All-Out Blitz Week 8: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Illinois Fighting Illini

BadgerBlitz.com brings back its All-Out Blitz weekly series, where you can find everything you need to know about Wisconsin's next opponent. We look at UW's seventh opponent, and fourth conference foe in Illinois, which the Badgers will face Saturday afternoon on the road in Champaign (2:30 p.m. CT, FS1).

QUICK PROGRAM FACTS

Head Coach: Bret Bielema (113-74, third season at Illinois)

Illinois All Time Record: 630-622-51 (.483)

2023 Record: 3-4

Rankings: N/A

Series vs. Wisconsin: 38-44-7

Quarterback Luke Altmyer is a transfer from Ole Miss who had never started prior to this year, but was quickly given control of the Illinois offense.

He currently sits at third in the Big Ten in passing attempts, averaging 31.1 per game, while still completing 63.3% of his passes. But he’s also thrown more interceptions (nine) than touchdowns (eight).

Altmyer has been sacked 26 times this season, which is the most in the Big Ten by a wide margin and tied for fourth in the nation.

Saturday will be a golden opportunity for Wisconsin’s inconsistent pass rush to gain some confidence ahead of the Ohio State matchup.

James Thompson Jr. has emerged as one of the best players on defense, currently sitting at second on the team in pressures with 17, according to Pro Football Focus. He left the Iowa game after just a few snaps and his status for Saturday is unknown.

In the back end, Wisconsin’s pass defense began as a weakness but has improved immensely in past weeks. They gave up 233.6 passing yards per game over their first five games, then held Deacon Hill to just 37 passing yards on six attempts last week. Altmyer is better than Hill, but the Badgers will at least enter with confidence.

They’ll also look to begin a new turnover streak, after getting 10 takeaways over the three game span before Iowa. Ricardo Hallman’s four interceptions all came in that span, and still lead the Big Ten.

The secondary will face a new challenge this weekend in the form of Isaiah Williams.

His 546 receiving yards are second in the Big Ten to only Marvin Harrison Jr. He has, however, cooled off in recent weeks, only catching 12 balls for 100 yards over their two most recent games.

Pat Bryant and Casey Washington fill out the main receiving core, as consistent yet non-threatening veterans.

The running back room, on the other hand, has neither a leader nor consistency. Four different players have at least 40 carries and 150 rushing yards.

Reggie Love narrowly leads in yards, but has never rushed more than 12 times in a game. He’s struggled with injuries all season and didn’t travel to Maryland last week.

Freshman Kaden Feagin has emerged as the recent focal point, rushing for over 80 yards in two of their past three games.

They’ll face a Wisconsin defense that’s improved against the run, but are still prone to mistakes.

The Badgers emphasized run defense during the bye, then came out and held a run-centric Rutgers team to just 64 rushing yards on 2.9 yards per carry.

They did allow Leshon Williams to break open an 82-yard touchdown that ended up defining the Iowa loss, but actually held up apart from that one play.

The inside linebacker duo of Jake Chaney and Jordan Turner are the keys to stopping the run. Chaney was all over the field last Saturday, notching a career-high 11 tackles.

Illinois will likely devote almost all of their attention to stopping Braelon Allen, who’s become the nucleus of the offense once again following Tanner Mordecai’s injury.

The junior tailback has been consistent this season, averaging 93.2 rushing yards per game, and shouldn’t have an issue adjusting to the dominant role that he’s known for the past two years

Phil Longo will likely want to refrain from overworking Allen, so we should expect to see Jackson Acker get some real playing time again. He rushed for 65 yards on 13 attempts against Rutgers, then saw just three carries last week.

The running backs will have to match up with perhaps the best player on the Illini in defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton, whose 25 pressures are third most in the country for interior linemen, according to Pro Football Focus.

Behind Newton is the linebacker duo of Dylan Rosiek and Kenenna Odeluga, who’ve played a major role in stabilizing Illinois’ defense after a rough start to the season.

Their assumed attention on Allen is great news for Braedyn Locke, who’ll make the first start of his career on Saturday.

The redshirt freshman was thrust into the middle of last week’s game against Iowa after Mordecai went down. He looked shaky at times, throwing an interception and fumbling in his own end zone to lead to a safety, but also led some of Wisconsin’s only productive drives all day.

Apart from Allen, he’ll look to Will Pauling as a safety blanket. The slot receiver has become the stand-out target over the past few weeks for Wisconsin, recording 19 of his 30 catches over the past three games.

The other bright side for Locke is that this Illinois defense is still recovering from some offseason turnover. The most significant loss was coordinator Ryan Walters, who left to become the head coach of Purdue. Multiple defensive backs also left, including Devon Witherspoon, who was selected fifth overall in last year’s NFL Draft.

They’ve somewhat improved against the run, but still allowed Maryland's Taulia Tagovailoa to complete 69.2% of his passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns last week.

Saturday will be an opportunity for this Illinois defense to restore some confidence against an inexperienced quarterback.

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