Brats & Beer » Badgers Get Zapped By Zook

October 6, 2007

Some people say you always remember your first time; they obviously were not talking about losing football games because I would rather just forget about the Badgers first loss of the season. Wisconsin got totally manhandled by Illinois today in a 31-26 loss that was more lopsided than the score would indicate.

All season the Badgers have managed to win despite a sloppy and leaky defense, but today the Illini took full advantage with a series of screens, keep passes and option runs. Rashard Mendenhall racked up 160 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, while quarterback Juice Williams ran for almost 100 more. Wisconsin just never seemed to have an answer for what Ron Zook threw at them.

On offense the Badgers struggled to establish any sort of rhythm in the first half — and in the process spotted Illinois a 17-point lead — then turnovers in the second half effectively killed any realistic hope of a comeback. Tyler Donovan looked like Brett Favre from two years ago, constantly throwing into double coverage, and paid for it once. The running game was completely stalled in the early going, gained some traction in the third quarter, then went on the back burner after the Badgers fell far enough behind with time running short.

All in all it was a pretty disappointing afternoon that leaves Badger Nation scratching its head. With a road trip to Penn State next week and a visit to Ohio State a month from now, how far are these Badgers really going to get with that defense? And don’t even start thinking about the polls; the voters have been waiting for a reason to drop Wisconsin like a rock, now they have it.

But as bad as all this seems, it could be worse; the Badgers could have lost to Stanford.