Wisconsin/Indiana review

No. 9 Wisconsin started slowly, but was able to pull away in the fourth quarter for a 45-17 victory over Indiana in Bloomington. With the win, the Badgers improve to 9-0, matching their start from 2004. Let’s hope the season does not end like that one, as Wisconsin lost its last three games to finish 9-3. Current defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard was a senior on that team. The Badgers magic number is also one, as they are 6-0 and the next closest team in the division is Northwestern at 4-2 and they already beat them head-to-head. This is also the 10th consecutive win for Bucky over the Hoosiers, with this being the closest win since winning 31-28 in Bloomington in 2009. In the last five games against Indiana, Wisconsin has outscored them by an average of more than 45 points per game. The biggest worry from this game is the injuries keep on coming. Starting linebacker Chris Orr and leading receiver Quintez Cephus both left with what seem like serious injuries, as neither could put any weight on their injured leg. With another road win for Wisconsin, Bucky’s record in true road games under Paul Chryst is 12-1, with the only loss coming last year by seven to Michigan. After missing the second half of last week’s win against Illinois, freshman running back Jonathan Taylor bounced back in a big way, rushing for 183 yards and a score. He also could have had much more if not for some holding calls (a few questionable). Wisconsin may have started slowly, but finished great, outscoring Indiana 45-7 over the final 41 minutes. The Badgers may not have been happy with their No. 9 ranking in the first College Football Playoff rankings, but they keep winning. If they keep racking up the wins, the CFP committee has no choice but to take notice.

First off, the subs really made big plays. After missing last week against Illinois, D’Cota Dixon played the first few series before leaving the game and being replaced by senior Joe Ferguson. A week after making a crucial pick to keep the Badgers ahead by two scores against Illinois, Ferguson came up with three big turnovers to help the Badgers take over this game. He is the first Wisconsin player with three takeaways in a game since Jamar Fletcher had three interceptions of Oregon's Joey Harrington in 2000. His first take away came with Bucky trailing 10-7 midway through the second quarter. Following a Wisconsin punt, Indiana’s Morgan Ellison was tackled for a loss, fumbled and Ferguson recovered. Two plays later, Wisconsin turned the fumble recovery into points, a lead it would never relinquish. Next, with the Badgers holding on to a slim seven point lead, Ferguson stepped in front of a Richard Lagow pass and picked it off, giving them a first down inside the Hoosiers 30. Seven plays later, Wisconsin took a 31-17 lead. If that wasn’t enough, he picked off another Lagow pass on Indiana’s next possession. That pick also set up a score to put the game away. Despite being a reserve, he leads the team in picks with four.

Alec Ingold, playing in place of Austin Ramesh at fullback, had five touches (four runs and one catch)......and scored three touchdowns. Not a bad touchdown-to-touch-ratio. One of his non-scores was just as big, as well. On 4th-and-1 in the fourth quarter with Wisconsin clinging to a one score lead, Ingold plowed ahead for a run of two and a first down, which set up his second touchdown to give Bucky a 31-17 advantage. Also, how about Tyler Johnson? He was the one who forced the Ellison fumble that turned the tide in the game. That fumble helped Wisconsin take the lead in the second quarter. The walk-on also made a huge impact late in the game, as he destroyed Lagow on a pass, forcing a throw in which was picked off by Ferguson. Great job by some players filling in.

Once again, Alex Hornibrook had a poor interception. Granted, he was hit as he threw, but it was an interception in the end zone nonetheless. However, he came back in a big way. That is one great thing about the sophomore quarterback. He has a short memory and usually comes back strong following interceptions. Yesterday, the pick happened to come on his first pass of the day. However, after that, he was very solid. Following the interception, he was 13-of-19 the rest of the way for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Two of his completions were tremendous passes. The first was his second touchdown pass, a perfect throw to Cephus, who pulled a Randy Moss with a great catch in the end zone to give the Badgers the lead. Next was his throw on a 3rd-and-2 on Wisconsin’s second drive of the second half. The Badgers were holding on to a 17-10 lead, but were on the verge of squandering great field position. Then, Hornibrook and Kendric Pryor hooked up on a gorgeous 14-yard throw and catch to give Bucky a first down. On the following play, Taylor ran 32 yards for the score to give the Badgers a 24-10 lead. He also made a great throw to A.J. Taylor for 32 yards to set Wisconsin up to cut it to 10-7. Great job by Hornibrook to bounce back after the pick.

Once again, Taylor continues to amaze. People were not even sure if he’d play yesterday, but he did.....and was his usual beastly self. The freshman rushed for 183 yards on 29 carries and a score. He fell just 17 yards shy of his fourth 200-yard performance this season. He leads the Big Ten in both rush yards per game and touchdowns, even ahead of Penn State’s Saquon Barkley. Against Indiana, he forced six missed tackles and had 134 yards after contact. He will need to be at or near full strength next week when Wisconsin hosts Iowa. However, one thing he needs to work on is ball security. It did not hurt the Badgers, but on the touchdown drive to put Bucky in front 31-17, Taylor fumbled once again. Luckily, Michael Deiter recovered the fumble and Ingold punched it in four plays later.

Once again, the defense played great, especially in the final three quarters. Indiana gained more than half of its yardage in the game in the first quarter, which resulted in a touchdown and were on the verge of kicking a field goal. After that, the Wisconsin defense shut down the Indiana offense. Simmie Cobbs was a tough matchup for Nick Nelson, as he had five catches for 62 yards and a score, but he did draw multiple pass interference penalties. It was one of Nelson’s toughest games, but Cobbs causes headaches for many defensive backs. After the Hoosiers were spotted 10 points, the defense closed the door, only allowing seven more points. Only two of the final seven possessions lasted longer than four plays and also only two that went longer than 15 yards, and one of those was the final possession of the game. The Hoosiers came in averaging more than 81 plays per game, but were held to 55 against the Badgers. Indiana also ran 24 of those plays in the first quarter. It is incredible the defense was able to hold the up tempo Indiana offense to 31 plays in the final three quarters. Also, when the Badgers need a play made, the defense always comes through. With Wisconsin holding a touchdown lead, Indiana received the ball after a punt. What does the defense do? Ferguson comes through with an interception. Next drive? Ferguson with another pick to set up the game-sealing touchdown. In the final quarter, the Wisconsin defense forced a pair of turnovers and a turnover on downs and the Indiana offense just ran 10 plays for nine yards. That, my friends, is how you slam the door on the opposition.

Every team deals with injuries, but man, it seems like Wisconsin is constantly hit hard with them. Year after year. I mentioned it a bit above, but the Orr and Cephus injuries are terrible. We don’t know how severe they are, but I think after watching them on the sideline toward the end of the game, I doubt either of them are back soon. Dixon also left the game early. Add them to players like Jack Cicky and Jazz Peavy, who did not play once again. Wisconsin coaches are fearing the worst for Cephus. If that is the case, I just hope he is back for the bowl game. I would hate to see his promising season cut short due to that. At least Taylor came out of the game unscathed, I guess.

It seems like I am beating a dead horse here, but man, the Badgers start out slow. They can never seem to put a full 60 minutes together. In some games, Wisconsin scores a couple quick touchdowns early and then takes a nap the rest of the game like against Florida Atlantic and Purdue. In this one, the nap was taken in the first quarter. Indiana jumped out to a 10-0 lead and the Badgers looked awful. No energy, missed tackles, turnovers, penalties, blown coverages.....anything that could go wrong, went wrong in the opening quarter. This game followed a similar script as the Utah State season opener, where the Badgers spotted the opponent 10 points, only to dominate the rest of the game. A 32-yard pass from Hornibrook to A.J. Taylor got things rolling for the Wisconsin offense, and it never looked back. The penalty fest in the final minutes of the second quarter was annoying. Two of the three holdings were questionable, but nonetheless, Wisconsin had a chance to go up 17-10 or 21-10 before the half and could not do it. These are things the Badgers need to shore up soon because Iowa is rolling in, coming off a 55-24 beatdown of Ohio State. They were able to get away with these things against teams like Illinois and Indiana, but won’t be able to against Iowa and Michigan.

Overall, it was a solid win, especially after spotting Indiana 10 points. It was an 11 am CST kick, so maybe they were still waking up. After they did, though, it was ball game. I am still not super concerned because they keep making plays at the perfect time. I am concerned about the injuries, though. Playing against Iowa without your top two wide receivers would be rough. As I mentioned above, the Hawkeyes rolled over No. 6 Ohio State by 31 at Kinnick Stadium yesterday. That should get Wisconsin’s attention. It should be a fun one next weekend in Madison at 2:30 CST. The game will be televised on ABC.

Wisconsin/Indiana preview

Wisconsin managed to win without playing its best.....or even well against Illinois, winning 24-10 in a game it was favored by three scores in. This week, the competition increases a bit as the Badgers head to Bloomington to take on Indiana, a team that is searching for its first conference win, like Illinois. However, don’t be fooled by Indiana’s 0-5 conference record. After losing to Ohio State and Penn State before October by a combined 59, the Hoosiers lost all three of their conference games in October by no more than eight, including one in overtime to Michigan. Indiana also took Michigan State down to the wire in East Lansing. All winless teams are not created equal. Illinois is bad. Indiana is not great, but it can absolutely pull an upset if Wisconsin is not careful. The Hoosiers are coming in following a disappointing 42-39 loss to Maryland, though, where they dominated the stat sheet, but had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a pick that led to a score. These two teams have not met since 2013 when Wisconsin drilled Indiana 51-3 at Camp Randall Stadium. The last time these two met in Bloomington was 2012 when the Badgers clinched a spot in the Big Ten Championship with a 62-14 win. In fact, the last four times these teams have met, Wisconsin has outscored Indiana a whopping 255-44. The Badgers lead the all-time series 40-18-2 and has won nine straight in the series. The last Indiana win was in 2002 when Bucky blew a 29-10 second half lead and lost 32-29. Wisconsin quarterback Alex Hornibrook will need to play well these final (likely) six games in order for the Badgers to achieve their goals. Even at 8-0, the team still has doubters, and while a win over Indiana wouldn’t silence them, it would be nice to be able to head home at a perfect 9-0 in preparation for consecutive home games against Iowa and Michigan.

When Wisconsin runs the ball...

All of this depends on the health of Jonathan Taylor, who left the Illinois game in the second quarter and did not return. Even if it was just precautionary, I doubt he is at full strength this week and the drop off between him and the other running backs is huge. In the first half against Illinois, the Badgers rushed for 127 yards on 27 carries and Taylor rushed for 73 yards on 12 carries before being taken out. In the second half, Wisconsin rushed for just 41 yards on 18 carries. After a promising freshman campaign, sophomore Bradrick Shaw is having a rough year so far, just averaging 3.8 yards per carry and cannot seem to break any tackles. If a play is blocked for three yards, that is all he will get. With Taylor, he has a chance to break tackles and go the distance every time he touches the football. The freshman is fourth in the country in rushing yards, despite the low number of yards against Illinois. As a team, Wisconsin is 16th in the country in rush yards per game with nearly 246. Indiana is 65th in the country in rush yards per game allowed, but only allow 3.8 yards per carry. Power teams have been able to run on them a bit, though. The defense that Indiana plays is suceptable against those kinds of teams due to the small stature of the Hoosiers defense. In the Michigan win over Indiana earlier this month, the Wolverines ran for 271 and more than six yards a carry, with Karan Higdon running 25 times for 200 yards and three scores. Michigan State’s L.J. Scott’s numbers won’t wow you, but he had a solid game against Indiana, his second most rushing yards in a game this season. I believe Wisconsin will able to rush the ball pretty well. Maybe they won’t early on, but the Badgers offensive line will eventually wear down the small front seven for the Hoosiers.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Wisconsin passes...

Alex Hornibrook is coming off a subpar performance against Illinois. In terms of QBR, this was his worst performance of the year. Against the Illini, Hornibrook went 10-of-19 for 135 yards and a pick. It was also his first week this year without at least one touchdown pass. After a very good non-conference performance, he has struggled mightily during conference play. His completion percentage is decent at 60 percent, but he has thrown just five touchdowns and seven interceptions in Big Ten play has thrown at least one pick in every game. Once again, Davis is questionable and he could be needed this week. In pass defense, the Hoosiers are 19th in yards per game, but has given up 12 touchdown passes this season and has only picked off two passes. Indiana has sacked opposing quarterbacks 20 times so far, which is tied for fourth in the conference. Davis is questionable, but was in pads starting Tuesday, which is encouraging. Quintez Cephus is also questionable, and the Badgers will need him. Hornibrook will need to take care of the ball in order for Bucky to come out of Bloomington with a win.

Edge: Indiana

When Indiana runs...

The Hoosiers may be without two of their running backs this week, and they already struggle to run the ball. Against Maryland, Indiana only rushed for 73 yards on 35 carries. As a team, IU is 104th in the country in rush yards per game, which is 12th in the Big Ten. However, Illinois, which ranks last in the Big Ten in that category, rushed for 134 yards with Kendrick Foster rushing for 66 yards on 15 carries. Wisconsin struggled to defend Illinois’ running quarterback, Cam Thomas, who rushed for 78 yards on 10 carries. But the Wisconsin defense will only have to worry about that if Peyton Ramsey plays. Despite averaging just 93.8 rushing yards per game allowed, which is fifth in the country, Wisconsin has been a bit leaky at times defending the run. In the last four games, the opposing team's starting running back has rushed for an average of 4.8 yards per carry against them. Sacks by the Wisconsin defense has helped out make the rush defense numbers look quite a bit better. Chikwe Obasih will likely make his return this week, which will help. He has not played since the opener and is chomping at the bit to get back on the field. Maybe he will help the rush defense be better than it has been recently. With a few of Indiana’s running backs out, Wisconsin should be able to slow down the Hoosiers ground attack and tee off on the Indiana quarterbacks.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Indiana passes...

Last week, Indiana had to use two quarterbacks after starter redshirt freshman Peyton Ramsey had to leave the game twice due to his right knee. He was replaced by senior Richard Lagow, who started the season as the starter before being replaced by Ramsey. The freshman, who has completed 65 percent of his passes with 10 touchdowns and five picks, may be out this week for Indiana. Ramsey also poses a threat on the ground, rushing for 226 yards and a pair of scores so far. Lagow has struggled this year, completing just 56.8 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and three interceptions. He does not pose any threat on the ground. Against Maryland, he was 12-of-21 for 131 yards and two scores. The Hoosiers likely will not have a pair of running backs for the game on Saturday, and may have to play similar to against Maryland, where the Indiana quarterbacks combined to throw 62 times. Having a team put the ball in the air that many times could be good news for Bucky. Whomever is the quarterback, he has some very good receivers to throw to. The group is led by junior Simmie Cobbs. The 6-4 target has 54 catches for 600 yards and five scores, including a 10-catch 138-yard performance against Maryland. Nick Nelson and Derrick Tindal will face another challenge this week, a different type of challenge than they faced two weeks ago against Maryland's D.J. Moore. Junior Luke Timian has 359 yards and a touchdown on this season, and had 13 catches for 91 yards against the Terps. Indiana freshman Whop Philyor had also had 13 catches, for 127 yards and a score. Wisconsin’s freshman cornerback Dontye Carriere-Williams will also have to step up for Bucky’s defense. No matter what statistic you look at, this Badgers pass defense is one of the best in the nation. Yards per game: 15th, opponents QB rating: 1st, sacks: T-5th, touchdowns allowed: T-4th, interceptions: 8th, yards per attempt: 5th, opponents completion percentage: 10th. It will be a fun matchup between Indiana’s wide receivers and Wisconsin’s cornerbacks. Indiana has allowed 20 sacks, which is 91st in the country, so the Badgers should be able to put some pressure on whichever quarterback plays for Indiana.

Edge: Wisconsin

Special Teams

Both teams have very reliable kickers, with Wisconsin’s Rafael Gaglianone 8-of-10 so far, while Indiana’s Griffin Oakes is 11-of-12, with his only miss being a blocked field goal from 51 yards away. Punting units are similar, but Indiana did allow a blocked punt against Maryland for a score. Indiana’s punt returner is out and its kick return unit won’t get many opportunities against Zach Hintze, who is a touchback machine.

Edge: Push

Overview

Much of this will depend on the health of Wisconsin. If everyone plays, I think Wisconsin wins by three scores. Jonathan Taylor needs to be out there for the Badgers. He is by far the biggest threat Wisconsin has. Quintez Cephus too. Both teams are banged up and if Indiana has Lagow at quarterback, the Badgers defense will have plenty of chances to make plays. If Wisconsin can limit big plays and avoids turnovers, Bucky will be fine. It is tough to have long sustained drives against the Badgers defense. I have a feeling Wisconsin will sack the Indiana quarterback close to 10 times and pick off three passes to set the offense up with a short field. It will be a tough game, as the Hoosiers need to win, as they fight for bowl eligibility. However, I think Wisconsin’s ground game will wear down Indiana’s small front seven as the game goes on and the Badgers will pull away late.

Prediction: Wisconsin 27, Indiana 10

Wisconsin/Illinois review

Once again, the No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers looked flat and bored, as they escaped Champagne with a 24-10 victory over Illinois. Before everyone jumps out and talks about how Wisconsin is certainly not a College Football Playoff contender, it is hard to avoid performances like that when you face teams you should roll over week after week. For instance, No. 8 Miami barely knocked off 1-7 North Carolina and needed a late Tar Heels fumble to do it. Bucky got the win, and that is all that matters. With the win, the Badgers improved to 8-0 and 5-0 in conference play, while Illinois falls to 2-6 overall and 0-5 in Big Ten play. Wisconsin improves to 11-1 in true road games under Paul Chryst and has won eight consecutive games against its rivals directly to the South. The Badgers have now won four straight road games against the Illini for the first time in school history. Wisconsin was without a number of key players today, including Jazz Peavy, Danny Davis and D’Cota Dixon. During the game, star freshman running back Jonathan Taylor injured his leg and missed the second half. Those are some big losses and the Badgers still found a way to come out of Champagne with a win. Wisconsin also has won Alex Hornibrook’s last 14 starts, the longest active streak in college football. It was not perfect, or even a pretty performance, but it was a win. To steal a line from the late, great Al Davis, “Just win, baby.” Bucky did just that yesterday.

I am going to start out by giving the game ball to cornerback Nick Nelson. The junior cornerback had four pass breakups on the day, and he has 14 on the year. The 14 ties him with Badgers greats Jamar Fletcher (2000) and current defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard (2002) for fourth most in a season. It is also tied for second nationally. He also had a poor pass interference call on him today. Two of his pass breakups came on third down, including one in the end zone that forced Illinois to settle for a field goal. He shut down D.J. Moore last week and did so again against the Illinois wide receivers. Admittedly, they are not the best group of receivers he will play this season, but he shut them down. The Badgers needed him and Derrick Tindal even more yesterday with the injury to Dixon, and Natrell Jamerson also missed time, although he did return. The only thing he is missing is an interception. I have a feeling that will come soon, though. I think it is about time people recognize him as one of the top cover corners in the nation.

In addition to Nelson, the defense played great once again, not allowing Illinois to score a touchdown until less than a minute was left and the game was out of reach. The Illini were just held to 211 yards of total offense until they went on a meaningless 75-yard touchdown drive at the end of the game. Wisconsin was able to force three Illinois turnovers, and the offense turned those into 14 points. The final takeaway by Leonhard’s crew was the Joe Ferguson pick when it looked like Illinois was going to cut it to 17-10. Instead, Ferguson picked it off and ran it up near midfield and Wisconsin scored several plays later on a Michael Dieter touchdown to give the Badgers a 24-3 lead. Nice 14-point swing there. Once again, whenever the defense was up against the wall, it came through. I mentioned the Ferguson pick to thwart a potential scoring drive for Illinois, but once again Hornibrook threw a pick in opponents territory that was returned into Wisconsin territory. But, the defense rose up and took the ball back on a fumble recovery. Wisconsin did not let Illinois get its passing game going, at all. The Illini quarterbacks were a combined just 9-of-31, a pathetic 29 percent completion percentage. The defense will have much bigger tests the rest of the year, but it is nice to see the unit put the clamps on a lesser opponent.

I want to give a shout out to the guys who performed when called upon. When Dixon was scratched just before gametime, Ferguson was called upon. He delivered a game-sealing interception to keep the score at 17-3 in the final quarter. Another is linebacker Tyler Johnson. The former high school quarterback only had three total tackles coming into the game, but he had two against Illinois, including a monster sack and forced fumble near midfield that Wisconsin recovered. The Badgers would cash in after the turnover with the game’s first points. Nicely done, Tyler. Also, Kendric Pryor had a big-time catch against Purdue that converted a third down, but Pryor led the team in receiving against the Illini filling in for the injured Jazz Peavy and Danny Davis. Pryor had a pair of catches for 37 yards, including one on a 3rd-and-6. The other was the opening play of the field goal drive to end the half. Not a bad job by Pryor. He has a future in this receiving core. And finally, yes....FAT GUY TOUCHDOWN!!!!! In an otherwise boring game, this was the highlight that will be played for years. I mentioned it a bit last paragraph, but Dieter’s touchdown was awesome. It does not happen much at all, seeing an offensive lineman catch a touchdown, but when it does, it is super awesome. Even as a Wisconsin fan, I admit this game made me want to take a nap, but I am glad I stuck it out and saw the whole game. What a great moment!

In my Maryland game review blog post, I challenged Wisconsin to have four or fewer penalties. The Badgers had exactly four. Nice job. The four penalties were for 50 yards, which is not great, though. I will say, though, the pass interference on Nelson was questionable at best. Without that, it is three penalties for 35 yards. Not bad at all. How about some love for Rafael Gaglianone as well? In the wind, Gaglianone knocked through a career-long 52-yard field goal, despite Lovie Smith calling three timeouts consecutively to try to ice the junior. With the make, he is now 8-for-10 on the year after missing the team’s final 11 games in 2016 due to a back injury. I’d say that field goal showed that Gaglianone is as confident as ever.

Now, the weather was a factor, but the offense was brutal, especially after Taylor left with an injury in the second quarter. Wisconsin’s first two possessions of the game were three-and-out, and the third one was too, but Bucky was bailed out by a flag on the punt, so Wisconsin got a free first down and proceeded to march down the field for the first points of the day. In the first half when the Badgers had Taylor for much of the half, Wisconsin rushed for 127 yards on 27 carries. In the second half, it was just 18 rushes for 41 yards. In total, the Badgers had just 303 yards of offense against a team allowing more than 400 yards of offense per game and giving up 30 points per game. Granted, half of the game he was going into a stiff breeze, but Hornibrook barely completed 50 percent of his passes for just 135 yards and the pick. Not good. The running game was okay, and the passing game was virtually non-existent. As the weather gets worse, the offense needs to step up and make some plays and not ask the defense to keep bailing them out.

I mentioned the quarterback a bit above, but man, Hornibrook was not sharp yesterday. Normally, even on rough days, he has his moments on third downs, but he struggled there as well. For the day, he went just 10-of-19 for 135 yards and the interception. That interception was in opponents territory again. Six of the last seven picks thrown by the sophomore quarterback have been thrown in opponents territory, and the only one that wasn’t was the pick six at Nebraska. Maybe some of that is due to the fact that two of his top three receivers are out, but some of his passes were just poor. For instance, on the interception, he had Troy Fumagalli wide open, but he underthrew him and it was an easy pick for Illinois’ Bennett Williams. He will need to have better days, as his competition will only get more difficult the rest of the way.

I don’t know how many were sat down because it was Illinois, but there were a number of key players who did not play. Jazz Peavy has taken a leave of absence from the team, so he is out indefinitely, but Danny Davis, D’Cota Dixon, Isaiahh Loudermilk and Chikwe Obasih all did not play. Obasih was in uniform, but did not play. I am guessing he’ll play in Bloomington next Saturday. Dixon practiced all week, but apparently was not good enough to play against Illinois. Loudermilk was ruled out early last week, so I doubt he plays against Indiana. Davis was questionable this week, so there is a chance he plays as well. However, the big one is the star freshman running back. Taylor left the game late in the second quarter in the win. The fact that he never went to the locker room is encouraging, but we won’t know the severity of the injury until at least Monday. Hopefully him being taken out was just precautionary and he’ll be good to go for the Hoosiers. Regardless, Wisconsin needs all these guys back if it wants to make a run at the conference championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff.

Lastly, Illinois was able to do quite a bit with quarterback Cam Thomas on the ground. The freshman ran 10 times for 78 yards. It is big because Ohio State came from behind to beat Penn State and the Buckeyes pose one of the top dual threat quarterbacks in the nation, J.T. Barrett. Thomas is a terrible passer and he still ran wild on Wisconsin, so that makes me cringe at the thought of Barrett going against this defense, and he actually can throw the forward pass effectively. Whenever he was in the game, I was pleading that they should not even bother defending the pass against him. Thomas completed as many passes to Wisconsin defenders as he did to his own team. Hopefully, that was needed in order to prepare for someone of Barrett’s caliber, as the Badgers had not faced a running quarterback up until Thomas.

It rarely has been pretty this season, but Bucky got it done again. The Badgers played their worst game of the season, but fortunately were playing a team that is winless in the conference. Wisconsin stays on the road next week, as Bucky travels to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers for the 11 am CST kick. The game will be televised on ABC.

Wisconsin/Illinois preview

At 7-0, Wisconsin is off to its best start in 13 years, and the Badgers go on the road following a two-game homestand. To start off the two-game road trip, Bucky takes on the Illinois Fighting Illini. Illinois, in the second season under Lovie Smith, is 2-5 overall and 0-4 in Big Ten play. Wisconsin won its last game 38-13 at home against Maryland, while Illinois fell on the road against Minnesota 24-17. In last year’s meeting between the two, the Badgers jumped out to a 21-3 first quarter lead en route to an easy 48-3 at Camp Randall Stadium. In the last meeting in Champagne, starting quarterback Joel Stave was knocked out with a concussion, so Bart Houston came in and led the Badgers to a 24-13 victory. It was an improvement for Alex Hornibrook last time around against the Terps, and he needs to build on that moving forward. The Badgers are the better team by a significant margin, so they will need to put Illinois away early. Lovie’s bunch has last seven consecutive conference games. The last conference win was a 31-27 victory over Michigan State in Champaign nearly a calendar year ago. Bucky will be looking for his eighth consecutive victory over the Illini. The last loss was a 31-26 defeat back in 2007 when Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 160 yards and a pair of scores to knock off No. 5 Wisconsin. The Badgers are once again ranked No. 5 this week.

When Wisconsin runs...

Once again, the Badgers had a nice running game against Maryland last Saturday, rushing for 215 yards and more than five yards per carry despite the Terrapins crowding the box. Illinois lost against Minnesota by allowing nearly 300 yards rushing. Even without Shannon Brooks, the Gophers duo of Rodney Smith and Kobe McCrary rushed for a combined 256 yards and six yards per carry. Minnesota passed for a total of 47 yards.....and won. That shows you how solid this Illinois defense is. On the season, the Fighting Illini are 108th in the country and the worst in the Big Ten in rush yards allowed per game. In the last two games against Minnesota and Rutgers, Illinois has allowed an average of 283 yards on the ground and has surrendered a total of six rushing touchdowns. Not good. I am sure this is a great game for the Illinois run defense to get right in. Jonathan Taylor is fourth in the country in rushing yards and is top 10 in the country in rushing touchdowns with 11. As a team, the Badgers are 16th in the country in rush yards per game at 256.9. Taylor should run all over Illinois and Bradrick Shaw and Rachid Ibrahim will get plenty of work against the team directly to the South as well. I think the Badgers shred Illinois for 300 yards on the ground. In order to try to stop Bucky on the ground, the Illini will put eight (and sometimes nine) in the box, so the play action pass could be open all game long.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Wisconsin passes...

Alex Hornibrook had one of his better games last week against Maryland, completing 16-of-24 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. His pick was ugly, but he showed resilience and bounced back nicely. For the first time in conference play, the freshman quarterback threw more touchdowns than interceptions, improving his ratio to five touchdowns and six picks in Big Ten play. Interestingly, Hornibrook has at least one touchdown pass and one interception in every conference game this season. Once again, Wisconsin will be without senior wide receiver Jazz Peavy, who will miss his third consecutive game this week. However, the Badgers still have top targets Quintez Cephus and Troy Fumagalli. The latter had a big game against the Terps with seven catches for 83 yards, his most catches and yards since Sept. 9 against Florida Atlantic. Freshman wide receiver Danny Davis missed the Maryland game and is questionable for the game this weekend. If he is out, two of the top three wide receivers will be out once again, so freshman Kendric Pryor and sophomore A.J. Taylor will have to step up once again. The Illini actually rank 41st in passing yards allowed per game, but that can be deceiving. They have allowed 13 touchdowns and have picked off six passes and rank 84th in opponents quarterback rating. If (or when) Illinois crowds the box to stop the run. Cephus and Fumagalli are more than capable of running free for big plays in the passing game. Taylor and Ibrahim could also be used in the pass attack as well. Illinois has sacked opposing quarterbacks 12 times this season, which ranks 10th in the conference.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Illinois runs...

Illinois freshman running back Mike Epstein, who rushed for 346 yards and six yards per carry to start the season, is out for the season and fellow freshman Ra’Von Bonner has not had the same success. After taking over the lead running back role, Bonner has rushed for just 119 yards in two games and just 3.2 yards per carry. As a team, the Illini ranks 113th in the country and last in the Big Ten in rush yards per game and average just 3.7 yards per carry. However, in the last two weeks, since Epstein’s season-ending injury, Illinois is averaging just 103.5 rush yards per carry and 3.2 yards per carry. Despite allowing a season-high 143 yards against Maryland, the Badgers still rank fifth in the country in rush yards allowed per game at 88. The yards per carry for opponents is also just 2.9. Bucky also could get reinforcements, as Chikwe Obasih may make his return to the lineup. This should be a mismatch in Bucky’s favor. However, when freshman quarterback Cam Thomas plays, the Badgers will have to account for his legs.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Illinois passes...

The Illini have had their issues at quarterback this year. Three quarterbacks have played in recent games: Chayce Crouch, Jeff George Jr. and most recently, Thomas. George, who threw four interceptions in the first half in Madison last season, has thrown four touchdowns and seven interceptions in four games this season. George has also been picked off at least twice in three of the four games he has played in. He is the passer of the trio of quarterbacks used, but in addition to the seven picks thrown, he also has completed just 56 percent of his passes. Thomas made his debut last week against Minnesota and went 2-of-4 for 33 yards and a pick that was returned for the eventual deciding touchdown. However, Thomas did provide an element Wisconsin will have to account for that they don’t have to with George: his legs. Thomas rushed for 79 yards on 10 carries. Not only does Illini use multiple quarterbacks, but they could make the switch mid-possession, so the Badgers will have to be aware of that. As a team, Illinois is 96th in the country in passing yards per game, which is 10th in the Big Ten, and has thrown 12 interceptions, which is fourth to last in the country. The Badgers, on the other hand, excel at pass defense, allowing just 177.4 passing yards per game, which is 16th nationally. Nick Nelson and Co. just held one of the nation’s best, D.J. Moore, to three catches for 44 yards. I think Wisconsin should have little trouble once again. Although Illinois does have a few nice targets. Yet another freshman, Ricky Smalling, has caught 13 passes for 182 yards and a pair of touchdowns combined the last two weeks. Mike Dudek, who had more than 1,000 yards receiving in 2014 as a freshman, has lost his last two seasons due to a torn ACL. He missed the Minnesota game with an injury, but Illinois hopes to get him back this week. After missing two full seasons with bad luck, he is an easy guy to root for. Just not this week.

Edge: Wisconsin

Special Teams

Both teams have reliable kickers. Illinois’ is Chase McLaughlin, who is 10-of-13 (77 percent) on the year with a long of 43. I will say it is pretty depressing if you’re an Illinois fan that he has as many field goals as extra points this season. Wisconsin’s Rafael Gaglianone is 7-of-9 (78 percent) with a long of 46. The return units and punting units are pretty similar. Not a big edge, if any at all, for either team. Although, Illinois has blocked two field goal attempts and one extra point attempt.

Edge: Push

Overview

On paper, this should nothing more than a brisk walkthrough for the Badgers. Illinois is going young, playing a number of freshmen in key roles, and those players are taking their lumps. The Illini are last in scoring offense in the Big Ten, while the Badgers are second in scoring defense. Wisconsin is third in scoring offense, while the Illini are 12th in scoring defense. Wisconsin is first in both rush offense and rush defense, while Illinois is last in the conference in both categories. This could get ugly. However, Wisconsin will still need to work on things, such as taking care of the football and keeping the number of penalties low. Illinois will have trouble getting off the field, much like Maryland did. Illinois is 13th in third down defense and Wisconsin is far and away tops in the Big Ten in that category. I see many backups getting plenty of playing time on Saturday.

Prediction: Wisconsin 38, Illinois 10

Maryland/Wisconsin review

The No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers overcame a slow start to knock off Maryland 38-13 Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin improves to 7-0 for the first time since 2004 when it started 9-0. The Badgers are now 4-0 in conference, and with a 17-10 loss by Iowa to Northwestern, they are essentially three games up on every other team in the division. This is also the 10th consecutive regular season conference win, the longest streak in school history. Maryland falls to 3-4 with a 1-3 record in Big Ten play. On Maryland’s first possession, T.J. Edwards picked off Max Bortenschlager and returned it 54 yards to the house for the Badgers touchdown. Edwards, who missed the second half last week after being ejected for targeting late in the first half, gave the Badgers their fourth pick six on the year. Wisconsin once again won the yardage by a wide margin, even being without two of its top three wide receivers. Jonathan Taylor was once again very good, although he had a “bad game” by his standards. Taylor carried the ball 22 times for 126 yards and a score. As a team, the Badgers rushed for 215 yards and averaged more than five yards per carry. Alex Hornibrook also played well against the Terps, completing 16 of 24 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns with one pick. He was especially good after his early bad interception. After the pick, he completed 15 of 22 for 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Whenever the Badgers needed a big play, he provided it. Wisconsin had a number of mistakes early on that kept it from blowing the game open early, so it is great to think what the team could be if it can eliminate the little mistakes. But I will take a 25-point win in which most think the Badgers did not play a great game.

Normally, I’d start with Taylor in the positives department, but this time, I need to start with Nick Nelson. Coming into the game, Maryland’s D.J. Moore led the Big Ten in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Nelson held the the star to just three catches for 44 yards and kept him out of the end zone. That is only the second time this year that Moore was held under 80 yards receiving and at least one touchdown. He had just six yards on two catches before grabbing a 38-yard pass late in the third quarter. Derrick Tindal also matched up against Moore some and did well as well. That 38-yard pass was also not against Tindal/Nelson, but against a combination of safeties Natrell Jamerson and D'Cota Dixon. The junior cornerback had a stupid penalty to give the Terrapins a first down and a poor tackling attempt on a Maryland fourth down that helped the Terps get the first down, but overall had a great game. The pressure, especially early in the game, affected Maryland’s passing attack. I said Moore had to have a great day in order for Maryland to have a chance, and he didn’t. It was a tremendous effort by Nelson to shut Moore down.

Another game, another very good performance by Taylor. He did not have any big runs like he had in previous weeks, but he was able to grind out 126 yards and more than five yards per carry. The true freshman lacked big runs, which is why he didn't have another 200-yard day, but he was consistently gaining five, six, seven yards. It was a very workmanlike effort from Taylor, as even though he averaged 5.7 yards per carry, his longest run was only 15 yards. The way he can break tackles is incredible. He constantly turns negative yardage or short yardage plays into positive plays for Bucky. With his performance in the win, he is the sixth freshman running back to run for 1,000 yards in his first seven games. The list he joined includes NFL Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith and Marshall Faulk and future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson. That list also includes former Wisconsin standout P.J. Hill. I am running out of adjectives to describe the tremendous freshman. Even when Maryland stacks the box, Taylor was able to grind out 126 yards and nearly six yards per carry. He is the fastest Badgers freshman to hit the 1,000-yard mark in terms of carries. He beat James White’s previous record by eight. Among all players, Taylor is second to Melvin Gordon, who accomplished the feat in 104 carries.

As a unit, the defense was impressive once again. Even without two of its top three defensive ends and losing starting linebacker Chris Orr during the game, the Badgers defense held Maryland to 268 yards of total offense, its third lowest output this season. I mentioned how great the Badgers played against Moore, but the pass defense as a whole was tremendous. Bortenschlager was just 13-of-30 for 125 yards for just 4.2 yards per attempt. In contrast, Hornibrook’s yards per attempt was 9.4. No Terrapins wide receiver broke 50 yards receiving, and Wisconsin was able to bring down Bortenschlager a pair of times at big points in the game. The first time was Olive Sagapolu bringing down the Maryland quarterback two plays before Edwards’ pick six and after Maryland started its first drive running the ball well. The Sagapolu sack forced the Terps to pass and the Edwards pick six was a result of having to throw the ball. Finally, this defense amazes me when being backed up. Once again, the Wisconsin offense turned the ball over deep in its own territory, as Taylor fumbled at his own five. The three plays following the sudden change gained no yards, including two passes intended for Moore, and the Terps settled for a field goal to cut it to 7-3. The Badgers scored on their next two possessions to make it 21-3 heading into the break. Wisconsin has turned the ball over nine times in Big Ten play (I said that in an Ed Rooney voice) and has allowed only 16 points off those nine turnovers, and seven of those came on the pick six against Nebraska. Out of those other eight turnovers, three started inside Wisconsin territory and two inside the 25. Still, no touchdowns allowed. Kudos to the defense.

Let’s give some props to kickoff man Zach Hintze. The kickoff man was a big weapon against Maryland’s return game. The Terps came in 25th in the country in kickoff return average at 24 yards per return, but Hintze made sure the return game of the visitors would not be a factor. In his seven kickoffs, Hintze booted four touchbacks and the three that were returned went for an average of just over 20 per and the Terps fumbled one of the returns. Well done by Hintze. As good as Maryland’s return units are, the Badgers completely took them out of the game.

Now, for some negatives. I will spare Hornibrook because he played really well outside of the bad interception early in the game. However, the mistakes seemingly happen every game. Earlier, I mentioned the Badgers have turned the ball over nine times in Big Ten play (four games). That is just too many. Many of them either put the defense in a bad spot or took points off the board. Hornibrook’s interception was terrible. He overthrew A.J. Taylor by a good five yards and it was returned across the Maryland 40. If a better throw was made, the Badgers would have picked up a first down and may have scored on that possession. Then, Taylor fumbled at his own five. Fortunately, Wisconsin’s defense stood tall and held the Terrapins to a field goal. For as good as the freshman is, he has a tendency to put the ball on the ground. That was his third lost fumble on the year, and they seem to come at terrible times. Obviously, it is never good to lose a fumble, but the last two fumbles could have been killers. Last week, he fumbled against Purdue when Wisconsin was driving in an attempt to take a two score lead.

In addition to the turnovers, Wisconsin has also been hurt by penalties this year, especially mental flags like false starts. The Badgers have a good offense, but they cannot afford to keep falling behind the chains. It may work against the Marylands and Northwesterns of the world, but it won’t against whichever team the Badgers play in Indianapolis. It will need to be cleaned up. Wisconsin had six flags thrown on it in the game, and most could be avoided. One was a questionable clipping call that wiped away a Taylor touchdown. Fortunately, Wisconsin overcame that one and was able to score a touchdown anyway. Two of the penalties were false starts. Easily avoidable. One was a defensive pass interference on D’Cota Dixon, who should have let Moore catch the ball and just wrap up because Moore was short of the first down. I mentioned the stupid unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Nelson. He should have been smarter than that. Paul Chryst needs to clean that up. I challenge Wisconsin to have four or fewer penalties at Illinois next weekend. Also, the Badgers had a botched center-quarterback exchange. Even though they won by 25 even with all those mistakes, the sky is the limit if they limit them.

Maybe it was being without both Chikwe Obasih (even though he has been out for virtually the entire year) and Isaiahh Loudermilk. Maybe it was being without Chris Orr for a good portion of the game. Maybe it was a spread offense it wasn’t familar with. I don’t know, but Maryland ran the ball effectively against the front of Wisconsin. Yes, most of the damage came in the second half after Wisconsin went up 28-3, but still. Hopefully the Badgers can clean that up heading to Champagne next week. Bucky came in fourth in the country in rush yards allowed per game, allowing just 78.8 and 2.7 yards per carry. Against Maryland, the Badgers allowed a season-high 143 rushing yards. To make it worse, Maryland’s top two running backs, Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison III combined to rush for 147 yards on 28 carries for an average of 5.3 yards per carry. That will need to be cleaned up moving forward. Hopefully it is just due to the injured players and nothing more. We’ll see in a few weeks.

This one was a nice win, much-improved from last week. However, there is much to work on. But, like every week, survive and advance. As long as they win, they are in good shape. It is sort of like the NCAA Tournament where every week matters and it does not matter how pretty it is. After two consecutive home games, the Badgers take their show on the road next week, as they have a virtual bye week next week against Illinois. The game is at 11 am CST and will be televised on MSESPN. Wisconsin is 10-1 in true road games under Chryst.

Maryland/Wisconsin preview

After an ugly win over Purdue, No. 5 Wisconsin stays at home and welcomes the Maryland Terrapins to Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday. The Badgers come in at 6-0 overall and 3-0 in Big Ten, while Maryland is 3-3 with a record of 1-2 in conference play. After a solid start to the season with a big win at Texas and an annihilation of Towson, the Terps have lost three of four with all losses by at least 16. Their only win in that stretch was at Minnesota and the Gophers are winless in conference play. Wisconsin is 2-0 all-time against Maryland, winning the matchup in Madison 52-7 in 2014. The last time these two teams met, Wisconsin held on for a 31-24 win in College Park in 2015. The leading rusher for the Badgers was none other than linebacker Joe Schobert, who had a 57-yard run on a fake punt. Maryland needs this win in an effort to become bowl eligible, as it has four of its final six games against teams currently ranked, including the last three.

When Wisconsin runs...

Jonathan Taylor is one of the best running backs in the country, while running behind one of the best offensive lines in the country. Taylor is sixth in the country in rushing yards and averages 7.8 yards per carry. He has three carries of at least 60 yards this season, including one in each of the last two weeks. The freshman phenom has also rushed for at least 200 yards in each of the last two weeks and has scored at least one touchdown in every game this season, and has at least two in three of the six games. After last week’s 295-yard effort, Wisconsin has climbed up to 13th in the country in rushing yards per game. Bucky could make hay on the ground again once again, as the Terps are the No. 82 ranked run defense in terms of yards per game allowed, allowing 174.3. That average has shot up the last two weeks, allowing an average of 256 rushing yards per game. This past week, Maryland allowed Northwestern’s Justin Jackson to run for 171 yards and a pair of scores. Taylor has a much better offensive line to run behind than Jackson. I foresee another 200-yard rushing performance from Taylor. Shaw will also get in on the action, and I think he will also have a nice game.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Wisconsin passes...

Quarterback Alex Hornibrook had an okay game against Purdue. He started out hot, but then made just enough mistakes to keep the Boilermakers in the game. Wisconsin missed Jazz Peavy last week, and he may be back this week, but is questionable and could miss his second consecutive week. The Badgers still have Quintez Cephus, who has emerged as Hornibrook’s favorite target, especially on third down. The sophomore wideout had 100 yards receiving against Purdue and was just graded as the 15th best receiver through seven weeks by Pro Football Focus. In addition to Cephus, the Badgers still have one of the best tight ends in college football, Troy Fumagalli. Hornibrook needs to improve, though. He was not terrible against Purdue, but made a few mistakes to let the Boilermakers stay in the game. After having at least 200 yards passing in all three non-conference games, the sophomore quarterback has not hit the 200-yard passing mark in any of the Big Ten games so far, granted he has been in the high 190s twice. If he is able to throw for at least 200 yards against Maryland, the Terps don’t have a chance. In yards per game, Maryland is 108th in the country in passing yards allowed per game, but is toward the middle in opponents quarterback rating and has seven picks on the season. However, the Terrapins struggle rushing the passer, having sacked opposing quarterbacks just 10 times in six games. When Hornibrook has time, he can shred defenses. He could do that this week, especially if Peavy is back.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Maryland runs...

This season, Maryland running back Ty Johnson is averaging 7.2 yards per carry, but does not carry the ball all that often (68 attempts). Johnson is coming off his worst game, rushing just 10 times for 20 yards in the home loss to Northwestern this past Saturday. As a team, Maryland is 57th in rushing yards per game. The 16 sacks allowed this season has something to do with that, though. Even though Maryland is down to its third string quarterback, teams cannot crowd the box due to wide receiver D.J. Moore, one of the best receivers in the country. Wisconsin, on the other hand, is fourth in the country in rush yards allowed per game at less than 80 and also have a terrific 2.7 yards per attempt. The Badgers have just allowed two rushing touchdowns on the year and none in the past four games. Isaiahh Loudermilk is questionable and could be a loss for the Badgers defensive line with Chikwe Obasih already out.

Edge: Wisconsin

When Maryland passes...

This will be a very interesting matchup. Maryland is on its third string quarterback, sophomore Max Bortenschlager. The sophomore has not done too poorly, considering the circumstances. He was really solid against Minnesota before struggling the past two weeks, including against Ohio State in which he got injured. In Big Ten play, he has taken care of the ball, throwing five touchdowns and no interceptions. The one bad thing for him is that his completion percentage has not been good. He was tremendous against the Gophers, having a 64 percent completion percentage and two touchdowns, but in the two games since, he just has a 40 percent completion percentage. He does have three touchdown passes and no picks, but the Terps have lost both games by a wide margin. What he does have at his disposal is one of the most dynamic wide receivers in college football, D.J. Moore. He is basically Maryland’s entire offense. The Terrapins have thrown for 966 yards, which ranks 116th, and have thrown 10 touchdowns. Moore is 11th in the country in receiving yards with 624 (64.5 percent of Maryland’s receiving yards) and seven touchdowns (70 percent of receiving touchdowns). The junior is coming off a game in which he had 12 catches for 210 yards and a pair of scores. He has at least one score in each game, except for the loss in Columbus. Moore only had two catches for 11 yards in that one, and not surprisingly, Maryland was destroyed 62-14. He has at least seven catches in every game except for that Ohio State game. Wisconsin will not shut him down like Ohio State did, but the Badgers will need to slow him down and not let him run wild like he did last week. Nick Nelson and Derrick Tindal have their work cut out for them. Wisconsin should be able to pressure Bortenschlager, as the Terps have allowed 16 sacks so far, only ahead of Northwestern and Purdue in the Big Ten.

Edge: Wisconsin

Special Teams

Wisconsin will have a big task containing Maryland’s return units. Johnson is averaging an impressive 27.4 yards per kick return, including a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the loss to Ohio State. Moore is fourth in the Big Ten in punt return average at 13.6 yards per return, so Hintze and Lotti will need to help keep their returns minimal. Hintze is 12th in the country in kickoff touchback percentage at 75 percent, so he has a chance to keep Johnson from returning many kicks. Maryland kicker Henry Darmstadter has only had three opportunities this year after transferring from Georgetown, making two. He was 8-of-10 last season for the Hoyas with a long of 49. Wisconsin’s Rafael Gaglianone is 6-of-7 this year with a long of 46, which he made last game against Purdue. Wisconsin is a non-factor returning kicks, which is why it mostly decides to take touchbacks. Maryland does have a tendency to allow big punt returns, so Nick Nelson has a chance to bust one.

Edge: Maryland

Overview

Wisconsin should win going away, just like Northwestern and Ohio State the previous two weeks against these Terps. Bucky should be able to slow down Maryland’s high-powered offense and the Badgers should be to score at will against the Terrapins defense. Taylor should have a great day, and I believe Hornibrook will have a nice day with 200 yards and multiple touchdowns. Maryland does have a +5 turnover differential, so Wisconsin will need to take care of the ball, or else an upset could take place. Expect the Badgers to own the time of possession, like normal. Maryland is 107th in the country, where as Wisconsin is third. One other major advantage Bucky does have is on third down, both offensively and defensively. Offensively, Maryland converts third downs at a 29.3 percent clip, which is 123rd in the country, while Wisconsin allows only 30 percent on third downs, which is 20th. It is even more lopsided while the Badgers are on offense, as they convert an incredible 54 percent of third downs, which is third in the country. The Terps, on the other hand, give up third down conversions at a 47.4 percent rate, which is 121st. In order to win the game, Maryland will obviously need to get the Wisconsin offense off the field. It will be a tough one for the Terps defense.

Prediction: Wisconsin 41, Maryland 20

Purdue/Wisconsin review

It was an ugly game, but Wisconsin survived and advanced in a 17-9 victory over Purdue Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. Despite outgaining the Boilermakers 494-221, the Badgers turned the ball over three times and were penalized eight times, which kept the visitors in the game. Wisconsin is now 6-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play, while Purdue falls to 3-3 and 1-2 in Big Ten play. Even with the modest 3-3 record, Purdue has shown the ability to be able to play with the big boys. The Badgers are shooting for something bigger, but with the win, they became bowl eligible for the 16th consecutive year. Bucky won ugly, yes, but after four top 10 teams were upset this weekend, I am happy with any win. The Boilers will be a force toward the end of the year. Jonathan Taylor once again had a great game, and the defense kept Purdue out of the end zone, despite constantly having to defend a short field. Wide receiver Quintez Cephus continued his nice year to start, with five catches for a career-high 100 yards and a score. Wisconsin dominated the stats, including nearly doubling Purdue up in time of possession. For the first time this season, the Badgers were outscored in the second half, as they lost that half 3-0. Still, the Wisconsin defense has only allowed 17 points in the second half this season (24 total second half points allowed by the Badgers). With the win, the Badgers extended their winning streak over the Boilermakers to 12 straight, which is Purdue's longest losing streak in its history to any team. Also, with Nebraska’s loss to Ohio State, Wisconsin is two games up on four teams in the Big Ten West and has already beaten three of those teams head-to-head.

Taylor, like I mentioned, was one of the biggest positives from this game. The freshman finished with a career-high 30 carries for 219 yards and a score. His touchdown came on the third play of the game when he raced 67 yards to give the Badgers the early 7-0 lead. As good as Bradrick Shaw is, you could see quite a difference between the two when Taylor went out. I think it was Mark Tauscher brought it up on the Wisconsin radio broadcast that if a play was blocked for three yards, Shaw would gain three yards. He was making a reference that even if a play is blocked poorly, Taylor would find a way to make something positive happen. This is his third day of at least 200 yards in his first six games and his second in as many weeks. He now has 986 yards on the ground so far, falling just 14 yards shy of becoming the first true freshman ever to reach 1,000 yards in his first six games. Barring injury, he will tie a number of players, including former Wisconsin running back P.J. Hill, in reaching 1,000 in his first seven games as a true freshman. He could legitimately reach 2,000 yards. Taylor and his offensive line are just that good.

Without Jazz Peavy, Cephus has shown his potential going forward. The sophomore had five catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. All five of Cephus’ catches went for either a first down or a touchdown, and all five needed at least seven for that first down. His big play ability came through again, as he caught a 41-yard pass from Alex Hornibrook down to the Purdue five. It should have set up a potential knockout punch, but Taylor would fumble two plays later and the Boilermakers kept the deficit at eight points. After catching just four passes for 94 yards last season as a freshman, he has become Hornibrook’s most reliable target in 2017. In the six games, he has caught 23 passes for 401 yards and has scored five of Hornibrook’s 11 touchdown passes. Cephus has a catch of at least 30 yards in four of the six games. Since conference play started, he has turned it up a notch. In the three non-conference games, Cephus caught an average of 3.3 passes per game for an average of nearly 45 yards per. However, in conference play, he has an average of more than four catches per game for an average of 89 yards per. He has also caught a touchdown in his past two games and has become one of the better receivers in the conference, and he is just another weapon at Hornibrook’s disposal.

The defense was tremendous once again. This is the fourth opponent in the last five to be held under 250 yards of total offense. The unit was constantly put into tough situations due to turnovers and the blocked punt. In the game, the Purdue offense started drives at the Wisconsin 44, 15 and 28 and came away with a total of three points off those drives. In addition to the 221 yards of offense given up, the Badgers also had three big sacks in the game and one monster interception. With Bucky holding on for dear life with a 17-9 lead and Purdue having the ball inside the 10, senior linebacker Leon Jacobs picked off Elijah Sindelar. After the pick, the Badgers held the ball the final 8:14 in moving 77 yards in 16 plays to seal the deal. That is a Wisconsin drive. Jacobs had a big game outside of just the big pick. He had nine tackles (0.5 TFL) and a quarterback hurry. This season, this stingy unit has allowed just 17 points defensively in the second half, and 14 of those were in one game against Northwestern. the halftime adjustments made by defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard have been tremendous. Next week, the pass defense will face a big test with D.J. Moore and Maryland coming to town.

And lastly, some of the lesser known players made huge plays down the stretch. With Wisconsin trying to chew up the clock, redshirt freshman wide receiver Kendric Pryor made one of the biggest plays of the game. Pryor had played well during the spring, but a moped accident caused him to miss the first few weeks of the season. After true freshman wide receiver Danny Davis had to leave the game, Pryor made his mark. With the Badgers facing a 3rd-and-12 at their own 11, Hornibrook found Pryor for 20 yards and a huge first down. Not only did Wisconsin pick up a monster first down and was able to chew up more clock, but the catch moved Bucky out from the shadow of his own goal post. Another late game star was freshman running back Garrett Groshek. The freshman picked up a pair of first downs, including one on an 18-yard gain on 2nd-and-11 to move the sticks and move his team into enemy territory. In the game, he had just two carries, but for 32 of the 77 yards on the drive and two giant first downs which helped the Badgers bleed the rest of the clock.

In an ugly game, there are always plenty of negatives. For the first part of the game, I thought this was going to be a great performance from Hornibrook. He made some great throws and threw a nice ball to Cephus in the end zone for a touchdown. But then it went all downhill. Up until his first interception, the sophomore signal caller was 5-of-6 for 80 yards and a touchdown. After that, he went just 8-of-12 for 119 yards and two picks. His 72 percent completion percentage for the game was very solid, but he has to eliminate the mistakes. His first interception may have been on Davis, his freshman receiver. It looked like he ran the wrong route and Hornibrook threw where he thought Davis was going to be, but it was easily picked off by Purdue’s Da’Wan Hunte, who returned it to the Wisconsin 44. His second interception should not have been thrown. With the Badgers facing a 3rd-and-12 at the Boilermakers 31, Hornibrook tried to run a screen. However, the Purdue defense diagnosed it beautifully and was all over it. Instead of just throwing it into the ground, Hornibrook tried to fit it in to running back Rachid Ibrahim, but the running back bobbled it and the ball was picked off by Purdue’s Danny Ezechukwu, who returned it deep in Wisconsin territory. Credit to the Badgers quarterback, though, who ran him out of bounds at the Wisconsin 28. Instead of Purdue cutting it to four or three points, the Boilermakers were held to a field goal to cut it to 17-9. Alas, that pass should never have been attempted. Even if Ibrahim caught it, he would have been stopped at the line of scrimmage. Hornibrook should have just thrown it at the feet of Ibrahim and trotted out Gaglianone for a long field goal. With Purdue’s offense struggling all game long, there is no way he should have tried throwing that pass into traffic. Other than that, he was solid, but he needed to find a way to get Troy Fumagalli the football. Fumagalli is one of, if not the best tight end in the country and there is no way he should go an entire game without a catch or even a target. These are things that could, and will, get corrected moving forward. He needs to have a better day against Maryland next Saturday.

Wisconsin had some uncharacteristic miscues against Purdue. I mentioned the two interceptions that may have cost the Badgers some points, but Taylor also had a fumble at the Purdue five that cost Bucky a two score lead. Fortunately, the defense was up to the challenge and turned away the Boilermakers every time the Badgers offense made a costly mistake. It has become a theme that Wisconsin keeps winning comfortably in the yardage department, but the score is closer than it should have been. It may not cost Wisconsin a win against Maryland or Illinois, but the Badgers will need to do a better job at finishing drives in the final six games, but especially the final four. Also, Wisconsin had a punt blocked in which Purdue’s Garrett Hudson came in uncontested on Anthony Lotti to easily block the punt. It was the first blocked punt against Wisconsin since Ryan Shazier did it for Ohio State against the Badgers in 2011. Luckily for Bucky, Race Johnson, who picked up the block and returned it to the 15, but probably would have scored if not for getting injured and falling to the ground. I will chalk that up to just a fluke play, but hopefully it does not happen again this year.

The Badgers had eight penalties in the game. That will need to be corrected moving forward. Wisconsin was able to overcome some of the penalties, but it can’t make it a habit being consistently behind the chains. On three of the false starts, the Badgers followed them up with a nice first down completion. However, you knew some would bite them. On Purdue’s first field goal drive, Wisconsin had Purdue stopped, but Jacobs held Purdue tight end Cole Herdman, who ran a route that wasn’t even long enough for a first down. That led to a Boilermakers field goal to cut it to 14-3. Wisconsin also had a first down wiped away due to an illegal block in the back on Ibrahim after Cephus already had the first down inside the Purdue 20. Then, a few plays after the block in the back penalty, the Badgers had a false start penalty that did come back to haunt. Instead of a 3rd-and-7 in scoring range at the 26, Hornibrook threw the screen that was picked off and returned deep into Wisconsin territory. The Badgers will need to clean this up, as this is not an offense that can afford to fall too far behind the chains.

Like I said in the open, it was not pretty, but the Badgers got the job done. Wisconsin dominated the stats, but had enough mistakes to keep Purdue in the game. With four top 10 teams losing this weekend to teams that most would consider average at best, I will take a win in a game Bucky did not play his best. Wisconsin stays home this next week as the Badgers welcome the Maryland Terrapins to Camp Randall Stadium for an 11 am CST kick. The Homecoming game will be televised on FOX.