UW Replay
Jeff Potrykus reviews Wisconsin’s 49-20 victory over Illinois on Saturday.
AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Tailback Jonathan Taylor rushed 27 times for 159 yards to push his season total to 1,109 yards.
Safety Evan Bondoc, a former walk-on from Madison Edgewood High School forced a fumble and intercepted a pass in his first college start.
Fullback Alec Ingold scored two touchdowns on five touches.
Yet let’s give the game ball this week to reserve tailback Taiwan Deal.
The senior was limited to six games in 2016 because of ankle injuries.
He missed all of last season after suffering an ankle injury in camp. Undaunted, Deal has played well all season and on Saturday rushed 12 times for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 9.2 yards per carry and his 39-yard touchdown run with 8 minutes 22 seconds left in the third quarter answered an Illinois touchdown and helped UW build its lead back to 35-17.
Deal pounded into the heart of the line, kept his legs moving and squirted through a crease near the 35 and raced the rest of the way untouched.
“I think he brings a lot of anger when he is running,” Ingold said. “He missed out with that ankle, not being healthy. He is making up for lost time and he runs he ball with a chip on his shoulder.”
OFFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME
Alex Hornibrook’s 6-yard completion to wide receiver Danny Davis was one of 22 passes Wisconsin attempted on Saturday.
It came in the opening quarter, on UW’s third offensive play of the game.
So why was the play noteworthy? Because UW faced third and 5 on its opening series and one week earlier had converted just 2 of 11 third-down chances in a loss at Michigan.
This time, Hornibrook found Davis cutting across the middle for 6 yards to the UW 36.
UW drove the final 64 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Failing to convert against a suspect defense, on the first third-down chance of the game, would have set a bad tone for the home team.
In addition, the catch was big for Davis. The sophomore had a combined five catches for 62 yards in the previous three games. He finished with four catches for 48 yards Saturday.
DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME
Illinois entered the day with the No. 4 rushing attack in the Big Ten at 228.8 yards per game.
The passing game wasn’t so robust – with an average of 155.3 yards per game, with just five touchdowns and three interceptions. That was good enough for 12th in the Big Ten.
So it wasn’t surprising that the Illini found trouble quite often whenever starter AJ Bush or reserve MJ Rivers tried to pass.
That duo combined to complete 4 of 12 passes for 26 yards, with three interceptions, in the opening half. They finished a combined 9 of 21 for 90 yards, with three interceptions and no touchdowns. Perhaps the biggest mistake came in the second quarter, with Rivers on in place of Bush and the Illini facing third and 13 from their 35.
The Illini trailed by only 14-7, but that changed shortly after Rivers looked for a receiver and instead found UW nose tackle Olive Sagapolu.
Sagapolu didn’t get much of a push after the snap and almost appeared to be in zone coverage. He batted the ball into the air before corralling it at the 31 and gaining 4 yards to the Illinois 27. Hornibrook hit Jake Ferguson for a touchdown on the next play and UW again had a two-score lead. Offensive lineman Michael Deiter, who scored on a 4-yard run in the victory over Illinois last season, was asked which big man had the better play.
“I don’t want to be biased,” Deiter said, grinning. “But I don’t remember Olive getting in the end zone.”
True, but who expected Sagapolu to intercept a pass?
“Yeah,” Deiter said, “but what was his yards after the interception?”
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAY OF THE GAME The weather had turned nasty, with a mix of rain and light snow, when punter Anthony Lotti took the field with UW facing fourth and 4 from its 35 in the opening quarter.
Lotti appeared to bobble the slick ball and then eventually dropped it to the turf as began striding to punt. He recovered in time to pick up the ball but got off a punt that covered only 13 yards.
Illinois took over at midfield with 1:41 left in the first quarter and eventually drove to the UW 23.
UW’s defense forced a turnover – linebacker Jack Sanborn forced a fumble recovered by linebacker Chris Orr – to end the threat.
INSIDE THE HUDDLE
Garrett Groshek almost always is the tailback used when the Badgers use a shotgun formation with three wide receivers and one tight end.
Yet UW twice deployed Jonathan Taylor in that look Saturday and both times it resulted in double-digit gains on the ground.
When Groshek runs out of that formation, he usually hits a hole between the tackles. But Taylor swept around left end both times and had gains of 13 and 17 yards.
❚ UW defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard used a 2-4-5 scheme for most of the game against the Illini’s spread attack. Eric Burrell and Evan Bondoc started at the safety spots and on some plays, Bondoc was closer to the line of scrimmage, like an extra linebacker, with Burrell deep. On other plays, the roles were reversed.
QUOTABLE
“That game had a little bit of everything in it. I think there’s enough that we did well to give us a chance to get the win. Certainly some areas we’ve got to continue to keep working on and clean up.” – Paul Chryst, UW coach
BY THE NUMBERS
2 Touchdowns by fullback Alec Ingold, one rushing and one receiving
5 Turnovers forced by UW in the first half 21 Points for UW off Illinois turnovers
31 First downs by UW
111 Rushing yards for reserve tailback Taiwan Deal
357 Rushing yards by UW, on 54 attempts
NEXT
UW (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) at Northwestern (4-3, 4-1), 11 a.m. Saturday. The Wildcats retained sole possession of first place in the Big Ten West Division by rallying for an 18-15 victory over host Rutgers on Saturday. Although Iowa (6-1, 3-1) is lurking, the winner in Evanston, Illinois, should have the inside track to the division title.