MADISON, Wis. — At one point earlier this week, Wisconsin had more than 40 players fighting the flulike symptoms sweeping through campus. Starting quarterback Scott Tolzien was one of them.

While the worst of the outbreak seemed to be over before Saturday’s game against Fresno State, cornerback Aaron Henry woke up vomiting just hours before kickoff.
The Badgers (2-0) certainly appeared to be out sick early on, but pulled off a fourth-quarter comeback to tie and then beat the Bulldogs (1-1) 34-31 in two overtimes at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.
“I told the team downstairs in the locker room that I doubt very much there isn’t a team in college football this week that went through what they did,” Badgers coach Bret Bielema said.
After the teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, Wisconsin safety Chris Maragos came up with an interception in the end zone. From there, the Badgers marched to set up a 22-yard field goal by Philip Welch for the win.
It was the second big play in as many weeks for Maragos, who broke up a pass on fourth-and-3 to preserve the Badgers’ shaky 28-20 victory over Northern Illinois last Saturday.
Fortunately, all the hand sanitizer Maragos used this week didn’t make his hands too slippery.
“I was hitting that thing all week,” Maragos said. “Every time I touched a door around here I was just thinking that thing was my best friend all week.”
John Clay’s 72-yard touchdown run gave Wisconsin a 24-21 lead with 5:45 remaining in regulation. But Fresno State kicker Kevin Goessling — who missed a 45-yarder earlier in the fourth quarter and missed three field goals in a loss to Wisconsin last year — hit a game-tying 40-yarder with 20 seconds left.
Clay finished the game with 143 yards rushing. But before his big run, Fresno State was in control.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Bulldogs quarterback Ryan Colburn said. “I thought we had a lot of chances to win that game. But they battled back. We let them hang around too long. They took it to us in the end.”
Colburn was 22 of 36 for 289 yards and four touchdowns, but threw all three of his interceptions after halftime.
“Three turnovers are what did us in,” Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said. “Three turnovers to none is a huge swing in a game. Wisconsin’s ball security was flawless.”
The Bulldogs’ balanced offense gave the Badgers’ defense fits all afternoon.
And until Clay broke through, Wisconsin’s trademark running game hadn’t looked like anything special for the second week in a row. The Badgers’ offensive line also had trouble fending off a fierce Fresno State pass rush — especially after starting center Travis Frederick hurt his ankle on their first possession.
Tolzien was sick earlier in the week, but still looked sharp against the blitz.
“There were a few times you’d walk into the locker room and you’d hear some guy chucking into one of the garbage cans,” Tolzien said. “You’re just like, ’Well, looks like we’ve got one more on the flu list.’ I saw it twice. But the great thing is, if you throw up, you feel better. You can joke with those guys when they toss it up; they were feeling great at the moment, so they were laughing too.”
Leading 21-17 on three first-half touchdown throws by Colburn, the Bulldogs saw two third-quarter drives stall on interceptions. The Bulldogs put together another long drive early in the fourth quarter, but Goessling missed from 45.
Clay then took the ball through a big hole in the middle of the line and burst toward the right sideline for a touchdown to give Wisconsin its first lead of the game.
About the only bright spot for the Badgers in the first half was the play of David Gilreath, who had two kickoff returns of 30-plus yards and scored a touchdown on an end-around, enough to keep them in the game.
With the Badgers trailing 21-14, Welch hit a 57-yard field goal just before halftime — after missing a 47-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter to make him 0-for-3 to start the season.