2010 Wisconsin Badgers football team The 2010 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin – Madison in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season . The Badgers , led by fifth - year head coach Bret Bielema , were members of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at Camp Randall Stadium . They finished the season 11 – 2 , 7 – 1 in the Big Ten to be crowned Big Ten co - champions along with Michigan State . Due to being ranked the highest of the three schools in the BCS rankings at the end of the season , the Badgers earned the conference ' s automatic bid to the Rose Bowl , where they were defeated 21 – 19 by TCU . Regular Season . Arizona State . A blocked PAT was the difference in a crazy game in Camp Randall Stadium . Both Arizona State and Wisconsin were undefeated heading into this game , Arizona State having beaten a pair of FCS teams and Wisconsin having beaten UNLV and San Jose State . The Badgers managed to overcome a sluggish start and fended off an upset bid by the Sun Devils . Arizona State would be marred by mistakes , committing multiple penalties on offense and defense , and Wisconsin used Arizona State ' s gaffes to keep themselves in the game . The Sun Devils returned a kick for a touchdown , had a very long runback on a kick to end the half ( the returner was tackled inside the one yard line as time expired ) , and had a punt return for a touchdown called back due to a pair of illegal blocks . Wisconsin did not commit a single turnover , and that would ultimately help to decide this game . Wisconsin improved to 3 - 0 on the season , and faces FCS opponent Austin Peay next week . Arizona State , however , falls to 2 - 1 and will need to win 5 Pac - 10 games to become bowl - eligible . Austin Peay . Wisconsin broke the all - time record for most points scored with 70 , breaking a record from the 1962 season ( the Badgers defeated New Mexico State 69 - 13 that season ) . Michigan State . In a matchup between undefeated teams in the Big Ten , Michigan State prevailed over the 9th ranked Badgers . Despite 3 Spartan turnovers , the Badgers were unable to come away with a road win , dropping head coach Bret Bielema to 0 - 2 in Spartan Stadium and 2 - 2 against Michigan State overall . The Spartans face their rival , the Michigan Wolverines in a crucial road contest next week , while the Badgers face longtime rival Minnesota in the battle for Paul Bunyan ' s Axe . Minnesota . Wisconsin won a school - record 7th straight game over the rival Golden Gophers , dropping Tim Brewster to 0 - 4 against Wisconsin and improving Bret Bielema to 5 - 0 against Minnesota . Wisconsin did not commit a turnover for the 4th game in a row , and had two running backs with over 100 yards rushing ( James White and John Clay ) . Minnesota has now lost 5 straight games after winning their opener against Middle Tennessee State . Ohio State . Wisconsin stunned the top - ranked Buckeyes 31 - 18 , their first upset of a top - ranked team since a 1981 defeat of # 1 ranked Michigan . Wisconsin Senior WR David Gilreath returned the opening kick of the game for a touchdown , RB John Clay became the first running back to go over 100 yards rushing against the Buckeyes since Joe McKnight of USC in 2008 , and Wisconsin ' s defense harried Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor all game long . The Badgers ran up 21 unanswered points in the first half before Devin Barclay of Ohio State answered with a field goal . The Buckeyes managed to get 15 more points ( via a pair of Daniel Herron touchdown runs ) but the Badgers iced their incredible upset of the Buckeyes with a TD run by James White and a Philip Welch field goal . The win over Ohio State is Bret Bielema ' s first ; he was 0 - 3 against the Buckeyes in the previous three meetings ( 2007 , 2008 , and 2009 ) . The loss dropped Jim Tressel to 4 - 4 against Wisconsin and snapped a 3 game Buckeye winning streak over the Badgers . Iowa . 11th ranked Wisconsin won a narrow 31 - 30 contest over the Iowa Hawkeyes . The Hawkeyes went into the half with a 13 - 10 lead , but the Badgers chipped away at it and took a 24 - 20 lead . The Hawkeyes managed a touchdown and field goal of their own to take a 30 - 24 lead in the 4th quarter . However , the Badgers scored the go - ahead touchdown on an 8 - yard run by running back Montee Ball . With under a minute remaining , Iowa drove into Wisconsin territory on their final possession , but Iowa RB Adam Robinson was tackled before he could get out of bounds . Unable to stop the clock , Iowa ran out of time , giving Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema his first - ever road win over a ranked opponent . It was also his 3rd win over Iowa and 2nd in Iowa City , breaking a two game Hawkeye winning streak . Purdue . Wisconsin traveled to West Lafayette to play the Purdue Boilermakers . Purdue entered the game on a two game losing streak ( losing 49 - 0 at Ohio State and 44 - 10 at Illinois ) , but managed to take a 10 - 3 lead on the Badgers before the end of the first half . An interception by Badger QB Scott Tolzien on Wisconsin ' s first possession of the game and a missed field goal by Wisconsin K Philip Welch helped the Boilermakers take a 10 - 6 lead at the half . From there , Wisconsin took command of the game . Purdue Freshman QB Sean Robinson threw an interception on the first possession of the half that set the Badgers up with excellent field position . Badger QB Scott Tolzien capitalized on the turnover , finding freshman WR Jared Abbrederis on a 7 yard touchdown strike that gave the Badgers their first lead of the game at 13 - 10 . After an exchange of punts , the Badgers again found the end zone on a 31 yard touchdown run by RB Montee Ball , extending their lead to 20 - 10 . Purdue K Carson Wiggs tightened the game by kicking a field goal to cut the Badger lead 20 - 13 . However , those would be the last points of the game for the Boilermakers . Wisconsin would get another touchdown run from Ball and an interception returned for a touchdown by CB Antonio Fenelus . The Badgers won their fifth straight game over Purdue , and their 8th game of the season overall . They play Indiana in Camp Randall on November 13 . After a 2 - 0 start to conference play , Purdue has lost their last three games . They play Michigan in West Lafayette , having won their last two games against the Wolverines . Indiana . Wisconsin did not punt on any of their offensive possessions , tallied a pair of 100 yard running backs ( James White and Montee Ball ) and overpowered the Indiana Hoosiers . At one point , the score was 10 - 10 , but Wisconsin would score 7 consecutive touchdowns to take a 59 - 10 lead before Indiana managed to kick a field goal . The Badgers put in their backup players in the 4th Quarter , but their two backup quarterbacks ( Jon Budmayr and Nate Tice ) managed to score a pair of touchdowns anyway . Badger QB Scott Tolzien completed 15 passes on 18 attempts with a trio of touchdown strikes . Montee Ball ' s 167 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns on 22 carries led Wisconsin ' s ground game , and his teammate James White ( who had not played against Purdue with a head injury ) ran for 144 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns of his own . Wisconsin S Aaron Henry returned an interception for a touchdown late in the game to put Wisconsin up by a commanding margin and icing their win over the Hoosiers . Wisconsin ' s 83 points against Indiana easily broke their previous record 70 points scored against Austin Peay , which was set earlier this season . They play Michigan in Ann Arbor next week . Michigan . Wisconsin would lead from start to finish of this game , shutting out the powerful Michigan Wolverine offense in the first half . The Badgers incredibly gained 380 yards of total offense in the first half . Wisconsin would close out the Wolverines from there ; Michigan managed to cut Wisconsin ' s lead to just 10 points with a pair of back to back touchdowns . However , Wisconsin answered with a touchdown of its own . Michigan would score another 3rd quarter touchdown , but the 4th quarter was where the Badgers took this game , outscoring the Wolverines 17 - 7 in the final 15 : 00 . Wisconsin running back Montee Ball ran for 4 touchdowns on 30 carries ; his 194 yards paced a powerful Badger rushing attack . Badger QB Scott Tolzien completed 14 passes on 15 attempts for 201 yards as the Badgers diced up Michigan ' s vulnerable secondary . Wisconsin RB James White would run for 161 yards of his own and a pair of touchdowns ; he and Ball combined for 6 rushing touchdowns and well over 300 yards of total offense . Denard Robinson became the first QB to run for over 1 , 500 yards in a season , but he was unable to spark the Wolverines to a possible upset of a top ten Wisconsin team . With the 48 - 28 win , Wisconsin won in Michigan Stadium for the first time since the 1994 season ( when they defeated Michigan 31 - 19 ) . Wisconsin also scored more points in the game than they had ever scored in any single game against the Wolverines prior to this date . The 10 - 1 Badgers are now looking at a potential Rose Bowl berth and BCS game , but must play a still - dangerous Northwestern Wildcats team in Camp Randall next weekend . Northwestern . Wisconsin led by double digits just minutes into the game and never let go , blowing out the Wildcats en route to their eleventh victory of the season . Aided by 7 Northwestern turnovers , the Badgers played some of their best football of the season on Senior Day . Wisconsin QB Scott Tolzien , who led the nation in passing completion percentage ( 74 . 3 % ) in the regular season , had an excellent game in his final home start . He completed 15 passes on 19 attempts for 230 yards with 4 touchdown passes . Tolzien was not sacked once in the game , and left to a standing ovation . Wisconsin ' s running back duo of Montee Ball and James White tore apart Northwestern ' s defense on the ground , with 300 + combined rushing yards . James White eclipsed the 1 , 000 yards rushing mark for the season . Montee Ball ' s 4 touchdown runs paced the Badger ground game and he ran 20 times for 178 yards on the day . The powerful Badger offensive line had one of its best games of the season , opening holes for the running game and protecting Scott Tolzien . Bill Nagy , John Moffitt , and Gabe Carimi put together fantastic games in their final home start . Badger TE Lance Kendricks caught 4 passes for 80 yards with an acrobatic touchdown catch , and WR David Gilreath scored his only receiving touchdown in the regular season on an 18 yard strike from Tolzien . Nick Toon caught a pair of touchdown passes as well . Due to wins by Ohio State ( over Michigan ) and Michigan State ( over Penn State ) , Wisconsin ' s win over Northwestern resulted in a tie between the teams with a 7 - 1 overall record . The Big Ten championship is thus split amongst the three teams , with the highest ranked team in the BCS going to the Rose Bowl . TCU – Rose Bowl . Both teams scored double digit points in the first quarter , a Rose Bowl record . The game was close throughout , and was not decided until Wisconsin failed to convert a two - point conversion late in the fourth quarter to tie the game . It was the second time the game was decided by two points , joining the 1966 game ( UCLA 14 , Michigan State 12 ) . 2010 stats . Passing . " Note : G = Games played ; COMP = Completions ; ATT = Attepmts ; COMP % = Completion percentage ; YDS = Passing yards ; TD = Passing touchdowns ; INT = Interceptions ; EFF = Passing efficiency " Rushing . " Note : G = Games played ; ATT = Attempts ; YDS = Yards ; AVG = Average yard per carry ; LG = Longest run ; TD = Rushing touchdowns " Receiving . " Note : G = Games played ; REC = Receptions ; YDS = Yards ; AVG = Average yard per catch ; LG = Longest catch ; TD = Receiving touchdowns " Kick and punt returning . " Note : G = Games played ; PR = Punt returns ; PYDS = Punt return yards ; PLG = Punt return long ; KR = Kick returns ; KYDS = Kick return yards ; KLG = Kick return long ; TD = Total return touchdowns " Kicking . " Note : G = Games played ; FGM = Field goals made ; FGA = Field goals attempted ; LG = Field goal long ; XPT = Extra points made ; XPT ATT = XPT attempted ; TP = Total points " Punting . " Note : G = Games played ; P = Punts ; YDS = Yards ; AVG = Average per punt ; LG = Punt long ; In20 = Punts inside the 20 ; TB = Touchbacks " Defensive . " Note : G = Games played ; Solo = Solo tackles ; Ast = Assited tackles ; Total = Total tackles ; TFL - Yds = Tackles for loss - yards lost ; Sack = Sacks ; INT = Interceptions ; PD = Passes defended ; FF = Forced fumbles ; FR = Forced recoveries "