In Jonathan Taylor’s illustrious career at UW, he has surpassed the 100-yard mark in 28 of his 33 appearances. Of the five games where he was held under 100 yards, two of those were against the Northwestern Wildcats.
The last time the superstar tailback was held under the 100-yard mark was at Evanston last year, when the Wildcats defense had his number and held Taylor to just 46 yards on 11 carries.
There is only one Big Ten team which has had more success in stopping Taylor the Ohio State Buckeyes. Through two games against them, Taylor was held to 126 yards on 30 carries, good for 4.2 yards per carry
The No. 8 Badgers 3-0 (1-0) welcome the Wildcats1-2 (0-1) to Camp Randall in a showdown between the highest-ranked Big Ten West team and the defending Big Ten West champions.
Jonathan Taylor won’t be the only one seeking some form of redemption against Northwestern. The Wisconsin Badgers as a whole are looking for redemption against a Northwestern team that completely embarrassed them a year ago and won by two scores.
The matchup this time around is far different.
The Northwestern team last year was one that overachieved while the Badgers had an unusually mediocre year.
This year, the Badgers are back among the elite and the Northwestern are off to a struggling start at 1-2 and coming off a blowout loss to Michigan State at home in which their offense was only able to put up 10 points.
The failures of the offense this past week was not an anomaly as they only put up seven points in Week 1 and have struggled to move the ball all season.
To compound the problem, the offense will be without their leading receiver Ben Skowronek this Saturday.
Their offense will go into the lion's den at Camp Randall when they go against the nation's best defense who have only allowed 14 points all year.
The Wildcats have allowed 150 YPG on the ground, which will be a welcomed sight for the Badgers and Jonathan Taylor who had their way last weekend against the Michigan Wolverines.
Last week, Northwestern allowed MSU quarterback Brian Lewerke to have a day and throw for 228 yards and 3 touchdowns, which is promising for Jack Coan and the passing attack.
The matchup at Camp Randall could get ugly. Northwestern has yet to get it going this season while Wisconsin has been clicking on all cylinders. The Badgers are primed to be favorites to win the west again in 2019.
