MADISON -- It was not the prettiest of performances for the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers, but in the end, it was a win. UW held off the Northwestern Wildcats and came away with a 24-15 victory at Camp Randall Stadium.

Saturday's was a tale of two sides of the football. Defensively, UW and coordinator Jim Leonhnard continued their dominance, while the offense sputtered.

Here are BadgerBlitz.com's weekly grades, given position-by-position.

It was a struggle for the entire passing game led by quarterback Jack Coan. In the post-game press conference, the junior gave the credit to the Northwestern scheme and secondary. There were multiple times where Northwestern rushed three players; Coan went through his progressions, and the Wildcat secondary did its job.

Coan finished the day 15-of-24 for just 113 yards, and he also threw his first interception of the year. The play came at the end of the second quarter when Coan was looking to connect with wide receiver Quintez Cephus on a deep ball on first down.

The junior did not anticipate Northwestern safety J.R. Pace coming over, and the defensive back made a nice play on the ball. Post-game, it was one where Coan gave credit to the superb defensive play and followed up with understanding that the throw was one that he will "definitely learn from and just keep moving forward."

Consider this grade on the absolutely unfair Jonathan Taylor grading scale. When you look at numbers, 26 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown, you think this grade should in the A range for most backs. Taylor is not most backs, and by his standards this was sub-par.

Northwestern had the luxury of stacking the box as the Badgers' passing game found very little rhythm. On the biggest offensive play of the first half, a 4th-and-2 at the Wildcats' 13-yard line, Wisconsin lined up in the "Hippo" package. Taylor attacked the safety and ripped off his most impressive run of the day into the end zone.

This is the definition of "containing" Taylor and Pat Fitzgerald's men continued to be a relative achilles heel for the Heisman candidate. Northwestern's open field tackling, which had been an issue coming in, was solid Saturday. The Wildcats never allowed Taylor to rip off a signature long burst. The junior back also put the ball on the ground in the fourth quarter, though it was recovered by the Badgers.

Much of the issue with Coan and the Badger passing attack falls on the shoulders of the wide receiving core and the Wildcats' secondary. Pressure on Coan wasn't the issue, as Northwestern's plan of attack was to lock down in the secondary. They accomplished that goal, as once again none of the Badgers receivers were able to separate themselves on the stat sheet.

Cephus led the way with three grabs for 30 yards. The issue wasn't drops for this receiving core, but instead the lack of ability to get open resulting in check-downs to running backs Taylor and Garrett Groshek. The check downs came with minimal success, specifically on the final two passes to the former. That resulted in a total of -1 yards. This receiving corp will have to be able to create lanes for Coan to throw if Wisconsin is going to have the ability to form an aerial attack against quality defenses.

It was an extremely quiet day in the passing game for Jake Ferguson, who only saw two targets, catching one of them for a gain of two yards. The redshirt sophomore actually found himself open on multiple occasions where Coan simply missed him. The passing game certainly needs a spark, and involving the tight ends more heavily could be a key factor moving forward.

Northwestern only recorded one sack for a loss of six yards, but that does not tell the full story. Fitzgerald, defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz and their crew came in with a scheme that involved only rushing three at times in favor of attempting to lock down in the secondary. The scheme certainly proved effective. The Wildcats also stacked the box often against the UW rushing attack, and the line failed to create the seems that Taylor had been thriving off of in the opening three weeks.

In the second half, there was the weekly offensive line push for Taylor where the big boys pushed the star back forward and turned a gain of three into a gain of 12. The offensive line was certainly not at fault for the offensive struggles, and gave Coan the time to go through his reads. The open looks just weren't there for the Badgers passing attack.

DEFENSIVE LINE: A

Now we get to focus on the fun side of the football from a UW perspective. First of all, it seems as though the football just finds former walk-on Matt Henningsen, who scored his second touchdown of the year following an Eric Burrell forced fumble. Henningsen, the redshirt sophomore, also recorded one of the five sacks that UW had on the day.

In terms of stopping the run, starting end Isaiah Loudermilk made a couple of big time stops, finishing the contest with two tackles for loss and two pass breakups each.

Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has to be thrilled with the pressure this defense dialed up, and it all started by winning the battle at the line of scrimmage.

As the grade book shows, it was a perfect performance from this inside linebacking core all afternoon. It starts with the infectious personality and play of inside linebacker Chris Orr, who discussed remembering last year's loss in Evanston in a Wisconsin-produced video. He showed out on Saturday to the tune of nine total tackles and a pair of sacks. He was left unblocked on a fourth-quarter drive and made the Wildcats pay by delivering a vicious hit to back-up quarterback Aidan Smith and forcing a fumble.

Sophomore Jack Sanborn led the team in tackles at 13, seven of them the solo variety, and flew all over the field to make plays in the run game. His motor has been on display all season long for the Badgers, and his one-on-one tackling ability was highlighted again today.

In addition to Sanborn, perhaps no other Badger has had a better start to the year than senior leader Zack Baun. The Brown Deer native got to the quarterback against the Cats as he registered three quarterback hurries and disrupted an already flailing Northwestern passing game. His ability to wreak havoc in the opponent's backfield continued today.

The most electrifying play of the day came from the other starting outside linebacker Noah Burks. He took a fourth quarter interception 68 yards to the house as he tiptoed the sideline. The interception for Burks came on a combo play from both outside linebackers, as it was Baun who hit Smith and led to the errant pass.

The defense showed up today, and the secondary was no exception. Sophomore Rachad Wildgoose was particularly impressive as he snuffed out multiple screens and recorded a couple tackles for loss.

The physicality of Faion Hicks was on display once again as he roughed up the Wildcat receivers. The fourth quarter is where this group relatively struggled. Wide receiver J.J. Jefferson got behind Deron Harrell for a late touchdown, and Riley Lees was able to make some plays in the secondary.

The biggest defensive story coming in were the suspensions to starters Eric Burrell and Reggie Pearson that forced Houston transfer Colin Wilder and redshirt freshman John Torchio to start the game. The duo got the job done in the first half, as Wilder continued to impress in coverage and in the safety blitz, recording a sack and finishing the day with five total tackles.

The suspended pair did not miss a beat in the second half. Burrell had a solo tackle on the first offensive snap of the second half, and followed it up with late third-quarter strip of Smith that led to the touchdown recovery by Henningsen. Pearson came within inches of possibly the third defensive touchdown of the game for UW on an excellent fourth-quarter read.

On an important kick for confidence purposes, redshirt sophomore Collin Larsh was able to connect on a 36-yard attempt, his only of the day. Redshirt Zach Hintze was impressive as the kickoff specialist, even sending a kickoff that was lengthened by penalty into the end zone for a touchback.

Senior Anthony Lotti was inconsistent in the punting game, as he put a pair of short kicks into the end zone for touchbacks.

A muff by usually reliable redshirt junior Jack Dunn led to a Northwestern touchdown drive in the second half. Sophomore Aron Cruickshank had a solid day in the return game as he bursted through the Wildcats' coverage unit for a 44-yard return, and finished with two returns for a total of 69 yards.

It was sloppy and hard to watch at times, but in the end it was a win and a passing grade. The offense has to be able to aerially move the ball in order to open things up for their Heisman hopeful, and today the passing game was non-existent. As Northwestern stacked the box, Taylor had difficulties finding significant holes.

The defense was as elite as we have seen them all year long. Not only did this unit outscore the Wisconsin offense, they made life miserable for both Northwestern quarterbacks under center. This group carried the Badgers today, though against higher quality opponents its going to take strong play in both units to come away with a win.

UPDATE, Sept. 30: Updated Coan's quote from postgame comments.