MADISON — Much has been made about how Wisconsin’s College Football Playoff hopes are on the line every week.

One mistake, one loss and it’s over. Kiss the perfect season goodbye. Forget about securing the program’s first Playoff berth. So long to any outside shot at a national title. One mistake is all it’s supposed to take to sink Wisconsin.

Alex Hornibrook hasn’t gotten that memo yet.

The frequency of his mistakes frustrates Badger fans. It probably frustrates his teammates in the postgame press conference that they always have to answer questions about it.

On Saturday against Michigan, Hornibrook had his eighth consecutive game with an interception. It was a throw that — like most of his interceptions— he wished he could have back. And of course, it drew plenty of groans from the Camp Randall Stadium crowd. It set up Michigan in Wisconsin territory in a 7-7 game. Given how tough offense had been to come by — just like last year’s game in Ann Arbor — it felt like Hornibrook gave Michigan the turning point it needed to rally on the road and end Wisconsin’s Playoff hopes.

Nobody would’ve given Hornibrook a pass because he was without arguably his 2 best receivers. They wouldn’t have cared that he was up against the nation’s No. 2 pass defense, either. Hornibrook was already cued up as the goat (the bad kind).

Instead, something else happened. On the very next drive — after Wisconsin’s defense held Michigan to just a field goal — Hornibrook delivered perhaps the biggest sequence of his career. Twice he connected with A.J. Taylor on third-and-long passes. The first went for 51 yards. The second went for 24 yards and proved to be the game-winning touchdown in a 24-10 Wisconsin victory.

Hornibrook’s critics would be surprised to know that Taylor was his second read on both of those long pass plays. They were probably even more surprised that it wasn’t Hornibrook’s mistake that sunk the Badgers’ Playoff hopes.

If anything, it sparked them.

Credit: Rick Wood-USA TODAY Sports

By this point, Badger players laugh off questions about “how they respond from in-game adversity.” It’s the same story every week. Wisconsin struggles to distance itself in the first half, and then it puts its foot on the gas in the second half. Saturday was, of course, no exception.

Wisconsin tight end Troy Fumagalli said that the Badgers have developed a knack for “imposing their will” against teams in the second half. He’s right, but Saturday was a bit different.

Through the first 48 minutes of the game, Jonathan Taylor was held to 56 yards on 15 carries. Without a typical day from the B1G’s leading rusher, Wisconsin still found itself up 21-10 in the fourth quarter.

Yes, the Badger defense had a lot to do with that. Holding Michigan to a season-low 58 yards rushing (previous low was 102 yards) was huge. But Hornibrook’s post-interception play was equally impressive. After he turned the ball over, Hornibrook passed for 99 yards on consecutive Badger touchdown drives.

Nothing changed to spark that passing game turnaround. It wasn’t exactly uncharted waters.

“Mentally, he’s there. I give him credit for that because I’m not there yet,” A.J. Taylor said about Hornibrook. “If I make a mistake on something big, I’m kinda on myself. But he’s there. He’s really mentally strong. I think that makes us — as a receiving core and as a team — strong.”

Hornibrook hasn’t been perfect after his mistakes, but the numbers tell the story. He’s thrown an interception in every single B1G game, yet the Badgers got to 8-0 in conference play by an average margin of victory of 18 points. In fact, Hornibrook’s interception streak dates back to that BYU game in which he completed 18 of 19 passes for 4 touchdowns and was essentially, well, perfect.

In that stretch, the criticism only increased as Wisconsin’s place in the national spotlight grew.

“He really doesn’t care about it. I’ll be honest with you,” Fumagalli said. “He cares about the guys in that locker room. That’s how Joel (Stave) and Bart (Houston) were, too.”

Credit: Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA TODAY Sports

For many Wisconsin fans, Hornibrook has too much Stave and Houston in him. That is, they feel he’s what’s holding them back from greatness. The combination of Taylor, who is going to at least flirt with 2,000 rushing yards, and Wisconsin’s defense is already enough to make the Badgers the best team in the B1G West.

But with the West locked up — it was basically locked up in September — the focus is on how the Badgers will stack up against a B1G East winner. Hornibrook was sidelined when the Badgers collapsed in the second half against Penn State in the B1G Championship last year. That loss dropped Wisconsin to 0-4 against B1G East teams with winning conference records (dating back to when East and West divisions began in 2014).

The Badgers ended that drought on Saturday by taking care of Michigan. Ironically enough, it improved Hornibrook’s record as a starter to 17-0.

It’s easy to say that’s not the direct result of stellar quarterback play, but what’s to say Wisconsin isn’t a complete team with Hornibrook under center? He’s willing to take chances because of how good the Badger defense is. His teammates respond to him, and on occasion, Hornibrook has the ability to surprise an opposing defense.

A perfect example of that was on Saturday when, facing third and long, Hornibrook found himself in an obvious-passing down situation. Still, he threaded the needle with enough mustard to get the ball to A.J. Taylor for the go-ahead score.

“When he does that,” Taylor said. “Yeah, it probably shocks the defense a little bit.”

Hornibrook is going to continue to get picked apart. With each interception, he’ll bring a new cluster of Badger fans clamoring for the days of Russell Wilson. But Hornibrook’s teammates have no problem picking him up and defending him.

“It’s definitely tough. I don’t like it because I know what he can do and I know who he is,” Taylor said. “Yeah, it bothers me a little bit but I don’t let it affect me because I know they can’t really do anything about it. Only we can.”

Hornibrook and the Badgers do indeed control their own destiny. At 11-0, they’re trying to become the first B1G team to go 13-0 with the 9-game conference schedule. Paul Chryst continued to preach how his team has been “in the moment” every game and that they’re “not done yet.”

He’s right.

If that wasn’t the case, one of Hornibrook’s mistakes would’ve spoiled Wisconsin’s Playoff hopes weeks ago.