It took nine games and nearly two months, but the Badgers finally played a close one. Through the first eight games the Badgers had never won by any fewer than 14 points and, in their only defeat, lost by the very same margin.
Up until this weekend's game against Illinois, Wisconsin had yet to play a consequential fourth quarter—and more recently, hadn't been finding itself in the midst of any particularly suspenseful second halves.
That all changed Saturday when the Illini built an early 21-3 lead, entered halftime up 24-10 and carried an uncomfortable 24-20 lead into the fourth quarter.
""With the expectations that we have for our squad, it was kind of surprising that the game went into the fourth quarter,"" sophomore cornerback Jack Ikegwonu said. ""We expected to do some things better than we did and I think we learned that we have to play well every snap.""
Among the many things Wisconsin did not do well in the first half was stop, or contain, Illinois freshman quarterback Isiah ""Juice"" Williams. In the first half alone, he completed nine of 13 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown, adding 51 yards on the ground and converting back-breaking first downs on scrambles and well-designed draws. But the Badgers responded, shutting out the Illini in the second half and holding Williams to just two yards on the ground.
The early deficit was so great, however, that even with a near-flawless second-half performance, the Badgers had to play through the final snap to secure the win, which they did with a sack of Williams as time expired. Wisconsin needed four points in the final frame and got 10, escaping by an unusually slim margin but taking something positive from the Halloween-weekend scare.
""We definitely needed a game like this to wake us up,"" Ikegwounu said. ""We have a good defense; we have a good team overall but any team can beat anybody on any given Saturday.""
But the halftime tension was likely minimal since Illinois has made a habit this season of building big leads that they later relinquish; Saturday against the Badgers was no exception.
""They've had a couple games where they out-played teams but weren't able to get a win,"" said sophomore linebacker DeAndre Levy. ""So I was fairly confident that we would be able to come out in the second half and take it from them.""
llinois' inexperience certainly contributed to the comeback, but the Badgers think they can take something positive from the unconvincing win.
""We look for games like this because they build strength and they build character,"" sophomore linebacker Jonathan Casillas said. ""It wasn't going our way in the beginning, but in the second half we stepped it up defensively, and offensively we punched it in a couple times.""
""I really felt all along this year that our kids this year havee great character [and] respond to things properly,"" head coach Bret Bielema said.
He later added, ""The best thing is: It's not how you start; it's how you finish.""
