A roughing the punter penalty absorbed by Brad Nortman sealed the victory. Over the last five "must win'' games for the Badgers, Ball averaged 181 rushing yards and accounted for 17 touchdowns. Three of those op- ponents were ranked in the nation's top 10 for total defense.Ball shared the spotlight with his offensive line, anchored by All-American right guard Kevin Zeitler and center Peter Konz, who had to overcome an injury to make it back for the Rose Bowl. In addition to Zeitler, fellow linemen Konz,
Ricky Wagner, Josh Oglesby, Travis Frederick and Ryan Groy, as well as the tight ends, Jacob Pedersen and Jake Byrne, paved the way for Ball, a Heisman finalist.
Ball tried to savor each and every moment. "It wasn't a bad pressure, it was a good pres-
sure,'' he said, "and I loved making sure that I kept my name in the Heisman talk. Everyone has their own personal goals, and that was mine.'' Leading up to the Oregon game, Ball deliber- ated over his collegiate future. "I knew that I had
"The difference for me now is being that vocal leader," Ball said of his challenge in coming back for his senior season. "I have to stay on top of ev- erything I do and lead by example."
a huge decision to make,'' he conceded. "That's why a couple of days before the game, I told Coach Bielema that I was coming back for my senior year so I could focus on Oregon.'' The Rose Bowl was viewed as a mismatch be-
cause of the Ducks' blazing speed. "But we want- ed to show the nation that we had some speed on our team,'' Ball said, "and that we weren't just big slow players from the Big Ten. We not only had speed but power.''
32 ยป VARSITY JUNE 21, 2012
