When a mid-major battles a big-time BCS school, perfection isn't the goal; it's a necessity.

For a proverbial David to have a chance at taking down a Goliath, he has to do everything perfectly, and hope that his opponent makes enough mistakes to give him a chance.

For one half of football on Saturday, it seemed like this could have been the case.

After Wisconsin came out of the gates with an 80-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Scott Tolzien to Isaac Anderson on their first play from scrimmage, the Badgers seemed to be in the driver's seat.

But before the sun went down on Madison, the Wisconsin Badgers were giving up costly penalties that gave the Huskies every chance to stay in the game. It was an NIU first-half third-down conversion rate of 0-for-5 that prevented them from taking control of the contest altogether.

As halftime came and the sun set on Camp Randall Stadium, it seemed to also be setting on any chance the Huskies had of winning.

Leading 14-6 at the half, the Badgers marched the ball right down the field, as Tolzien led an 11 play, 92 yard scoring drive to start the third quarter. The redshirt junior threw for 80 yards on the drive, and totaled 257 passing yards on the night.

The Huskies followed with a three-and-out, and Wisconsin answered with a methodical 13 play, 67 yard scoring drive. Keyed by Tolzien and the bruising running of halfback John Clay, Wisconsin opened up a 28-6 lead and looked to be in total control.

"I think we fought back," said NIU head coach Jerry Kill. "I'll tell you why we fought back: [defensive end] Jake Coffman. He's fought for our country. He came over to the sideline [and said] 'We're in the fight sir. We won't quit sir.' That's why; we've got good kids."

Much like David, NIU would not go quietly into the night.

Junior tailback Chad Spann finally scored the first touchdown for NIU with 8:29 remaining in the fourth quarter. NIU failed to convert a two-point try, keeping the score at 28-12 in favor of the Badgers.

"It was kind of exciting, [being] the first touchdown of the year for the team," Spann said. "We're thinking about the ball game, though. We're thinking 'we've got to get back in here.' We're just thinking about the game, keep on moving forward and cut into that lead a little bit."

The long climb back into contention got a big boost on the ensuing Wisconsin drive. After a Mike Salerno touchback, Tolzien threw a pick to linebacker Cory Hanson, his second of the night, on the first play of the drive. The Huskies took advantage of the great field position with another Spann touchdown at 2:47 remaining.

"I was just trying to make a play to win the game, and really thought we'd win the game after that [second interception]," Hanson said.

NIU had no choice but to try for the onside kick. Salerno booted the ball straight into the ground, looking for a high bounce, and got the bounce he was looking for - right into Spann's hands.

"When we took it right down the field and scored, we could feel something was changing," said NIU quarterback Chandler Harnish. "Right from that point I felt like 'this is our game, our game to win.'"

It was to be another case of NIU coming close, but not being able to break through against Big Ten opposition. Harnish drove his team down to Wisconsin's 36-yard line, but a stand by the Badger defense on fourth-and-three prevented the Huskies' from completing the comeback. With NIU only having one timeout, the Badgers were able to run out the clock on the Huskies.

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