It easily could’ve turned from bad to worse.

Bad was what Wisconsin did last week at home as a massive favorite against BYU. The overwhelming B1G West favorite couldn’t muster a touchdown drive late and left the game up to a field goal attempt. That ultimately failed and the Badgers went from popular Playoff pick to weak and overhyped in one afternoon.

A week later, Wisconsin found itself in nearly an identical spot. Down 3 in the final minutes, it would’ve been easy for the Badgers to clam up and come up short against the stout Iowa defense with the raucous crowd behind it in Iowa City.

Nah. Not this time.

Wisconsin’s offense didn’t leave anything up to a kicker (no offense, Rafael Gaglianone). Staring down its second loss in a row and essentially watching its Playoff hopes slip away at the hands of the Hawkeyes, Alex Hornibrook led a victorious march for the ages.

The scrutinized junior quarterback — search “Alex Hornibrook” on Twitter on a given Saturday and you’ll lose faith in humanity — delivered what was perhaps the grittiest throw of his career to cap off the grittiest performance of his career. A seed to A.J. Taylor in the final minute was the dagger.

That’s right. A seed.

Did Wisconsin keep its Playoff hopes alive with Saturday night’s 28-17 win at Iowa? Perhaps those went out the window against BYU. After all, no Playoff team has ever lost to a non-Power 5 team and made the field (I realize BYU is an independent).

But here’s what else we know.

Wisconsin needed a win in Iowa City to control its own destiny in the B1G West so it could even have a chance to play for a B1G title and potentially a Playoff berth. We also know that no Power 5 team has run the table with a 9-game conference schedule, won its conference championship game and made the Playoff. The Badgers are seeking to become the first team to do that.

For much of Saturday night, it looked like they wouldn’t even get in the win column in the B1G opener.

Wisconsin only led that game for 14 minutes. Jonathan Taylor had 58 yards less than his season average. Actually, Taylor’s 25 carries for 113 yards was nearly identical to his 26-117 line in last week’s BYU loss.

Wisconsin needed every bit of Hornibrook on Saturday night. Without a little extra heat on his fastball on that game-winning touchdown, maybe we’re talking about how stunned we are to see the Badgers have 2 losses in September.

Even though Wisconsin won 4 straight games in Iowa City heading into Saturday, everyone knew that winning at Kinnick Stadium wasn’t something to be taken for granted.

Just ask Michigan or Ohio State about that.

It could’ve easily been that kind of night for Wisconsin, especially considering how 1-dimensional it had been in the first 3 weeks. Taylor came in averaging just over 25 carries per contest despite the fact that Wisconsin had yet to face a Power 5 team in 2018.

Saturday was Hornibrook’s chance to do the heavy lifting. Technically, it marked the second straight game vs. a Power 5 team in which he threw for at least 200 yards and 3 touchdown passes without a turnover.

You remember Paul Chryst’s thoughts about Hornibrook’s lack of turnovers against Miami in the Orange Bowl, right? Let’s just assume he had a similar message for Hornibrook’s skeptics on Saturday night:

Hornibrook’s late drive on Saturday was reminiscent of what Trace McSorley did on the game’s final play in Iowa City last year. With his team in jeopardy of losing control of its own B1G destiny, it was McSorley and Juwan Johnson who hooked up for a gritty throw and catch to stun the home crowd.

Again, it can’t be overstated how difficult that is to do in Iowa City at night, a place where plenty of B1G players have claimed to be among the loudest in all of college football.

Coming up big in a venue like that is what Playoff contenders do. We don’t know if Wisconsin will contend for a Playoff spot in 2018.

We do know that on Saturday night, T.J. Edwards played like the preseason All-American he was touted to be. Ryan Connelly made arguably the most critical defensive play of the season when he blew up a third-down run in the backfield that forced a late field-goal attempt.

And those Wisconsin pass-catchers that was heard great things about in the preseason? They were as sure-handed as ever.

That was the type of effort we had been waiting to see from Wisconsin. Badger fans probably felt angst more than anything else with slow start after slow start in the first 3 weeks. Being held to 7 points in the first 39 minutes on Saturday night didn’t exactly halt the slow start trend, but overall, it might’ve helped squash a lingering early-season feeling.

Wisconsin finally didn’t look like it was being hunted. On that last drive, it felt like the Badgers stopped playing like they had something to lose.

It wouldn’t have taken much for the Badgers to leave Iowa City without the Heartland Trophy and more importantly, without control of their own B1G destiny. Time will tell if the Badgers lost control of their own Playoff destiny against BYU.

But they reminded the college football world of something key with their comeback win on the road.

Contrary to what the BYU loss suggested, Wisconsin definitely has some grit. It just needed to be against the ropes in Iowa City to find it.