Wisconsin 35, Northwestern 7: Braelon Allen, Graham Mertz and the Badgers defense combine to dominate the Wildcats
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
MADISON – Wisconsin’s defense recovered after a sluggish start.
Tailback Braelon Allen sparkled in his first college start.
Quarterback Graham Mertz got into rhythm early and, save for a few throws, was on the mark all game.
The result: A resurgent UW team extended its winning streak to six games by thumping rival Northwestern, 35-7, in front of an announced crowd of 73,194 Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.
"It's never easy to win," UW coach Paul Chryst said. "It takes a ton of work and effort. And guys put it out there. Had a lot of contributions from a lot of players...
"I thought, once again, defense played outstanding. I thought offensively (we) did a good job. There was a lot of good."
The Badgers are making it look easy these days.
Ranked No. 18 in the College Football Playoff rankings, the Badgers (7-3, 5-2 Big Ten) are tied with Iowa (8-2, 5-2) for first in the Big Ten West Division.
istand at 5-2 in the Big Ten and 7-3 overall with two regular-season games remaining, at home against Nebraska (3-7, 1-6) and at Minnesota (6-4, 4-3).
Northwestern continued its slide after winning the West Division title last season. The Wildcats suffered their fourth consecutive loss to fall to 1-6 in the league and 3-7 overall.
Replay: How the Wisconsin-Northwestern game unfolded
Braelon Allen stars in his first start at running back, while Graham Mertz shows progress
Allen, who got the start because Chez Mellusi suffered a season-ending knee injury at Rutgers, needed just 12 carries to hit the 100-yard mark for the sixth consecutive game.
He finished with 173 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries, all in the first three quarters.
Allen pushed his season totals to 118 carries for 834 yards, an average of 7.1 yards per carry, and nine touchdowns.
"I told Chez I was going to finish the season for the both of us," Allen said. "He just told me to finish."
Mertz, who completed 11 of 16 attempts for 240 yards and three touchdowns one week earlier at Rutgers, continued to show progress.
He completed his first nine attempts for 113 yards, and finished 18 of 23 for 216 yards and two touchdowns. He found Danny Davis (three catches, 46 yards) for a 13-yard touchdown to cap a 50-yard drive as UW built a 14-0 lead with 9 minutes 8 seconds left in the first half. He anticipated a blitz and stood firm to find tight end Jake Ferguson (four catches, 43 yards) for an 11-yard touchdown to help push the lead to 28-0 with 3:26 left in the third quarter.
The lone blemish was a forced throw that safety Brandon Joseph intercepted in the end zone in the final minute of the first half.
"The protection was good today," Chryst said. "And I thought guys were running good routes. And I thought, for the most part, Graham saw things well and for the most part made good decisions."
Wisconsin's defense continues to have 'fun' in forcing turnovers
Northwestern’s offense failed to score, finished 3 of 13 on third down, lost the ball four times on interceptions and finished with 239 total yards. Northwestern's defense recorded the Wildcats' lone score on a fumble return early in the fourth quarter.
During its six-game winning streak, UW has limited foes to an average of 7.3 points and 194.5 yards per game. The defense has forced 14 turnovers in the last four games after forcing a total of four in the first six games.
"Turnovers are contagious," said safety John Torchio, who recorded one of UW's four interceptions. "Big plays are contagious.
"Everyone wants to get in on the fun."
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald had little fun watching his team suffer its fourth consecutive loss, by a combined 86 points.
"We did not play complementary football today," he said. "When we moved it, we turned it over. We had opportunities to get off the field and we lost some one-on-one battles, missed tackles.
"So it's disappointing."
Caesar Williams' interception in the end zone early on changes course of game
Although UW built a 35-0 lead in the final minute of the third quarter, the game turned in the Badgers' favor on the second and third series of the day.
UW’s defense gave up three third-down conversions and 82 yards on the Wildcats’ first drive.
“That first drive,” UW linebacker Jack Sanborn said, “we’ve got to be better than that.
“That’s not us.”
The Wildcats took over at their 8 after a UW punt and moved the ball methodically down the field. They converted a trio of third-down plays and reached the UW 9 but on second and goal from the 10, Caesar Williams intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the threat.
"Those are game-changing plays," said linebacker Leo Chenal, who led UW in tackles with 14. "I think everybody is locked in right now."
Williams tried to bring the ball out of the end zone instead of taking a knee for the touchback, however, and then was penalized for taking his helmet off.
UW started the drive from its 5 as a result but Allen carried the offense down the field and eventually into the end zone.
The freshman ripped off a 37-yard run on the first play of the drive and caped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to help UW take a 7-0 lead with 14:53 left in the first half.
The rout was on.
"That is a great thing we have on the team right now," Chenal said. "A lot of guys are pushing each other, wanting to be the best version of themselves."
Chenal and his teammates know if they win the next two games, they'll head to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game.
"It feels good to have that (control)," he said. "We lost that early on and got it back, a second chance.
"We're just trying to make the most of that second chance, not blowing it, not getting too (far) ahead of ourselves, and not thinking about anything else but the next game."
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Braelon Allen, Mertz, defense lead Wisconsin to win over Northwestern
