career, Hintze has only attempted two field goals -- both from 62 yards out -- with the other one an unsuccessful kick against Northwestern last season. Despite the lack of tries for points, the fifth-year Badger has shown his worth the past three seasons on special teams. Saturday, Hintze drilled six of seven attempts as touchbacks, and for the season, has done so in 56 of 72 opportunities as one of the nation's best in that phase of the game.

However, his leg provided a huge lift for Wisconsin, and the Badger faithful, heading into half. When describing the fans to reporters, center Tyler Biadasz slipped an expletive at first.

“That crowd was going nuts, man. That was big," Biadasz said after the game. "That was big time by Hitnze, and we all know he has a leg like that so I really kind of wasn’t surprised. He did it against Northwestern last year.

"I kind of got a word into him, ‘Just believe, man. Just believe.’ I don’t know if he took it or not, but he kicked it through the uprights. It was pretty sweet, and that was big momentum going into halftime. That creates a one-possession game. It was only a four-point game before that. We told the defense, just get that one stop. We’re going to go on all cylinders, and we went 95 yards so that was huge. That kick was huge, definitely a big momentum switch."

Update, Nov. 24: Corrected Wisconsin's yard line on drive that led to Hintze field goal to 28-yard line.