Camp Randall was witness to shades of old Saturday as Northern Illinois faced off against Wisconsin (No. 17 ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll). A powerful running game and an explosive passing game dominated the opposing defense. The defense wreaked havoc on the opposing offense with a punishing front line and stifling run defense.
These signs of old came with a new twist, however. It was not the Badgers who played so well. It was the Huskies of Northern Illinois that dominated the Badgers for the majority of the game, but Wisconsin did just enough to win. They pulled the game out in the last two minutes to win 24-21, giving them a 4-0 start for the first time since 1998.
\We came out kind of slow and we never really did pick it up,"" sophomore cornerback Scott Starks said. ""We played rather sloppy. All in all we did get the win. It wasn't pretty, but we did get the win.""
On the other hand, Northern Illinois' Head Coach Joe Novak thought that, though his Huskies lost on the last drives of the game, they played a good game.
""Our kids played their asses off,"" Northern Illinois Head Coach Joe Novak said. ""We went in [to Camp Randall] without six starters from Wake Forest, two of our captains [and] we played a great football game.""
Wisconsin is historically known for its running game. The Huskies kept the prized Wisconsin running game stumped, as they only allowed 149 yards all game. Sophomore running back Anthony Davis was held to under 100 yards rushing for the third straight week, getting 14 carries for 49 yards and a touchdown. Northern Illinois's junior running back Michael Turner, on the other hand, ran all over the Wisconsin defense with 160 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries.
For the Badgers, there was no one wide receiver with big numbers, as senior quarterback Brooks Bollinger evenly distributed the ball to all his wide outs. However, the true freshman wide receiver Sam Hurd for Northern Illinois reminded Wisconsin fans of the Badgers' own true freshman wideout Jonathon Orr as Hurd had eight catches for 161 yards. Orr only had one catch for the day, running for 22 yards.
The Badger offensive line, known for years for being strong and solid, was manhandled by the Huskies' defense, which shut down the run, sacking Bollinger 10 times and hurrying him more times than that.
""That's my job [to protect the quarterback],"" senior left tackle Ben Johnson said. ""I feel bad whenever I see him on the ground like that.""
Overall offensively the Badgers did not play sound football, and everyone on the team knew that.
""After watching our performance today I can't say that we are a good team,"" offensive coordinator Brian White said. ""We did find a way to win today. We have good kids that have tremendous character but you can't play football like you did today on offense and expect to win a whole bunch of games.""
""I think we shot ourselves in the foot a lot,"" sophomore tight end Bob Docherty said. ""Obviously we didn't play as well as we could have.""
Wisconsin started to look like a team with energy when they were down 21-17 with less than three minutes left in the game. On the third down, Bollinger threw an incomplete pass to Davis but the first down was granted on defensive pass interference. Bollinger took advantage of the penalty and threw an 18-yard pass to senior wide receiver David Braun to move the ball up the field. With 1:21 left in the game, Bollinger ran the ball into the end zone.
""We all just looked each other in the eye and said, 'We need to get this done,'"" Braun said of the final drive. ""We have to get the ball down the field and score, otherwise we are going to lose this game.""
Though NIU came into Camp Randall and played punishing football that Wisconsin is accustomed to playing, UW played tough to the end and came out of it with a win.
""At the end of the game, when it came down to it, we found a way to win and that's what I'm most proud of,"" defensive c 0oordinator Kevin Cosgrove said.
