There were a number of defenders who played pretty well, so I will put the entire unit here as positive No. 1. They gave up a big play, which has been a big problem for the Badgers this year, as Reggie Corbin reversed field for an 80-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Other than that play, Illinois ran 56 plays and gained 220 yards (3.9 yards per play). That touchdown allowed was the only touchdown the defense allowed that was not off a short field. The five forced turnovers are the most since 2015 when they did that against Minnesota. Wisconsin’s defense was able to get five tackles for loss and three sacks. After lacking sacks in the first five games, the Badgers have registered three sacks each in back-to-back games. A number of Badgers played well on this side of the ball, led by fifth-year senior safety Evan Bondoc. In his first start, Bondoc had five tackles, including 1.5 for loss, an interception and a forced fumble. Not a bad start in place of Scott Nelson and D’Cota Dixon. Andrew Van Ginkel, Matt Henningsen and Zack Baun had the sacks for the Badgers. Henningsen, a redshirt freshman walk-on, was also in on an interception as well with a hit of the Illinois quarterback to force an errant throw. T.J. Edwards had a pick on Illinois’ first possession to set the tone. That pick tied him with seven players, including former teammate Sojourn Shelton, for eighth in school history with nine interceptions. The last two games, Wisconsin has allowed 23-of-42 passing (55 percent) for 214 yards, has not allowed a touchdown pass and has picked off three passes. The undermanned pass defense has played much better recently.
Next, I will say the rushing attack was fantastic once again. Illinois’ run defense is not very good, as they came in allowing nearly 200 yards on the ground per game, which was 106th in the country. But the Badgers gashed them for 357 yards and 6.6 yards per carry. Jonathan Taylor, of course, led the way with 159 yards on 27 carries. He has rushed for at least 100 yards in all seven of Wisconsin’s games this year. It was not just him, though, as senior Taiwan Deal rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time since early in the 2015 season against Hawaii when he gained 147 yards. Deal’s career has been hampered by injuries, so it was nice to see him hit the century mark. The Badgers were able to break Aron Cruickshank in with a touchdown run on a jet sweep and Garrett Groshek had 33 yards on four carries. With his 17th 100-yard rushing game, Taylor is now tied with Heisman Trophy winner Alan Ameche and Billy Marek for 9th place on Wisconsin’s all-time 100-yard games list. Taylor is now 13th on the all-time school rushing list, and he is now 327 yards behind John Clay for 10th place in school history. They will need the rushing attack to play well again next week when it has a big test against Northwestern in Evanston.
There are a couple of other things in the positive category. First, I mentioned it above, whenever the Badgers needed a big drive or big play, they got it. When Illinois scored on an 80-yard run to cut it to 14-7, Sagapolu picked off an M.J. Rivers pass following a Wisconsin three-and-out. The first play following the interception? A Hornibrook dime to freshman tight end Jake Ferguson for a 27-yard touchdown to put the Badgers up two scores once again. Then, following a Hornibrook interception and Illinois touchdown, the score was down to 28-17 in the third quarter. Wisconsin’s response? A six-play drive that resulted in a 39-yard Deal touchdown to give the Badgers a 35-17 lead and Illinois would never get that close again. Hornibrook made a few boneheaded plays (see: interception at the end of the first half, giving Illinois points before halftime), but he made some nice plays. He bounced back from some missed throws when it was snowing in the second quarter to throw a perfect pass to Ferguson for the touchdown to put the Badgers up 21-7. Hornibrook also completed a key third down pass to Danny Davis for a first down, which was the play preceeding Deal’s long touchdown run. The junior quarterback also became the seventh player in school history to eclipse 5,000 yards passing. In the process, he passed Mike Samuel and Randy Wright on the all-time school passing list with 5,157 yards. He is 114 behind current Indianapolis Colts quarterback Scott Tolzien for fifth on the passing list. Hornibrook now has 45 career touchdown passes, which is just two behind John Stocco for third in school history and is three behind Joel Stave for second in school history in touchdown passes. Jake Ferguson caught his third touchdown of the season and third in four games. I expect him to be the main red zone target moving forward.
The Badgers played one of their best games of the season, so there is not much to complain about. However, there are a few things the Badgers will need to work on. Firstly, the defense played well, but they can’t give up big plays. This is the second consecutive game in which it has allowed a run of at least 80 yards after Shea Patterson’s 81-yard run last week. Other than that run, Reggie Corbin just had 20 yards on eight carries. They still had 210 yards on the ground, though, overall, and 5.8 yards per carry. Secondly, Hornibrook missed some throws today. Two incompletions which were open were missed, but I’ll chalk those up to the weather. However, the interception right at the end of the first half was inexcusable. There was no one available and he threw it right to Illinois’ Stanley Green, which was returned into Wisconsin territory and Chase McLaughlin knocked through a 52-yard field goal as time expired. Instead of maybe a 31-7 lead heading into the half, it was 28-10.
Next week, Wisconsin has a tough one in Evanston against Northwestern. The Wildcats are 4-1 in Big Ten play and this game could go a long way in deciding which team will represent the Big Ten West in Indianapolis.
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