Badgers’ late safety secures Big Ten win

NO. 10 WIS. 33, N’WESTERN 24

MADISON, WIS.» What looked like another second-half runaway turned into nail-biting final few minutes for No. 10 Wisconsin.

The defense caught its breath and came up with one more big play.

Jonathan Taylor ran for two touchdowns to help the offense overcome a sluggish start and the Badgers swarmed Northwestern before holding on for a 33-24 win on Saturday.

“We knew it was going to be a hard one,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said. “There (are) a lot of lessons to be learned in this one.”

Alex Hornibrook threw for 197 yards and a touchdown, settling down after two interceptions on deep balls in the first half. Garrett Dooley had three of Wisconsin’s eight sacks.

Wisconsin (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) stood up the Wildcats (2-2, 0-1) late to seal the win in each team’s conference opener.

The Badgers led 31-10 with 9:54 to go on safety Natrell Jamerson’s 36-yard interception return for a touchdown.

It looked good for Wisconsin at that time since its defense hadn’t allowed any second-half points all season.

But Northwestern finally got its offense going, scoring two quick touchdowns to close the gap to 3124. Wisconsin then went threeand-out, but Anthony Lotti’s perfect pooch punt was downed by Jamerson at the 2.

Two plays later, quarterback Clayton Thorson couldn’t find a receiver out of his own end zone and was sacked by D’cota Dixon for a safety with 58 seconds left.