Badgers tame Huskies 49-7 in Chicago

by John Veldhuis on Sep 17, 2011 11:21 PM CDT in Wisconsin Badgers Football

Russell Wilson lit up the scoreboard for the Badgers against NIU, after accounting for just over 380 yards of total offense.

CHICAGO -- In the preseason, Wisconsin's Windy City clash with Northern Illinois was widely billed as trap game for the Badgers. The narrative almost wrote itself- a scrappy MAC team, lead by a former head coach, might be able to upset the Badgers away from the friendly confines of Camp Randall.

For the most part, the narrative panned out for about a quarter. After Russell Wilson threw his first touchdown to Nick Toon and Kyle French missed a 50-yard field goal, the Huskies drove 67 yards in five plays to tie the score at 7.

After that it was all downhill for the Huskies.

After NIU failed to recover a surprise onside kick, the Badgers scored a touchdown on four of their next five possessions, including two more touchdowns for Wilson and Montee Ball, and one for James White. Wilson, however, stole the show from his offensive counterparts.

Wilson accounted for 384 of Wisconsin's 621 yards on the day, completing 23 of 32 passes, and threw two touchdown passes to Toon, and one to Jacob Pedersen. Wilson also made his first mistake as a Badger, throwing an interception to NIU's Zach Anderson with 9:42 left in the fourth quarter. Wilson's interception was also Wisconsin's first turnover of the year.

The Badgers' running game got off to a slow start for the second week in a row, but holes started to open after Wilson completed a few play action passes. Montee Ball rushed 20 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns, while his counterpart James White rushed eight times for 91 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, linebacker Chris Borland lead the way with 11 tackles, with two of them going for negative yardage. Marcus Cromartie filled in well for injured cornerback Devin Smith, recording eight tackles and half of a TFL. The defense didn't record many extra stats: defensive end Louis Nzegwu broke up one pass for the Badgers, after they broke up ten last week against Oregon State.

The Badgers return home to Camp Randall to play FCS South Dakota next Saturday, in their last non-conference game before opening Big Ten play against Nebraska.

Stay tuned to B5Q for more post-game news and analysis! Assistant coaches are available to the media tomorrow, so I'll hopefully have something up later tomorrow.

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Apologies for the lack of content today

I think most of the B5Q staff was attending the game today.

Never fear- I’ll be on the beat tomorrow and I’ll get a post up tomorrow!

Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!

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by John Veldhuis on Sep 17, 2011 11:25 PM CDT reply actions

I think the lack of content here

Caused many of us to either head to OTE and discuss the game there (as I did today) or to watch it without commenting.

That being said, there were very few comments about the game even when it was happening. In two weeks (I’m discounting next week against South Dakota), I expect there to be many, many more comments as the Badgers open their Big Ten Conference schedule against Nebraska.

Minor League Contributing Writer, Athletics Nation.

State high point count: 4/50

If you are grouchy, irritable, or just plain mean, there will be a $10 charge for putting up with you.

by Vermont Cubs Fan on Sep 17, 2011 11:44 PM CDT up reply actions

Haha I'm fairly sure we'll have something up for the Huskers

Just one of those days where life got in the way.

Bucky's 5th Quarter The best site for Badger news on the web!

Follow @JohnVeldhuis

by John Veldhuis on Sep 18, 2011 12:11 AM CDT up reply actions

Hey, it happens.

No worries. :-)

Minor League Contributing Writer, Athletics Nation.

State high point count: 4/50

If you are grouchy, irritable, or just plain mean, there will be a $10 charge for putting up with you.

by Vermont Cubs Fan on Sep 18, 2011 9:49 AM CDT up reply actions

I don't know about that; I might be AT that game

meaning I won’t be there for the gamethread. Sorry. You’re on your own.

Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog.
Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog
Follow @GSchofield50

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 18, 2011 12:22 AM CDT up reply actions

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Badgers Football Schedule

UNLV	Thu 09/01	W 51 - 17
Oregon St. Building The Dam	Sat 09/10	W 35 - 0
@ Northern Illinois Red And Black Attack	Sat 09/17	W 49 - 7
South Dakota Coyotes	Sat 09/24	W 59 - 10
Nebraska Corn Nation	Sat 10/01	W 48 - 17
Indiana The Crimson Quarry	Sat 10/15	W 59 - 7
@ Michigan St. The Only Colors	Sat 10/22	L 31 - 37
@ Ohio St. Along The Olentangy	Sat 10/29	L 29 - 33
Purdue Hammer and Rails	Sat 11/05	W 62 - 17
@ Minnesota The Daily Gopher	Sat 11/12	W 42 - 13
@ Illinois Hail to the Orange	Sat 11/19	W 28 - 17
Penn St. Black Shoe Diaries	Sat 11/26	W 45 - 7
@ Michigan St. The Only Colors	Sat 12/03	W 42 - 39
@ Oregon Addicted To Quack	Mon 01/02	L 38 - 45

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