Montee Ball scored his 38th touchdown of the season on a seven yard run up the gut to give back the lead to his Wisconsin Badgers. Ball's fourth touchdown of the game means he is now just one touchdown shy of Barry Sanders' FBS touchdown record.
Ball has been relatively quiet since exploding in the first quarter, but he managed two of his longest runs since the first quarter on the Badgers' eight play scoring drive. In addition to four touchdowns, Ball has 130 yards rushing, 32 yards passing, and seven yards receiving on three catches.
The key play of the drive, however, was Russel Wilson's 36 yard desperation throw to Jeff Duckworth on fourth-and-six. Wilson was able to avoid Spartans' pass rushers and essentially tossed up a prayer that Duckworth was able to pull down despite a couple Spartans defensive backs in the vicinity.
Wisconsin extended the one-point lead to a field goal (the missed Dan Conroy field goal at the end of the first half) by converting an exciting two-point conversion. Wilson, again, had to maneuver away from a heavy Spartans rush before finding Jacob Pedersen between two MSU defenders in the end zone. 42-39 Wisconsin and a little under four minutes remaining in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game.