The 7-1 UW football team is home for the Halloween weekend this year to play Illinois as they try to avoid a truly frightening result: A loss to the 2-6 Fighting Illini.
Illinois got its lone conference win against a beleaguered Michigan State team three weeks ago but has not recorded a win since. The Badgers, on the other hand, enter Saturday's game with four consecutive wins to their credit. The first three victories of the current streak were marked by a blossoming offensive attack, and the latest triumph was a dominant performance turned in by the defense, which held Purdue's fourth-ranked offense to just three points.
This Saturday, the defense will be tested for the first time since it traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., in late September. Illinois' offense is not particularly prolific but their style of play counters the Badgers' defensive scheme effectively. With the exception of the Michigan game, the most points the Badgers have surrendered was against Bowling Green who scored 17 points with the help of its mobile quarterback who kept the chains moving and the defense guessing.
Illinois' option quarterback, freshman Juice Williams, is similarly versatile but has been able to share the load in what has become a formidable rushing attack for the Illini.
""Juice is very, very good at running the football,"" UW head coach Bret Bielema said of the playmaking quarterback. ""They'll take a running back and dive him across one side of the formation. All of a sudden, the quarterback and another running back are coming out the other side running full-speed option.""
They will give the Badgers many different looks on offense, perhaps reminiscent of Bowling Green's attack that caught UW's defense unprepared on the first defensive possession of the season. In-game adjustment helped secure the win in the season-opener, but the Badgers want to be prepared from the kickoff.
""They try to create indecisiveness by players trying to slow down their reads and their reactions,""Bielema said. ""The biggest thing that our players have to understand is it's going to be assigning football. They need to understand where their gaps are and where they need to fit.""
The Illini figure to improve every week on the ground with a freshman quarterback who understands his capabilities better with every game he plays. Illinois has rushed for more than 200 yards in each of its last four games, but has lost three of those. Even if Wisconsin cannot contain the run it will likely counter with a consistent running game of its own and a senior quarterback who has performed particularly well against under-matched opponents this season. In fact, on the eve of Madison's primary Halloween celebration, the Illini could very well be haunted by their past: they have not defeated Wisconsin since the 2002 season.
