[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]With both defenses playing dominating football, punters became the focal point of the game. Luckily for Wisconsin, Ken DeBauche had his best punting game of the season when his team needed it most.

"[DeBauche] came out huge today," UW head coach Bret Bielema said. "After the turnover there in the first quarter, we were playing backed up all the time. Kenny really changed the game. We did a couple different things with our coverage to try and get some guys to the point of their returns, … but Kenny, when he delivered those punts, put us in a position to have success."

In 2005, DeBauche had a fantastic year kicking, posting an average of 44.8 yards per punt and downing 22 punts inside the 20-yard line. After falling off somewhat last season (41.8 average, 15 inside the 20), DeBauche had posted his worst numbers of his career in 2007 going into Saturday night.

The senior captain reverted to old form Saturday, recording an eye-popping average of 47.6 yards per punt, including a long punt of 58 yards. He also downed two kicks inside the 20, including one on the 1-yard line.

"I’ve been punting the best I have in my career during practice and through camp, and it’s just a matter of doing it in a game," DeBauche said.

With five of Wisconsin's first seven drives ending in punts, DeBauche was helped by being able to get in a rhythm kicking the ball.

"I think that happens in anything you do, whether it be football, basketball, any position," DeBauche said. "It felt like I was in a rhythm, and I guess it showed."

All about ‘Heart’

Saturday’s game marked the 83rd meeting between Iowa and Wisconsin, with the all-time record at an even 40-40-2 coming into the contest. While the rivalry is a time-honored tradition, the Heartland Trophy that goes to the winner of the annual matchup is not.

The trophy — which features a brass bull on a platform — was up for grabs for only the fourth time Saturday. As the final seconds of the game ticked off the Camp Randall scoreboard, the Badgers grabbed the trophy on the sideline and hoisted it into the air, celebrating retaining the trophy for the first time.

"These kind of games are special," said quarterback Tyler Donovan, who led Wisconsin to its first-ever Heartland Trophy win in a 24-21 victory in Iowa City last season. "Obviously you have the Paul Bunyan Axe (the trophy for the Wisconsin-Minnesota game) and Iowa versus Wisconsin is turning into another rivalry game.

"That’s one of our team goals this year: to hang onto all our trophies."

Back to the basics

At the start of the season, Bielema created a stir among fans by passing on tradition to dress his football team in all red uniforms. Historically, the Badgers wore white pants at home with their red tops.

Saturday, however, the Badgers wore the red-on-white combination most fans are familiar with.

"I talked to our team on Thursday night and I said, 'This is an old grind-out football game. This is one of our arch-rivals. … It’s a trophy game. Let's get back to doing what we do best.'

"They all started grinning, and [Jason Chapman], he never says anything, he explained loudly that he likes the white-pant look," Bielema said.

Bielema wouldn’t commit to settling on a set combination the rest of the season, but if he decides to stay with the classic look, he may not get too many complaints.

"I’m not a real superstitious guy, but I’d say those white pants really helped," cornerback Aaron Henry said.

Confusion reigns

Late in the second quarter, Wisconsin was making one of its patented late-half drives down the field. P.J. Hill took a handoff from Donovan at the 20-yard line and raced left. With a shot to score, Hill was stripped of the ball at the 3-yard line and fumbled into the end zone.

After a pileup, Badgers center Marcus Coleman pounced on the ball in the end zone for an apparent score.

"The ball squirted out somehow, I have no idea how, and I just ran on it as fast as I could," Coleman said.

Coleman’s first career touchdown was quickly wiped off the board, when replay determined an inadvertent whistle blew the play dead.

Officials then presented Bielema with probably the easiest choice he will ever have as a head coach. Given two choices on how to proceed — take the ball at the spot of the fumble (3-yard line) or replay the ball from the 20 — the Badgers’ head man chose the former.

"That was a no-brainer," Bielema said.