Badgers Wary Of Visiting Illini

Written by Benton Vale

Thursday, 26 October 2006

Badgers Wary Of Visiting Illini The No. 17 Wisconsin Badgers (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) face Illinois (2-6, 1-3 Big Ten) Saturday in a Noon (Eastern) kickoff from Camp Randall Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

The Illini, in spite of their 2-6 record, are an improving football program under second year head coach Ron Zook.

“There is improvement, I know sometimes it’s hard to see but there is improvement,” Zook said. “ I think if you go back and compare the football team from a year ago there is a lot of improvement.”

Illinois suffered its sixth defeat after blowing a lead the second straight week and going on to lose a game. Against Penn State last week, the Illini dominated statistically, including a 358-184 edge in total yards and a 202-40 advantage on the ground. But two costly turnovers by true freshman quarterback Isiah "Juice" Williams - an interception that led to a touchdown and a fumble that was returned for a score less than 1 minute later turned a 9-3 Illinois lead in the third quarter to a 17-9 deficit.

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Wisconsin first year head coach Bret Bielema looks to the game against Illinois with caution knowing the statistics don’t match up with the Illini record.

“We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us this week with Illinois.” Bielema said. “If you look at their statistics, they are the number two rushing offense in the Big Ten, as well as on the defensive side of the football. If you look in particular just at the conference games, they rank very high statistically in several defensive categories, rush defense, pass defense, efficiency and overall pass defense. They are a young team that is looking for a big win, and I know that they’ll come in here sky high.”

Wisconsin has won the last three meetings between the teams by an average of 17.3 points. The Badgers averaged 268 rushing yards in those three wins and this will be just the third trip to Madison for Illinois since 1997.

Wisconsin is second in the Big Ten and ranks fourth in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 11.5 points per game. The Badgers’ defense has given up just eight touchdowns this season. Purdue’s offense did not score a touchdown last Saturday, the third Wisconsin opponent that failed to score an offensive touchdown this season.

Badgers freshman running back P.J. Hill leads the Big Ten and ranks sixth in the country in rushing at 146.5 yards per game. Hill’s 1,172 total rushing yards are third best in the country has had a 1,000-yard rusher in 12 of the past 14 seasons.

With his 172 receiving yards, Hill ranks fourth in the country in all-purpose yardage (168.0 ypg.). His 1,344 total yards this season are second only to Garrett Wolfe of Northern Illinois. Hill has scored at least one touchdown in every game this season (eight straight).

Badgers senior quarterback John Stocco leads the Big Ten in pass efficiency during conference games at 167.2. He is completing 65.0 percent of his passes during league play and his 1,154 yards are second best in the conference. In all games Stocco is second in the Big Ten in pass efficiency and ranks 17th in the country (153.6). Stocco’s career pass efficiency rating of 135.2 is second best in Wisconsin history.

Most books have installed Wisconsin the favorite by a –22-point chalk. Public money must agree with 97% of the action going towards the Badgers. With such a high percentage of the betting going against Illinois, look for the line to go up giving more value to the Illini.

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