MADISON -- After giving up a surprisingly quick 75-yard touchdown reception with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin's defense found itself needing to snap back quickly to avoid Iowa tying the game.
The Hawkeyes elected to go for the two-point conversion and tried to get into the north end zone. With the student section at their backs and the possibility of allowing a lead to be nullified, the Badgers knew the significance of making the stop.
“I’m just telling everybody that this is the ball game," inside linebacker Chris Orr said. "We stop them right here, we win the game, so that’s the message that we were preaching to each other.”
The result was the ball game, as Orr and safety Eric Burrell first converged to stonewall Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley on a draw play. With help of other Badgers quickly assisting on the stop, the signal caller fell short of the goal line and allowed Wisconsin to hold on to what became a 24-22 win on Saturday.
According to Orr and redshirt senior outside linebacker Zack Baun, the defense did not expect or anticipate that quarterback draw being called for the 6-foot-4, 243-pound Stanley. Both initially played for the pass in coverage.
“I was dropping back in coverage, and then I got my eyes back to him -- getting ready to read him for the throw -- and I see him with a tuck coming straight at me," Orr said. "It was a pretty much just a one-way alley to be honest. The running back led up to try to block, and there was no time to think. It was time to ‘put up or shut up,’ so I just ran in there and tried to lay into him.”
This would not be the case of when an unstoppable force stops an immovable object, however. Orr met Stanley at the one-yard line with Burrell quickly assisting thereafter, and first batch of Badgers resistance held.
“Oh yeah, he’s going to have to run me over, and I was confident that he wasn’t going to run me over, so it felt good" Orr said.
After that answer, a reporter commented that Stanley weighed more than Orr.
“That’s alright, he ain't squatting 600 [pounds]," Orr said with a laugh. "I don't know how much he squats. I don't know. He's a big dude, though."
Burrell reiterated the size of Stanley.
“That’s a big dude, I ain’t going to lie," Burrell said. "Hitting him man, he’s going to continue to run his feet, you got to continue to run yours and hopefully it goes backwards, not forwards.”
A bunch of Badgers linebackers, including Baun, outside linebacker Noah Burks and Jack Sanborn, eventually swarmed Stanley to help stall any second or third chances of moving forward. The officials initially ruled that the Iowa quarterback did not hit the goal line, and an official review confirmed it.
Despite the late touchdown allowed on a chunk play, Wisconsin's defense recovered quickly to stymy their Big Ten West foes once again at a critical juncture. On the evening as a whole again Kirk Ferentz's offense, Wisconsin allowed Iowa to gain only 295 yards -- the Hawkeyes' second-lowest output of the season -- and move the chain on one of nine third down opportunities.
From Baun's perspective after the game, Orr's play on Stanley was a microcosm of the physical battles Wisconsin and Iowa have fought.
"The collision Chris had with him, that dude, really symbolizes what this rivalry is," Baun said. "It’s mano a mano, strength on strength, and Chris, Wisconsin won that one."
