Wisconsin played its fourth conference game of the season against the Illinois Fighting Illini, winning 25-21 in Champaign on Saturday. Luke Fickell and the Badgers will now look to a night-time home game against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday.
BadgerBlitz.com brings you our weekly "3-2-1" series, honing in on the Week 8 win over Illinois, and what it will mean going forward.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED DURING WISCONSIN'S WIN
1. Saturday finally brought some clarity
The story of the offseason was “new." New coaches, new players, new culture.
Some expected Fickell to take a mixed bag of talent and turn it into a winning team, instantly. It wasn’t that easy.
Wisconsin entered Champaign with a solid 4-2 record. But the losses were ugly, especially against Iowa the week prior, and none of the wins felt very convincing or definitive.
Saturday was even shaping up to be perhaps their worst performance yet. But in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin’s mixed bag of talent actually started to look like somewhat of a complete unit for the first time.
We already knew that Braelon Allen was both the best player and focal point of the offense, but it was never more evident than against the Illini.
Braedyn Locke was the mystery, and then became the story of Saturday. There’s no guarantee we’ll see more of those deep balls down the sideline, but the redshirt freshman played with incredible poise and looked capable of leading through the rest of the regular season.
It’s also now undebatable that Will Pauling is the No. 1 receiver. He’s not just the only wide out who can consistently create separation, he made plays Saturday that we’ve never seen from him, most notably his touchdown catch over three defenders.
We finally saw the same offensive line for the entire game. In Wisconsin’s first six games, Jack Nelson, Tanor Bortolini and Riley Mahlman played every snap, while the guards rotated. Saturday was the first time that Wisconsin played the same five linemen for every snap. Joe Huber and Michael Furtney filled out the rotation, though each struggled against the Illini.
The defense mostly struggled against the Illinois run game, specifically with Luke Altmyer’s mobility, but some players have looked more comfortable in their roles.
C.J. Goetz is becoming the closest thing Wisconsin has to a reliable edge rusher. He recorded seven pressures against Illinois, according to Pro Football Focus, which was three more than any other Badger.
