Wisconsin Football: Zach Hintze hits 62-yard field goal against Purdue (Video)

Wisconsin football kickoff specialist Zach Hintze hit a 62-yard field goal just over the bar and just inside the upright to put the Badgers up 24-17 at halftime.

When there are only two seconds left before halftime and a team already holds a 21-17 lead, there is little risk in trying to kick a long field goal. Even the boldest of coaches, however, might balk at trying to boot a pigskin 62 yards in cold-weather conditions. Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst opted to give his kickoff specialist, Zach Hintze, a shot at striking the ball from distance.

Hintze repaid his coach’s faith with perhaps the most impressive field goals of the 2019 college football season. The snap was true, the hold was clean, and Hintze stepped into the kick and struck the ball perfectly.

Flying through air hovering just above the freezing point at 39 degrees Fahrenheit, the Badgers long-ball specialist put his kick on a good line. It went toward the left upright, creeping just inside the post. And everything that Hintze was able to muster into his kick was just enough to put the bar over the crossbar. It was a masterpiece of placement that has no rival this season.

The kick gave Wisconsin a seven-point lead heading into the locker room at halftime. With Purdue set to receive the ball at the start of the second half, it put the pressure on the Boilermakers to make a statement after the intermission.

The field goal tied the Big Ten record, matching the 62-yarder drilled by Minnesota’s Chip Lohmiller in 1986. It also matched the longest scoring kick in Wisconsin history, tying the 62-yard drop kick scored by Pat O’Dea in 1898 against Northwestern.

If Wisconsin holds on in the second half to defeat Purdue, it will set up next week’s Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe in Minneapolis as a de facto Big Ten West divisional championship game against the Golden Gophers.