Third time’s the charm on the road for Gary Andersen and his Badgers (3-1 Big Ten, 5-2 overall). After losing two close road games earlier in the year to Arizona State and No. 4 Ohio State, No. 22 Wisconsin earned its first road win of the season by routing Illinois (0-2, 3-3) 56-32 in Champaign, Ill.
The Badgers came out firing on all cylinders, building an early 21-0 lead in the first quarter. The Wisconsin defense on Illinois’ first three offensive possessions forced two punts and a fumble which lead to all three of Wisconsin’s early touchdowns.
However, while on punt coverage, senior linebacker Chris Borland went down with a hamstring injury. The good news for Wisconsin is that it looks like he will be fine, especially with a bye week on the horizon, but the bad news is that after Borland hit the bench, Illinois exposed the Badgers’ defense.
Borland’s replacement, junior linebacker Marcus Trotter, filled in admirably, recording a team high nine tackles, while the Badgers remained stout against the run, holding the Fighting Illini to 72 yards on 29 carries.
However, for most of the evening the Badgers had no answers for the Illini’s aerial attack, as Illinois senior quarterback Nate Scheelhaase and later his backup junior Reilly O’Toole combined for 319 yards on 26 completed passes.
After the fast start, the Badgers let the Illini hang around for the rest of the half as Scheelhaase finally found a rhythm, as Illinois put up 17 points in the second quarter to make it 28-17.
The Illini had no answers for the Badgers offense and their old school ground and pound attack featuring sophomore Melvin Gordon and senior James White, as Wisconsin essentially put Illinois away in the third quarter.
On the first drive of the second half, the Badgers completed a bruising five minute, nine play drive that ended in sophomore quarterback Joel Stave tossing a three yard touchdown to White.
After the defense forced three and out, the Badgers took over at their 44 yard line, and five plays later Gordon was celebrating in the end zone to make it 42-17 at the end of three.
White and freshman running back Corey Clement would later tack on two more rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to give the Badgers their final total of 56 points, highlighting another dominant day on the ground, where the Badgers racked up 289 total yards and six rushing touchdowns.
Gordon accounted for 142 of those yards and three touchdowns as he had another masterful day making Illini defenders miss all over the field. Gordon now has 1,012 yards and 11 touchdowns for the year on 9.5 yards per carry.
Stave complemented the running attack well with another efficient passing day. He completed over 76 percent of his passes and added two more red zone touchdowns. Those two touchdowns add to Stave’s mastery of the red zone, where he now has nine touchdowns to zero interceptions.
Senior wide receiver Jared Abbrederis, who suffered his own head scare last weekend against Northwestern, returned to the field against the Illini and continued to be Stave’s favorite target, catching eight passes for 106 yards, his third 100 yard game of the season.
After dismantling the Illini, the Badgers get next weekend off, followed by a trip to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
