Filed under: Arizona State, Wisconsin, Big 10, Pac 10MADISON, Wisc. -- Special teams can save your bacon. Or they can cook it, Elvis-style. Elvis Presley liked his bacon burnt to a crisp, and for the longest time on Saturday it looked like Wisconsin's bacon would be fit for The King. The Badgers barely escaped Arizona State, 20-19.
Eye-wateringly bad special teams play nearly did in the Badgers. After Wisconsin took a 3-0 first quarter lead, Arizona State's Omar Bolden housed the ensuing kickoff. He was essentially untouched on his 97-yard run back. The Badgers went three and out on their next possession. The Sun Devils then drove 82 yards to set up Thomas Weber's 25-yard field goal for a 10-3 lead.
Wisconsin, however, did not panic. It came out in an I-formation and ran John Clay off tackle twice before Scott Tolzien hit Lance Kendricks on a 34-yard toss right over the middle. The ASU defense kept the Badgers out of the end zone, however, so Wisconsin could only pull within four points.
After ASU went three and out, Tolzien started picking apart the Sun Devils' secondary. Just before half, he hit Kendricks from 14 yards out for a touchdown to put the Badgers ahead, 13-10. The lead didn't look like it would hold up when ASU's Kyle Middlebrooks ran through Wisconsin's kick coverage as effectively as Omar Bolden had earlier. The Badger cover team was so immobilized it might as well have been wearing swim fins. Shelton Johnson finally ran down Middlebrooks one yard short of the end zone. The play was reviewed, seemingly to the dismay of both teams, but the call -- no touchdown -- held up.
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